This is a guest blog post by current student Aaron Lloyd, studying  BA (Hons) Advertising.

Hi, my name is Aaron I am a BA (Hons) Advertising student and this is my placement journey.

After a successful second year and a lot of hard work, I achieved the highest grade for a L5 Advertising student. During that time, I was trying to look for a placement. After countless interviews, exams, skype calls and face to face meetings I finally landed myself a placement at Chambers Media Ltd.  Not only was this a great opportunity for me it was also right on my doorstep.

Chambers Media was established in 2014 and has since grown to become a specialist publisher and media agent within the fields of demolition, construction, and plant machinery, working with the likes of JCB and The Builders Conference. They have since gone on to launch everything from one-off specials to longstanding publications in a variety of sectors, even away from their core field.

When I started, I initially began on sales which is not what I wanted. However, after two weeks of demonstrating my design skills, I was quickly moved to the media team where I began designing client adverts to go into our publications. I then progressed to designing in house media packs, client and brand logos, magazine front covers, sample magazines and client proposals. This progression then quickly became my standard day to day duties, however, I wanted to progress more.I was then tasked with the rebranding of our company website and various news websites that we owned. This turned out to be a huge success. Over the past year, I have created, redesigned and brought to life over nine of our in-house publications by building websites for them alongside five successful client websites. These included news sites, company pages, award websites, online job boards and even a directories website.

Now that I controlled the company websites, I became responsible for their news feeds, maintenance and development. This then led me to become the social media coordinator for over nine accounts, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. These accounts have since taken off generating hundreds/thousands of followers and likes.

Other aspects I covered were designing social media artwork, designing and coordinating clients E-shots, animations/videos and designing the British Demolition Awards 2019 brochure, menu, PowerPoint and business cards. I also headed client meetings to discuss ideas.

I am delighted to say that I will also be working for the company while studying at university and upon my return, I have been offered a full-time job.

All of this is available to see via my portfolio website: https://aaronlloydportfolio.net

The biggest challenge I faced at the start was dealing with high-profile clients and coming to terms that it was up to me or the design team to fulfil what the sales had sold them. In many cases, this was just a matter of trial and error. I enjoyed the challenge and receiving good feedback would make it all worth it. I am now confident in my work and my approach to clients.

My placement has taught me many things and the biggest one is to have patience, whether this is when you are looking for your placement or if you have just started. Where you start isn’t always where you want to be but from my experience, with a lot of hard work, determination and the right attitude you can climb the ranks and earn your place.

Some advice I would give to anyone looking for a placement is to not necessarily focus on the bigger companies or worry if they don’t get back to you, but look for the smaller ones. The work, experiences and skills you will gain are way more hands-on compared to a larger organisation that won’t invest as much time in you or your development.

I am now getting ready to complete my final year at Bournemouth University where I shall return to Chambers Media after my degree.