Martina Gardeva (Bulgaria)

My name is Martina Gardeva and I am a Bulgarian postgraduate student in MSc Tourism Management and Marketing. I have been working as a student ambassador since September 2017 and I can honestly say it was one of my best decisions. I am really thankful for this opportunity and would encourage everybody who wants to do something different to give it a try!

It improves your CV

Every work experience in your student life matters! You can really improve your English writing if you decide to be a blogger (like me) and learn how to produce engaging content, which captures and keeps the attention of your audience. If you take office jobs, you can also work on your transferable job skills such as teamwork, Microsoft Office, time management, etc. and develop an impressive self-driven proactive attitude, which can impress your future employer.

You decide when, where and how much

Once you are all set up, you start receiving job offers via email and SMS and you decide which one to accept based on your free time and the roles you actually want to take. As a blogger, the best part of the job is that I get to work from home, which saves me time. I also do live chats on WhatsApp answering questions from future students about a range of different topics. Posting photos on social media is also considered a job! How cool is that?

A chance to save money

As with every regular job, you can earn some money, which you can use to cover part of your expenses whilst at university. The pay rate is higher than most jobs in Bournemouth and if you are good at what you choose to do and you do your best, you get many job offers.

Meeting people from all over the world

As we are a team of international student ambassadors, we get the chance to meet and work with people from different countries and understand the different cultures. One of the best ways is at open day events, campus tours and workshops. You are practically being paid to have fun and chat with people! Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Somethings to remember…

As with every casual job, there are also somethings to keep in mind:

1. Being a student ambassador is not a regular job, so you can’t depend on it to cover all your expenses;
2. Everything you do requires availability, so sometimes tackling exams, assignments and job offers can be quite challenging. However, it will help you improve your time management skills;
3. In my experience, the job offers are usually sent to the more experienced ambassadors. So, at the beginning it can be frustrating that you don’t receive many job offers. Just remember that the better you perform, the more offers you will receive. Be patient and always do you best!

You will be invited to apply to become a BU Student Ambassador during the summer, before you come here. Keep that in mind when you are looking at your emails! The application process is really easy – you will just need to write a short blog on a specific topic and provide all your personal details. Good luck!

Martina Gardeva, Bulgaria, MSc Tourism Management and Marketing, 2017/18