December 3, 2020, by Postgraduate Placements Nottingham

Making time out of no-time

This week’s PPN placements blog comes from Mario A. Castro-Rojas, an MBA candidate at University of Nottingham.

~ Tentalks: a project Mario worked on

As a professional in marketing and digital business with more than 10 years of experience, my career cannot just stop. Coming from Colombia to spend one year in the U.K. seemed crazy for many of my friends, family and colleagues: leaving a well-paid job, family and investments in my country seemed too risky, but I knew it was for the better.

Nevertheless, once here I started to feel the pressure. All my peers busy at work making good money, and me, in the classroom! Although I certainly did not spend wrongly any second of my MBA studies, I felt that my CV could be greatly improved by an international professional experience in my field of expertise.

But I didn’t have the time for a full-time job. That is why after some online research I found about Postgraduates Placements Nottingham (PPN). It seemed like a great opportunity to enrol in a part-time position in which I could get to know more about the industries I’m interested in (SaaS, IoT and Industrial Technology), keep practising my best skills, gaining some additional experience, and acquiring international recognition.

Although I could start working as fast as I wanted, because an MBA’s first two terms are extremely demanding (thank you core modules, consulting challenges, electives, business conferences and social life, or what they call now “networking”), during the third term I managed to allow some time to dedicate to this Marketing and Sales Planning position.

My placement was within an Industrial Technology and Networks Consultant, partners with Siemens and Cisco. After 5 months I am still working with them in developing marketing strategies and executing digital tactics (Webinars, eMail Marketing, Website Development, Content Marketing, Social Media Management and CRM management) to increase brand awareness and attract prospects.

Although working remotely is certainly defying (sorry for those missed meetings I forgot to attend, I have 3 different calendars now!), I’ve got along really well with my team and they have enjoyed the quality of my work. So eventually, the placement will be extended two more months, with high hopes of keep working together in the long term. I appreciate that the Graduate School team have been supportive throughout the whole process, keen to always solve questions and technical issues.

I’m really proud of achieving one of my career goals. What will be next might be a marketing management role, maybe in London or Shanghai (still in the process). I have to say that with ambition, a can-do mindset, and persistence we can reach whatever we would like to. I would definitely recommend PPN placements as an opportunity to blend into the British culture, keep up to date with industry trends, and improve your CV

If you are a postgraduate researcher interested in doing a postgraduate placement or professional internship please contact our team for more information: ppnenquiries@nottingham.ac.uk or find us on LinkedIn.

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