Connor
Bsc (hons) Marketing
It’s been quite a journey. In my first year, I wasn’t the brightest person in terms of confidence, even last year. It took until the latter half of the year for me to start developing a bit more in terms of who I am and what I want to be.
Teamwork
"A lot of my course is orientated around understanding consumers, the promotional tools that are used in marketing and how you can deliver a strategy that meets customer demand and meets their needs and their wants. A lot of the time, half the marks you actually get are about teamwork, so in that sense, there's a lot of individual tasks, but there's also a lot of team tasks.
"For me, marketing's a part of business where it's about understanding people and I love working with people and understanding why people do things. It's about teamwork and fostering innovation. So, marketing for me, kind of meets a lot of what I like to do. There’s a lot of project management but it’s also a bit more creative than, say, Finance and Accounting in the sense marketing's not embedded in textbooks. You’re not learning formulas; you’re actually going out and learning how to do it properly, and there’s so much breadth and potential for career opportunities."
Taking opportunities
"Visiting Qatar was one of the best experiences of 2019, it was fantastic. For me to see desert for the first time, and to see this revolutionary and metropolitan landscape - it’s obviously a place that’s one of the wealthiest per capita in the world and you see people driving around in top class cars and think maybe this is the place to come when I’m older. But it was less about the superficial stuff like sports cars and big buildings and about the actual things we were doing there.
"We visited Qatar University a lot and we understood the opportunities for women which are expanding in the Middle East, we learnt about how Doha is expanding in its infrastructure and what it's investing in and how so many international companies are coming to Qatar to establish themselves. We visited the Qatar Financial Centre, the Incubation Centre and the Science and Technology Park.
"We visited so many different places, and we did some presentations in the University itself on business ideas and how we could contribute. It was really good to get an international perspective first-hand from some top-level executives."
Career support
"I couldn't have got my placement without the careers service, they were exceptionally supportive to me and gave me the extra step to pursue a placement.
"They helped me refine my CV, so it was to a decent standard, a standard where it was actually above others. I’ve been complimented by other companies for the CV, so they really helped in establishing my individual profile.
"The careers service gave me lots of interview tips and a lot of local options. My placement is in Huddersfield and that’s not a coincidence, I only wanted to have a local placement. They highlighted a lot of opportunities that were otherwise concealed from my perspective. They provided a lot, the vigour to keep going, the encouragement and the support.
"There’s no specific amount of times you can visit them, you can always keep going back. You’re not confined to three or four appointments, the door is always open."
I do a lot of volunteering in my free time, it is integral to my personal beliefs and it’s exposed me to a working environment because even though it's non-profit, it's very much an active working environment with a lot of things going on.
this is where
...I expanded my horizons
I was the shyest person in the world a couple of years ago. If there's one thing I can thank University the most for it is improving my social skills exponentially. My ability to interact with people and make new friends, it's been transformative for me. A couple of years ago I was really socially reserved and didn't want to do anything, so it's really broken my shell. I've met some fantastic people who I am proud to call my friends.
Academically, I've definitely become more analytical and a bit more outgoing in terms of analysing and comparing structured arguments. I'm always the person saying, ‘do this, do that’, I get a sense of satisfaction from doing that and helping people. My confidence and potential leadership abilities have definitely expanded and I can't wait to practice in a placement. The student experience is a thing and it can work miracles.
