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Media Week is coming…

By UCL Careers, on 25 November 2015

Interested in media? Want to hear from professionals in the industry? We have a variety of events during our Media Week, 1st – 4th December 2015, that will give you a great insight into this popular sector!

Media Week

Panel events will involve talks from each panel member about their current role, their career path and tips on how you can progress. You will then be able to ask questions to the panel, so come prepared! The sessions will be followed by informal networking to allow you to follow up to any conversations started in the Q&A.

The schedule of events is as follows:

Tuesday 1st December

  • Panel: Get into Publishing, 17.30-19.00. Hear panel members discuss their top tips for getting into this notoriously difficult industry. Speakers include Dr. Nina Buchan, a freelance Science and Medical Editor, and representatives from Sage Publications, HarperCollins, Collins Editing and UCL Press.

Wednesday 2nd December

  • Workshop: Journalism, 13.00-15.00. Two-hour workshop run by News Associates, the top UK journalism school. This session will involve you writing an article in a mock breaking news exercise. Spaces are limited and you will need to pay a returnable deposit.
  • Panel: Get into Broadcasting – TV, Film & Radio, 17.30-19.00. Speakers confirmed include a Director/Producer/Editor for Slack Alice Films, a Lead Producer for the BBC’s Digital Storytelling Team, a freelance Series Producer/Director/Cameraman, an Assistant Producer for BBC World Service and an Account Director at Precious Media.

Thursday 3rd December

  • Presentation: What is Media Analytics?30-14.30. Media is changing. Data and analytics is key to delivering successful media campaigns and growing clients’ business. Find out more about this growing part of the sector in a presentation delivered by GroupM, global media investment group, and part of WPP.
  • Panel: Get into Marketing, PR & Advertising, 17.30-19.00. Panel members include Claremont Communications, Lloyds Bank, Ogilvy, Periscopix, & Gerber Communications.

Friday 4th December

  • Panel: CVs & Applications for Media Careers,00-14.00. Get top tips from industry professionals on how to make your applications stand out and what you can be doing now to increase your chances of securing a role in this industry. Panel members include Head of Commercial Marketing from The Guardian, the MD of Slingshot Sponsorship, an experienced media recruiter from SapientNitro and a guru around creative industries from CreativeSkillset.

If you are interested in attending any of the above events, please sign up via your MyUCLCareers account. We look forward to seeing you!

Marketing Assistant: Inspire Me

By UCL Careers, on 29 October 2015

As part of our #UCLInspireMe series, Nadia Newstead, Marketing Assistant at Soho Theatre, talks to us about how she got this role and shares some tips for UCL students who want to get into the sector. For more insights from recent graduates working for smaller organisations, search #SMEProfile.Nadia Newstead

How did you get into your role?

I did Drama and English at university where I threw myself into Stage Managing various productions. I did an internship as part of my degree which was my first taste of administration work. I did various box office/front of house/stage managing jobs until I got my first job as an administrator, then marketing trainee at The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury and then Marketing Assistant at Soho Theatre.

What are the best things about working in your role?

I like that although it is an admin role, it is also a creative role as you get to have input on photo shoots for show images and do filming for trailers as well as coming up with fun content for the web and social media. I like helping small companies reaching the best audience possible. Marketing great shows is my way of sharing my love of theatre with others.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

The amount of shows we have on here at Soho Theatre! All the shows require the same basic  amount of attention whether they are on for one night or 7 weeks. A lot of the shows also have very small budgets so you have to try and maximise what they have to reach the most amount of people.

What top tips would you pass on to a student interested in this type of work?

Have a go! If you’ve got an upcoming show, exhibition, reading or know someone who has then offer to help them with marketing. With social media it’s very easy to get started – just know how much you have to spend and stick to it and always evaluate what did and didn’t work.

Soho Theatre currently have an opportunity to join them as a Marketing Assistant, visit UCL JobOnline to apply.

To find our more about working in a Marketing, either come in an speak to a Careers Consultant or visit Careers Tagged.

Shopper Marketing Executive : Inspire Me

By UCL Careers, on 20 May 2015

As part of our #UCLInspireMe series, Kirsty MacDonald, Shopper Marketing Executive for Personal Care at Unilever talks to us about how she got this role and shares some tips for UCL students who want to get into the Marketing sector.Unilever Kirsty MacDonald image

How did you get into your role?

I’m Kirsty and I am on the Unilever graduate scheme in the marketing stream. My current placement is within shopper marketing personal care so I look after all in-store activity within our customers for Unilever’s male grooming brands including Lynx, Dove Men+Care and Sure. This is a local market placement where you concentrate on running brands as if they were an almost self-contained business. The next role will be more long term and strategic looking at the global direction of Unilever’s brands.

I studied Economics and Management at Oxford University before doing an MSc in Global Politics at LSE. Throughout my degrees, I became very interested in global businesses run in a sustainable way and Unilever came up time and time again as an example. I also wanted broad business exposure that taught solid principles that could be applied across industries and cultures. The FMCG industry particularly appealed as the end user you are aiming to reach is one of us, not another company like in banking or consulting, and there are numerous functions you work incredibly closely with such as marketing, sales, finance and supply chain. It was a real chance to learn ‘business’ (if you can be that broad) in a solid and varied way.

What are the best things about working in your role?

My role, as with any job, has its positives and negatives and they are often linked. I love having real responsibility – as soon as I joined I was given a very important project where I was the lead. I looked after all the budgets, forecasting, implementation, coordination of different parties, external communication to customers and much more. Although responsibility is fantastic it does come with some slightly stressful times. However you are given support and training throughout and the company’s culture is fantastic. We are one of the main advocates of agile working so I work from home at least once a week – as long as you get your work done and to a high standard you are given the freedom to work how you want. Other benefits include a salary raise every six months you are on the graduate scheme, a fantastic and industry-renowned training programme and the chance of a management position after you finish. The rotational nature is great for gaining experience especially within the marketing stream as you have a local and global market placement looking at more short term P&L management in the former and more long-term strategic decisions in the latter.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

As I said, there are positives and negatives to every job. My most serious challenge would be coordinating all the different parties to reach an end goal. As mentioned before Unilever is incredibly cross-functional and everyone needs to contribute to drive our brands forward – you cannot isolate yourself and perform individually as you can when doing an essay or problem sheet at university. Often what is top of your list is at the bottom of someone else’s so it can be a struggle to manage even small projects and deadlines. Secondly, as the name suggests, the industry is incredibly fast moving and sales, plans, projects can change extremely quickly so you have to be willing to adapt, come up with solutions and leave sunk costs rapidly. Finally, at times it can be stressful however this is only really within working hours. As you depend so much on other people and functions for your work there is no real advantage of working late and this is not in our culture. My working hours are typically 830-6pm but within that time your brain works hard.

What top tips would you pass on to a student interested in this type of work?

Unilever, and many of the other industrial or retail companies, put huge weight on their competencies and it is always about demonstrating them in your applications, interviews and assessment centres. Do make sure that you tailor your application to each company however if I was to summarise what they all seemed to be looking for it would be ‘doers’. That is, people that don’t just concentrate on their studies but have interests outside of this, from sport to music to debating – it doesn’t really matter exactly what it is as long as you have a variety of passions. Relevant work experience is a plus but it is not a deal breaker so don’t get too hung up on this.

If you’re interested in a career in Marketing, visit Careers Tagged and find over 550 resources to get you started.

Content Marketing Executive: Inspire Me

By UCL Careers, on 7 February 2015

As part of our #UCLInspireMe series, Kavita Shankar, Content Marketing Executive at BSkyB talks to us about how she got his role and shares some tips for UCL students who want to get into the Marketing sector.

How did you get into your role?BSkyB Kavita Shankar

My name is Kavita and I work in Content Marketing at Sky. How did I get this role? Well actually I applied for the marketing graduate programme at Sky and I got to the final assessment centre stage but wasn’t offered the role. A few weeks later I got a call from the HR team at Sky asking if I was interested in another role within Talent Attraction in HR. I really loved the company after experiencing it at the assessment centre and jumped at this opportunity. A year and a half into the role an opportunity came up in Content Marketing, exactly what I was looking for. I always had a passion for marketing and even structured the modules in my Psychology degree at UCL to suit this career.

What are the best things about working in your role?

There are several great things about this role. In a nutshell, I manage the marketing relationships between Sky and our partner channels, working on joint marketing campaigns. This gives me the opportunity to work with many different people/channels that vary from Discovery Channel to Disney Channel. No day is the same, working on different routes to market from radio features on Heart FM, digital ads you see in the tube stations to billboards on the roadsides.

With invites to channel launches and show press conferences some of the highlights of the role have been meeting Karl Pilkington and Dynamo, walking the red carpet with Bruce Willis, the premiere of Captain Phillips with my favourite Tom Hanks himself and bumping into some of the Kardashian family on my way to a meeting!

Oh and nothing can beat the standard benefit for all Sky staff – the full Sky package in all its HD glory for free!

What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

It’s not all watching TV! Sky is a fast paced environment, which is challenging and what I love about it. Specifically in my role with so many channels and points of contact one of the biggest challenges is managing the workload, this is where organisation is key. Meeting deadlines is important as many of these timelines are dictated by media delivery dates. Marketing is a creative industry but also very process led with many stakeholders – managing key stakeholders is a challenging aspect of the sector.

What top tips would you pass on to a student interested in this type of work?

1)     Do as much research as possible, read articles, marketing sites and keep track of the innovations in the sector through blogs etc.

2)    Try and gain experience in the field, ideally both in agency and client side to be able to see how it all works together. Some companies may offer unpaid experience but this can be priceless on your CV.

3)     Go to career fairs and company presentations, this is a great opportunity to meet people in the field and ask them any questions you might have.

4)    A genuine interest in the field you are marketing will be what gets you up in the mornings.

5)    Don’t be afraid to try areas you are not familiar with, you never know what you mind end up having a passion for or being good at.

6)     All experience is relevant as it will help build skills required in any sector or role, take as many opportunities available to you and make the effort to seek them out.

7)    Try do something that will make you stand out in an application or an interview – for example I did a film internship in Bollywood in Mumbai and worked in the carnival Samba Schools is Rio, things like – this will help differentiate you from other candidates.

If you’re interested in a career in Marketing, visit Careers Tagged and find over 550 resources to get you started.

Menswear Marketing Manager: Inspire Me

By UCL Careers, on 24 September 2014

As part of our #UCLInspireMe series, Charlie Wade, Menswear Marketing Manager, asos.com talks to us about how he got his role and shares some tips for UCL students who want to get into Marketing.

How did you get into your role?Charlie Wade, Mensware Marketing Manager, asos.com

I used to work in the City! However, I always had a yearning for marketing because I am truly fascinated by consumer behaviour and their interaction with brands, as well as design. I actually thought about working in marketing within a bank (and even applied for a role), yet I believe that Retail Banking would be more interesting than the Corporate side, yet it wasn’t the area that I was in.

As such I looked into other roles. One of the key decisions was whether to work in-house or agency-side. I settled upon the former as I felt I needed exposure to the creative aspects, as opposed to (what I thought would be) focusing on processes. There is correct option here, so it pays to do as much research as possible about both.

The next thing was to decide what ‘discipline’ I wanted to work in. A that point digital was exploding, and I wanted to be in the most innovative space. Once I made this choice I scoured my network and was introduced to a guy who ran his own agency. He was looking for someone with selling skills, which I had an abundance of. He believed that I could pick-up ‘the marketing bit’, so took me on. Whilst there was definitely an element of luck involved, I would urge anyone to focus on what they can do and the skills they can bring to a company; too often we look at the reasons why someone wouldn’t want us.

After a great few years I decided to move on. Having never really considered an in-house role I was introduced to one at ASOS by a friend who worked there. One of the things that attracted me to it was the entrepreneurial spirit and exciting things they were doing across digital platforms. (I was also a huge fan of the service, having bought a number of times from it.) To get the job I worked hard to research the company and its competitors, both direct and less-obvious ones. Additionally, I critiqued the site and campaigns that they had done, forming opinions and establishing aspects that I might have done differently. This process is a useful one as it helps you to learn lots about the company and provides you with a raft of ready-made questions for your interviewer, above and beyond the usual ones.

What are the best things about working in your role? asos-logo

My colleagues:  Some of the people here are the most impressive that I have come across, and I would happily go for lunch with all of them.

My customer: A really engaged, yet challenging group, 20somethings are always looking to learn about trends, brands and adopt social channels. This means that we have to remain at the forefront of both retail and digital innovation.

The brand: ASOS is a fantastic company. One that places talent above age and gives genuine responsibility to its employees. It asks you to work hard, but also provides a great environment in which to do so. Also, it is arguably the biggest commercial success story to have come out of the UK over the last decade and it is exciting to see where we will go next.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your work?

Too much to do, not enough time! We have incredibly tight deadlines and I have an abundance of meetings during the day. Juggling my time can be tough.

I am also not the best planner, which I have worked hard to improve. Also, an agency generally has a less-defined hierarchy; whilst I don’t mind the importance placed on org charts, it has taken a little while to get used to.

Finally, I have had to learn a lot about retail, and quickly. However, knowledge acquisition should be one of the best aspects of any role.

What top tips would you pass on to a student interested in this type of work?

Do your homework. Marketing is everywhere. Read the abundance of publications and follow the plethora of bloggers who write about it. In terms of retail, this is even easier, go into shops and check out websites! Look, feel, touch, interact with the product. Get to know the range of a brand, and those of their competitor.

Have an opinion. Imagine that someone asks you the question ‘what brand do you admire?’ or ‘what’s the best digital campaign that has impressed you?’, have an answer! There really isn’t a right or wrong, the person opposite is looking for evidence that you care and can present an answer coherently.

Don’t pigeon-hole yourself too early. I sometimes think that people worry about becoming a specialist too early. Certainly within marketing I would look to get on either a Grad scheme or work in a full-service agency. This will offer you exposure to a range of disciplines.

Enjoy your work. Marketing is more fun than banking; so work somewhere that you like. Your company or clients and impact on that, so pick a sector that you like and target it.

Have a digital footprint. A Facebook or LinkedIn profile isn’t enough. I like to see tangible evidence of an interest in, and understanding of social networks.

Don’t give up. Some people will get their first choice at the first time of asking. But plenty more won’t. The guys who get their second or third choice are the ones who keep trying. Be amongst them.

If you’re interested in a career in Marketing, visit Careers Tagged and find over 550 resources to get you started.