Marketing and Management student Laura completed a placement with Miller Groundbreaking in 2023–24. Find our more about how her placement year helped her.
Variety and hands-on experience
No two weeks during placement were the same. The variety of my work became one of my favourite aspects as I was involved in a wide range of tasks, from content creation to event planning. Some of my favourite experiences came from unexpected and random tasks I never expected to do. One including painting 50 mini buckets for a trade show!
My role had a key focus on market research. I worked on a number of research projects, including competitor analysis, product trends and insights. I also created social media reports each month, tracking engagement and identifying the top performing content. This improved my understanding of digital marketing in practice and enabled me to provide new content ideas for future campaigns.
Social media was a typical part of my everyday tasks. I handled the business’s platforms and took an active part in content creation. I produced TikTok content including event highlights, behind the scenes videos and trending challenges. Additionally, I took a lot of pictures and videos of the company's events, manufacturing sites and products.
Getting involved beyond marketing
In addition to marketing, I also helped with other company initiatives. As a part of the company's Health Advocate team, I assisted in planning monthly events for charity, wellbeing and employee morale boosting. One of the highlights of my placement was participating in a sponsored bike ride to raise money for Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter.
Another exciting part of my placement was working on several large trade shows, including Hillhead which is the UK’s biggest Quarrying, Construction and Recycling Exhibition. I supported my team on a variety of tasks including promotional graphics, social media campaigns and event admin. I helped with restaurant bookings, truck passes and health and safety compliance for the company’s stand. Attending Hillhead in person was one of my favourite moments on placement as I had the opportunity to speak with customers, take photos and experience the buzz of a major industry event first-hand.
Overall, my placement gave me a real idea of what it is like to work in a dynamic and fast-paced environment. I left with skills, memories and experiences I never expected but will be invaluable for my future career.
How my placement shaped my future career plans
When I started applying for placement, I knew I was interested in working in marketing after enjoying these modules during my first and early second year at university. Even when I started my placement as a marketing intern, I didn’t expect the experience to give me as many insights as it did into other possibilities.
My placement gave me a wide variety of responsibilities, from managing social media and conducting market research to supporting trade shows and helping the sales team. Every week was different, keeping a fast-paced but exciting experience. I realised that I really enjoyed working in this environment, as it helped me become more adaptable and flexible to change. Being part of a relatively small team in an office setting allowed me to build up my confidence and communication skills.
Discovering my career direction
Attending Hillhead in person and getting to speak directly with customers made me realise how much I enjoy interacting with people. Speaking to people about the company’s products, answering their questions and just talking about the event in general gave me a real example of the customer-facing side of a business, which was something I hadn’t been heavily involved in before.
This experience led me to explore different roles for my graduate career than I had during my placement search. I went beyond just looking for marketing roles and focused more on opportunities that would allow me to be more involved in customer interactions. As a result, I’ve now secured a management trainee role that centres around customer service.
Overall, my placement taught me that I enjoy working in a fast-paced office environment, working with others to complete an end goal. While I did really enjoy the variety of marketing tasks I completed throughout my placement, it opened my eyes to a new area of business I want to explore, and I am looking forward to seeing how my graduate role will not only help me develop my skills but also allow me to discover new areas I am passionate about.
Find out more
To find out more about studying abroad, you can:
- check out the university’s Global Experience webpage,
- contact the Business School’s Placement & Study Abroad Team at nubs.placementandstudyabroad@ncl.ac.uk