The first thing I looked for when considering universities was their ranking in the UK. Loughborough is a well-respected university, consistently ranked in the top ten in the UK Complete University Guide.
More than that, it is consistently top for student experience. A big part of what I wanted out of university was life experience, life skills, to meet new people and join great societies. Loughborough promised and delivered on all of that and more.
The facilities were fantastic, the course was interesting, diverse and well structured. I met friends for life on my course, people I am still in touch with nearly 10 years later. I found all the teaching staff to be knowledgeable, welcoming and passionate about their subject areas.
An unexpected module involved learning about web design and HTML. This has proven to be very useful throughout my digital marketing career. It truly did open up a whole new world for me and has defined the direction of my career, unlocking opportunities I did not expect to find.
I did a fantastic placement at Canon, the camera company, as a digital marketer. I learnt a great deal about the corporate world and about marketing, and brought that experience with me into my final year studies. I highly recommend the placement year as a way to get that first year of experience under your belt. I’m sure it gave me a big boost when looking for jobs after graduation.
My career path has allowed me to get experience in all types of marketing including advertising, SEO, website management, content management, marketing automation/email marketing, events and more!
After graduating, I started a job as a Graduate Marketing Executive at Pure, the digital radio company. I completed the graduate scheme and moved up to Digital Marketing Manager.
I then moved to a B2B role working for Blackhawk Network, a financial services company, as a Digital Marketing Manager. At Blackhawk, I moved up into a global role, working as a Senior Marketing Manager.
From there I moved to Fortinet, a Silicon Valley-based cybersecurity company, working as a Senior Marketing Manager.
I also own a personal finance website with a small team of writers called Money Stocker.
The website is about teaching the fundamentals of personal finance, including sensible investing strategies for building wealth. It’s a passion project designed to help new graduates entering the working world manage their money effectively, and hopefully retire wealthy!
The aforementioned web design and HTML module has been a big help in the latter endeavour, but everything I learnt about promoting and growing a brand has come from my course at Loughborough. I feel fortunate I found Loughborough and a course that suited me perfectly.
To anyone considering studying at Loughborough, I would say you will have no regrets – go for it and have a great time!
James graduated from Loughborough University in 2013.
*This programme has since been replaced with BSc Business Analytics