Jess’ experience of finding a graduate role video transcript

Hi, I'm Jess

I graduated from the University of Derby
with a marketing degree in 2023,

and now I'm a Trainee

Marketing Executive
at the leading retailer, Next.

And whilst I was here I
attended the Careers Fair,

and this is where I found Next
as an employer,

and saw that they were offering
graduate schemes.

So for me, even before applying for university it

was so important that I got work
experience alongside my degree.

So whilst I was at the uni, I actually did
two different work experiences.

One, I did an internship at a local
Derbyshire business

called Letterbox Love where
I was a Social Media Intern where

I got to get involved again with what
their TikTok strategy, their Instagram

strategy, paid media
which was so beneficial for my CV.

Alongside that, I actually worked
part-time at the University itself,

so I did the B2B Marketing Assistant role,
which is absolutely incredible.

I've been able to explore
different areas of marketing

that I kind of can explore,
get different interests in.

And yeah, I think

that's really helped to really boost my CV
and really helped me to get my role

at Next.

So during my course,
our lecturers always pushed us

to make sure
we were doing our assignments

on real-life businesses,
real-life briefs and industries

25
00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:07,680
we were interested in

so for me, I was really lucky to work
with some local Derbyshire businesses,

such as an escape room where I was able
to take control of their Twitter account.

And, I think from that experience,
I was able to build my skills

within Social Media Marketing,
which I'm doing now at Next.

And I was really able to kind of solidify
my learnings

and knowledge
going forward into my career.

So as we know,
finding a graduate role can be so tricky.

There's so much competition out there,

so it was really important to me
that I started

that journey to find the graduate role

as soon as I started third year.

So in that September,
I started searching on Indeed,

LinkedIn, on other graduate sites
to try and find that dream role.

But as mentioned,
as soon as I saw that Careers Fair

and saw Next there I knew
it was the perfect fit for me.

So I was able to speak directly

with current graduates, speak to employers
there about what their experiences

and any recommendations
on whether to go onto

Instagram
to do the research, go on their website,

just to really find out
what Next is as a brand. From there, that's

where I applied and obviously started
working there within the next few months.

So alongside the Careers Fair I actually had one to one support

with the Careers Service which was 

so helpful.

They checked over my CV, made sure it read
right, made sure it aligned with Next’s career

page as well to really make sure my application
was as strong as possible.

So my future plans within my career
look like this;

One - I want to finish

my graduate scheme at Next
and be promoted to a Marketing Executive.

Two - I want to really solidify
my knowledge and skills within my role

and become a specialist
as much as possible,

and three -
just continue growing within my career

as a Marketer, I want to experience
as much as possible

and really grow within the industry.
So my top tips for current students

is to make sure that you attend any Career
Fairs that the University of Derby

hold. It was super beneficial,

you'll meet so many different employers

and you can

kind of get a gist of what you like
and what areas you would want to go into.

Also, make sure to get work experience,
whether that's even part-time work,

just free volunteering work,

any experience you can add to

your CV will be super beneficial
when you go to apply for graduate schemes.

And finally, make sure to start
looking for your graduate scheme as

soon as possible.

I love how close knit everybody is at Derby.

I've made some really great friendships
that I'll cherish forever.

Jess’ experience of finding a graduate role video

Back to Career Fairs