By Joe Wilkinson

3rd year BU student, BA (Hons) Business Studies

Hello, I’m Joe and I am a third year Business Studies student about to finish my placement year. I have been working in the Marketing and Communications department at Bournemouth University as part of a specific team designed to promote higher education and raise the aspirations of 12-19 year olds in the local area. Whilst this role may not be the traditional work placement for a Business student, personally I felt that the role was perfect for me.

The main reason I wanted this placement was because I went to school locally and I didn’t get on very well and as a result I was in all the bottom sets and was pretty much told that my chances of academic success were next to nothing. At the end of year 10, I moved to Spain where I attended an international school and I flourished academically and ended up doing very well in my A-levels and as a result enrolled at BU. I felt that by undertaking this placement if I could help young people who are in exactly the same position as I was 6 or 7 years ago then it would be a very worthwhile experience.

Over the past 11 months I have grown so much both as an individual and a professional. The varied demands of the role have allowed me to develop a number of important skills that cannot be taught by reading a book including: presentation skills, event management, the recruitment and management of my own team of ambassadors, communication with a wide range of people including high level representatives from all the local schools, general administrative duties and much more.

The highlight of the placement year for me was going into my old school and running a workshop in my old Science teacher’s class. He remembered me for all the wrong reasons and it was a very proud moment to be able to show him how I have developed way beyond his expectations.

Now moving forward I am looking forward to my final year of studies and am relishing the challenge of the demands of the final year at university. I’m very much looking forward to graduating and will always look back at my time at Bournemouth University both as a staff and a student member with nothing but fond memories.