Business and Management with a Year in Industry
My placement year helped me build the network I need to turn my career plans into reality.
The reputation of the University of Kent is what attracted me. I had heard from current students and from people who had already graduated how good a university it is.
The aspect I like the most would have to be the lecturers. They make the content we study as enjoyable as possible and they go over and beyond to make sure we get the best possible grades we can.
I worked as a social media executive for JD Sports. The whole concept at first was mindboggling to me – I was in control of a verified Instagram account that had over a million followers. As part of the team that ran the social media accounts, I was heavily involved in the type of content that was produced and posted. Day to day, I would note down what big sporting events were occurring and what would resonate well with our audience and our demographic. Once I’d selected the events to cover, I would then come up with concepts and make the sporting events relevant to our page. Having developed the concepts, I would send them over to the art team to create the art projects and then I would schedule and post the concepts.
As part of the placement, I was fortunate enough to meet some quality sports celebrities: I interviewed Michael Owen, Jay-Jay Okocha, Dean Saunders, Eddie Hearn and a few others.
Definitely the trip to New York for the Anthony Joshua fight against Andy Ruiz Jr. It was such a blessing to be able to go. Originally, only graduate students were due to go but there was a problem with their visas. I was in the gym when my manager called me and, although I had a very good relationship with my manager, I was reluctant to pick up because I thought he wanted to talk to me about work outside of work hours. So, I let the phone ring out, but then he called again, so I thought it must be really important. That was when he told me I could go on the trip!
I believe I was picked because I’d already covered a few boxing events: one in Birmingham (Amir Khan vs Samuel Vargas) and the others in London – Anthony Joshua vs Alexander Povetkin, Dillian Whyte vs Dereck Chisora – so I was already aware of what content needed to be captured. In addition to boxing events, I’d also covered in-store rugby events and a decent number of football events such as Soccer Aid and Star Sixes.
The overall trip was amazing. We flew in business class with some Love Island influencers and YouTube influencers; we also attended a rooftop party and the hotel we stayed at was lovely. The atmosphere inside Madison Square Garden was electrifying – I was grateful to attend the fight and the fight will go down in history as one of the greatest upsets in boxing since Mike Tyson and Buster Douglas. The only downside of the trip was that Anthony Joshua lost. I didn’t get to meet Anthony on this trip but I did meet him briefly in the fight I covered in London – I was completely frozen when I met him because I am such a fan of his!
Yes, I’m in the Football Society. I like it because it boosts my team working skills and just adds more fun to my overall university experience.
I would like to do some sort of sports marketing and my placement has made it possible for me to have the network needed to turn this into a reality.
Honestly, coming to the University of Kent has been one of the best decisions I believe I have ever made. I have grown so much as an individual, I have met some great lecturers, studied some quality modules and made some lifetime friends.
