Hi everyone! Hope you all are enjoying a lovely summer so far! This past June I took part in the Pathways to Marketing Programme up in Streatham Campus. This 2-week employability-driven scheme is run by the CareerZone, our inter-Uni employability service, and is a phenomenal way to gain some valuable training from industry experts in the first week, and CV-worthy paid placements in the following.
The Professional Pathways training programs run in June and there are 10 different career schemes available: Accounting; Arts, Culture & Heritage; Charity & Development; Data Analytics; Digital Innovation; International Trade; Marketing; Politics, Government, and the Political Sector; Primary Education; and finally Sport & Health.Â
While this program is fairly new, it sure did get quite a lot of interest with 560 applicants over all the career schemes offered and 185 accepted participants across both Streatham and Penryn Campuses.
Another nice thing is that the applicants are viewed, assessed, and accepted into the program through CareerZone rather than through a specific company/organisation. Once you’re accepted, a work placement is guaranteed!
I am going to go through my time in training week for the Marketing Scheme to give a bit more insight into the type of experience you could have in this program.
This was the schedule of seminars we had each day:
Day 1- |Icebreakers|, Marketing Overview, Marketing Planning & Strategy/Digital Marketing/ Social Media, |Lunch|, Marketing Top Tips, |Groupwork|
Day2- Employability, Integrated Marketing Communications, Market Research & Analysis, |Lunch|, Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning, B2B Marketing, |Groupwork|
Day 3- Employability, Product Marketing, Consumer Behaviour & Branding, |Lunch|, PR- Social Media, Marketing Events, Media Buying. |Groupwork|
Day 4- Presentations, |Lunch|, Networking, Group Photos, LinkedIn Profile Photos, |End of Week|
Each of these lectures and seminars were taught by different industry experts in the Devon and Cornwall areas and not only had a lot of knowledge to offer to us, but also the chance to network and connect up on LinkedIn for future experiences and hear first hand stories about the industry.
In addition to the seminars, we were assigned groups to work with throughout the week to do a marketing project that is assigned at the start of the week. Each group was given a different brief with the aim of finding a solution to a marketing-related problem your assigned company would like to address. At the end of the week, the groups present a finished marketing plan to a number of employers, and the rest of the teams on board. This was a great experience because I not only got to make some new friends with my group, but I also got the chance to apply the things we were learning throughout the week to the marketing plan we created.
So, if you’re looking to get a paid work placement over summer to add to your CV, employer-led industry training to get you prepared, and some new friends to see around campus, then definitely check out the Pathways Programme Page here and send in your application by March. You can apply at any year of your degree!
Applications go live in January 2019 and close in March 2019 so get cracking, it’s 100% worth it!
(It also can go towards your Exeter Award if you are needing some credits for that!)
For some more insight into what I got up to during my placement week at 3WhiteHats, click here, and make sure to follow @exeterunilife for more updates from our students on campus. 🙂
-Nicolette