Corey Waters Long

‘Kick-starting my career’ with a placement

Corey Waters-Long, BA Advertising and Marketing student, was inspired to go to university after seeing the things his dad had been able to achieve. Corey, who is from a village in Northamptonshire, knew before he started applying for universities that a placement was a must. He was successful in securing a placement year at BioCote Ltd, and hasn’t looked back.

“It’s a great opportunity to gain industry experience to give me a boost in kick-starting my career as a marketer after university. The experience has been phenomenal so far.”

We caught up with Corey to find out how he is getting on.

Why Advertising and Marketing at Coventry University?

I already knew that I wanted to study advertising and marketing during my course at college, but Coventry University drew me in firstly because of its consistently high ratings in the Guardian table for student satisfaction and my college course leader’s praise for Coventry University as well. With the experiences I have had on the course it is easy to say that I have made the right choice.

Why a placement year?

For my university experience to feel complete I had to do an industry placement so that I could gain practical experience in advertising and marketing as well as theory. Placements aren’t for everyone and I feel it is down to how the individual feels, but with the experience I have had on placement and the different areas of the business I have been able to see and learn from it has greatly improved my understanding of social media content in business and how essential it is to a business’ strategy. I wouldn’t have gotten this in-depth understanding of the industry without a placement year.

What help did you receive from the University when sourcing your placement?

The University gives a lot of support to its students in the Faculty of Business & Law in general job application and employability practices, not just placement support. The skills and tricks I picked up from our employability support team will be helpful long after the completion of my degree and will help in future roles. In addition to the employability support team, we also have a module in our 2nd year tailored to placement applications and employability skills, such as interview preparation and using keywords in job descriptions to tailor applications.

Why did you take up the social media marketing placement at BioCote®?

I have always had a strong interest in social media marketing, I find the Business-to-Business (B2B) audience in particular the most interesting to explore. BioCote® provided the exact opportunity I was looking for to give me valuable experience within my main field of study and get insights into a completely new industry.

What have you been getting up to at BioCote®?

At BioCote I have been creating social media content to a schedule that I and my line manager discuss each week. In addition to this I have developed and monitored our social media analytics system that measures basic metrics of posts to gauge post performance and how we can tailor content best suited to our audiences. I have also assisted different departments on tasks which has given me insights into areas, such as sales, partner marketing, and a little bit of microbiology.

What new skills will you take back with you to Coventry University for your final year of studies?

There is so much from BioCote® that I can use when I return to Coventry University. The overall knowledge and understanding of the workplace is an asset in itself, which will allow me to propose effective and applicable social media marketing solutions. With this in mind, I believe that the most valuable skills that this experience has allowed me to develop is organisation through the development and structuring of the social media schedule and content. The organisational capabilities I have developed from working on multiple projects at the same time will help me in preparing for the Advertising and Marketing exams and working on my dissertation, whilst also searching for graduate job roles and preparing other assessments.

Would you recommend a placement year to others?

Without a doubt! Placement applications can seem like a grueling task but you put in the work and you finally secure a placement role it is a very rewarding experience. My placement experience has allowed me to learn more about various areas of marketing but also helped me learn more about myself and who I am as a worker.

In addition to the working benefits, Coventry University has also given me opportunities to assist in ambassador work, such as a promotional video interview and the opportunity to talk about my placement experience and the importance of digital marketing analytics to businesses in a guest lecture in March.

Our Advertising and Marketing degree allows you to explore the creative alongside the analytical, and is designed to give you an insight into a variety of forms of advertising alongside a solid foundation in some of the principles of marketing.

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