The experiences I gained from the year abroad and my placement were absolutely invaluable

At Sheffield, there is no need to choose between a year abroad and a placement year

I chose International Business Management at Sheffield because of the ability to do both a study abroad year and a placement year in a 4 year course - there was no need to choose between the two. This is massively advantageous when applying to graduate jobs and kickstarting your career. I also looked at the modules available at Sheffield and their partner institutions where you could study abroad and this was part of my decision making process.

The social life and sports available at Sheffield were also part of my decision making

A massive part of my decision (aside from the great course) was the social life and sports available at Sheffield. I had a few friends in the year above that studied at Sheffield and played hockey - their positive feedback about the city and the University solidified my decision to come to Sheffield. The careers support and where alumni had gone on to work was also something which I found very encouraging about Sheffield over other universities I looked at.

I did my year abroad at Florida International University in Miami

I went to Florida International University in Miami - I always knew I wanted to study in the USA, but thought it would be good to experience a different culture. Going to Miami combined both of these, with very high percentages of people speaking Spanish and large influences from South America, whilst still having an American culture.

Studying abroad is certainly a challenging experience: starting a new university, with a different culture; the fact that it counts towards your degree; and applying for a placement if you choose to do one is extremely difficult. You need to be prepared before you go abroad. This means leveraging the University’s careers service and getting your CV ready before you go, finding accommodation, preparing things like visas, health insurance and flights.

My year abroad highlights were travelling the USA

My highlights of studying abroad were travelling around the US to New York, New Jersey,  Los Angeles, Las Vegas and California. Yosemite and the Grand Canyon were definitely highlights! My second highlight would be going to carnival in Miami - this was an experience I never would’ve imagined and one I certainly will never forget!

Following my year abroad, I did a placement year with Unilever

I did my placement year working as a Global Assistant Marketing Manager for Unilever on the dishwasher detergent brand, Sun. Here I did global marketing, leading innovation and renovation projects for their core product, managing the x-functional team, the network, the finances and the design of the packaging. I also did a project on the overall category strategy, which is something I have now decided to explore for graduate roles.

I initially found the role on RateMyPlacement, but applied to lots of different roles on Linkedin. I wish I had leveraged the careers service more during my first year which would have made me feel a lot more prepared for searching for placements. 

The experiences I gained from the year abroad and my placement were absolutely invaluable

Being able to show that you can adapt to a different culture, work in the industry you are applying to, and gain transferable skills for lots of graduate jobs means you are able to get a leg-up over other graduates.

After two years away, it is so nice to be back in Sheffield for my final year of studies. Finding accommodation was surprisingly easy, as I live with people who have also done a year abroad and/or placement. However, it has taken some time to adapt back to the university way of life and British university.

During my degree, I have tailored the modules to be marketing focused

As marketing is what interests me the most, I have purposefully chosen marketing-related modules. At Florida International University, this was marketing strategy, marketing analytics and international business negotiations. In Sheffield, these are modules such as complex projects, international marketing and socially responsible marketing and consumption. These modules allow you to gain the soft and hard skills needed when working in marketing when you graduate.

The highlight of my course so far has got to be the managing complex projects module, which covers topics such as systems thinking, design thinking, managing multiple interdependencies and risk management and project analysis.

Savour the experiences when they happen!

The piece of advice I would give to students considering the course is that there are such great experiences available to you on the International Business Management course, but make sure to savour the experiences when they happen, rather than just focusing on what you need to do next!