Sheffield really feels like a home

Why did you decide to study MSc Marketing Management Practice (now MSc Strategic Marketing and Branding) at Sheffield University Management School?

I chose my course at the University of Sheffield for a combination of reasons; my older brother studied both his undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in Sheffield so my visits to him drove me towards the city in the first instance. Knowing I wanted to study in Sheffield, I was drawn to the Management School by its prestige, accreditations and attractive courses. I decided to do the masters so that I could build upon the skills learnt from my undergraduate studies, maintaining my curiosity and passion for learning as I stepped into a higher-level, professionally relevant course. 

Did you enjoy your time studying with us, and how did your experience help to shape your career?

I greatly enjoyed studying at the Management School – making friends throughout my course and being exposed to a wealth of different cultures in the process. It was a challenging yet thoroughly rewarding experience that set me up with the fundamental skills I needed to start my career strongly.

During my studies I also completed a company project dissertation with a local SME, which was a great project to work on because it gave me a feeling of accountability and allowed me to work with real, tangible research. This experience helped me in the beginning of my career as I had an early opportunity to co-operate with stakeholders and provide actionable reports on real-life trends and consumer behaviours. Understanding and mapping the consumer buying process was integral to my dissertation and remains a fundamental part of my current role.

I also took part in the University Business Challenge, leading one of Sheffield’s teams as we competed against universities across the country. It was a fantastic lesson in managing deliverables, co-operating with peers and maintaining morale; it’s an underrated skill to react to challenging results with positivity, but it’s a genuinely valuable thing to learn.

How does the knowledge and skills gained on your course factor into your current role? 

I think you can split the benefits of the course into two categories: Marketing skills and professional skills.

On the marketing side, the knowledge I developed across the course was great. The programme is a really diverse but well thought-out course which still underpins much of my approach to my day job (I even have a few of my old textbooks on my desk!).

Professionally, learning to work with peers from a wide range of different backgrounds, working in teams and owning different deliverables translates perfectly into my career as the fundamentals of trust and collaboration are an essential in any role.

Can you tell us about your career path since graduating from the University of Sheffield?

Upon graduation I joined the Sheffield-based OSL Group, a family-owned group of businesses based in Attercliffe. I started out as a Content Writer for the Group’s new start-up business, however I quickly branched out into various different roles centred around SEO and website development under the guidance of my first line manager. Soon, I found myself working in a mixed marketing and business development role, working to leverage our digital strengths to generate and pursue new opportunities.

Now, I’ve recently taken the position of Digital Manager, steering our joint digital strategies for the UK and US enterprises. This involves developing and managing projects, owning deliverables across various aspects of digital and bringing new features to market. It’s a diverse role which has demanded a lot of growth, but continues to be rewarding.

Initially I wanted to do something that aligned with my marketing and English literature background, so seeing a local Content Writer role made total sense. My manager in that role was from a Digital background and was happy to train me in that area, so I was lucky in that sense.

From there I just followed my curiosity, and now I’m firmly entrenched in digital and working to develop our portfolio as we go from strength to strength in 2025.

What is a typical day as a Digital Manager like? 

A typical day in the life is tricky to nail down as things are always changing and there are always new opportunities and projects to pursue! Day-to-day I monitor analytics for the projects I'm working on – interpreting the performance of our marketing toolkit: GA4, Ahrefs and other standard industry tools.

The bulk of my work is project-based, so it involves liaising with our agency partners and internal/external stakeholders to maintain cadence on our projects. This can be anything from strategy to aspects of financial planning, or usually getting stuck into the development work myself.

A key part of my role is working between departments; I work closely with Sales, Customer Service and Product Development to ensure that our digital outlook maps to their objectives – keeping our joint strategy aligned is essential to everything I do.

I thoroughly enjoy the responsibility and opportunities to learn in this role; I live by the approach of taking opportunities wherever they present themselves. If I can’t do something, I’ll often step forward to do it as an opportunity to learn something new. I’m also lucky enough to work with a great team of people throughout the business which makes a huge difference.

The skills you’re gaining will directly translate into your career; the academic staff have done a great job translating the key theoretical concepts into really applicable content.

How did you find the job search?

Searching as a graduate is difficult, there’s no other way to really describe it. I pursued a lot of different things, ending up with a graduate scheme offer in London, a job in York and what was to become my role in Sheffield.

All in all, I’m happy with the choice I made, though I would stress that not only is securing a job in a competitive market an achievement in itself, I’d also emphasise that your career will surprise you. You may not secure a role which seems logical to your studies immediately, but opportunities will arise given consistency and hard work.

What advice would you give to students looking to secure a job in digital management and/or marketing?

I’d say the best advice I could give, aside from the obvious tenets of hard work and self-belief, is to engage wholeheartedly with the employability opportunities given by the Management School.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the employability education opportunities at the School made a huge difference to me, for example having my CV critiqued and getting interview advice had a significant impact on my job search after graduation.

The course itself had a range of enterprising projects written into it which were really valuable, and when you work on these projects keep in mind that the skills you’re gaining will directly translate into your career; the academic staff have done a great job translating the key theoretical concepts into really applicable content.

Where do you see your career going in the future?

Looking ahead, I want to develop myself professionally and push to become a real specialist in my area. I’m lucky to have some really valuable guidance and support from senior figures in my workplace.

The most important thing for me right now is learning how to understand my areas of improvement, seeing the gap between where I am now and where I want to strive towards. I’ve been fortunate to receive a lot of trust and support from the organisation so far, something which has been key to my journey.

What are your fondest memories of your time at the University of Sheffield?

Looking outside of the Management School for a moment, my fondest memories are probably all to do with the city itself. The friends I’ve made, the career I’ve found myself in and the family connections have made Sheffield really feel like a home. Coming from the other side of the country, it’s been a while since I’ve felt really at home somewhere, but now – going on 4 years in Sheffield, I’ve really found myself deeply tied to the city.