A guest post by Oliver Hearsum, Work Experience Student.
With the competitive nature of the job market showing no signs of easing up and record numbers of graduates unemployed, I believe it is work experience opportunities such as the one that I am currently undertaking at KG Moore are more crucial than ever before. I have been fortunate enough to gain some much needed marketing planning and strategy experience from Marketing Strategist Kim Moore.
As one of my University lecturer’s once stated “your degree may get you to the top of the applicant pile but from then on you’re on your own.”
This is particularly alarming for University students with many (including myself until recently) holding the false assumption that as soon as they graduate the attractive starting salary will be there waiting for them. For many undergraduate’s the emphasis is on working hard for three years, meeting challenging deadlines and enjoying the University experience, with work experience being very much a secondary thought. However with one year remaining of my Business Management degree and in the long four month intervening period between my second and third year, I believe it is the perfect time for me to acquire some work experience in the line of work that most appeals to me, namely marketing. This prompted me to contact and consequently be taken on by freelance Marketing Strategist Kim Moore.
Unlike many University students who pursue the tactic of ‘swallowing’ the textbook and regurgitating it in the exam and subsequently forgetting what they had learnt, I however had a burning desire to see it being applied in practice. Fortunately, Kim has been able to provide the experience that I wanted by enabling me to assist her on a variety of different projects for clients in diverse sectors and even invited me to accompany her when meeting a customer of a client in only my second day of working with her. It is the knowledge of the workings of both WordPress and Mailchimp that I have gained during my work experience that I am most proud of, as I believe these are great skills to possess and will be attractive to prospective employers. As I state on my CV, I am competent with IT but prior to working with Kim these two programs were completely alien to myself. I am also relishing the opportunity to observe Kim manage her time effectively, whilst juggling the work of her many clients.
So returning to my lecturer’s rather daunting words, I believe that being able to mention that I have been able to work on a variety of tasks with Kim and the new skills that I have acquired will prove to be invaluable and will help with my career prospects once I have graduated.
