Charlotte Herdman

Marketing - BA (Hons)

Charlotte knew she needed marketing experience and industry connections to make her dream marketing career a possibility. Thanks to the opportunities BCU offers, Charlotte feels confident and ready to graduate into the world of work.

“I always wanted to go to university, even though I was the first one in my family to do this, because I knew I wanted a career in marketing. A lot of traditional universities didn’t offer a pure marketing degree. I looked at BCU and knew it could offer me the practical experience that I couldn’t find elsewhere.

The BCU open day was by far the best one I’d been to. It was really well organised; the lecturers were really helpful and engaging and they placed a lot of emphasis on placement years which I was really interested in. Once I had applied, received an unconditional offer and I found out about BCU’s scholarship, which helped me make my mind up. BCU’s scholarship meant I received £1000 when I started my studies. It meant I could buy some extras to help on my course, like a hard drive and some good headphones.

I received practical marketing experience from the start of my BCU journey. I was part of The Link in-house marketing agency in my first year, where I was able to work on real marketing briefs for different companies, from a small start-up to the Bullring and Grand Central! I was able to collaborate with students in different stages of their marketing degree. They were able to advise me and share their wisdom from their time at BCU, the experience and their guidance has stuck with me throughout my time here.

Since discovering that I could complete a placement year, it became one of my main goals in my university experience. I completed a placement year within Honda Motorcycles’ Marketing team. It was an amazing opportunity that taught me a lot. I was able to have a direct impact on their website, app and social media channels, as well playing a key part in cross-cultural event management. It gave me confidence in both my marketing and corporate abilities that I know I will use in a graduate role.

I’ve also learnt a lot from the guidance that the Careers+ plus team offer to students. They helped me during the placement application process and their workshops have helped me boost my employability skills. As has the opportunity to work alongside my studies as a TikTok-er for the University!

Thanks to my experience and the support I’ve received, I feel confident graduating into the world of work. Birmingham is a great city to work and study in, there is always so much going on and thanks to the Commonwealth Games, there are more and more opportunities than ever in the city. It was a big change coming from the Welsh countryside to Birmingham, but the multiculturalism and fast-paced city life is something I definitely prefer.

I have definitely become more outgoing; I say yes to things that I would never had agreed to before I started university. I have also become more mature and have a better understanding of what life could look like after university.

To me ‘I AM BCU’ means I am building my independence, employability and the best possible version on myself to enter a world which is constantly changing.”