Next in our  series is Kirsty, who joined us a couple of months ago on an internship as Marketing Assistant.

Fresh from University, and with some serious social media knowledge up her sleeve, we talk to Kirsty about marketing and social, graduate employment prospects and why work experience is so important.

Hi Kirsty. Can you tell us a bit about your course at University?
I studied Media Studies which focused on a wide range of topics from advertising and branding in the 21st Century, to postmodern society and popular music. It was really varied and allowed me to learn about a huge range of topics and theories as well as gain a small amount of practical production skills.

What made you want to explore a career in marketing?
Ever since I started studying Media at GCSE level I was always interested in advertising in particular. When I went to college I also took up Business Studies which taught me more about marketing in general and caught my interest. This led me to studying Media at University and choosing modules which could help me pursue this career, particularly a module on social media.

What are your thoughts on the importance of work experience and work placements for undergraduates/recent graduates?
I think work experience is hugely important whether you’re still at university or have just left. However great a degree may look on paper, it doesn’t make you a great all-rounded person as you have no practical experience.

Getting any amount of work experience shows that you’re being pro-active and trying to get the experience you need. Throughout my three years at University I carried out a couple of work placements and feel that they helped boost my CV but also made it possible for me to get my internship here at Hireserve because of the skills I learned.

How do you and your peers feel about your career prospects? Were you all confident entering the jobs market? Did you feel prepared in terms of employability?
I would be lying if I said that we were feeling confident about entering the job market, but in reality we’ve finished University at a great time economically as the job market is definitely a lot better than it has been in the past.

I know some students in my course who haven’t felt that they have the best career prospects ahead of them because of their degree but then I also know plenty of people, including myself, who have managed to get jobs straight out of University which are related to their degree which shows that it is possible.

What have you learnt/experienced so far during your time at Hireserve?
When I joined Hireserve I knew very little about recruitment software, but after two months of working here I’ve already started writing technical blog posts, something that was intimidating to begin with, but am now starting to feel a lot more confident about the more technical elements of an ATS.

One of the things I was really interested in learning more about was how websites are run. I’ve had the chance to learn how to use WordPress and have been able to add and edit pages on our main website by myself. I’m also lucky to have been trusted with sourcing and scheduling content for one of our Twitter profiles. It’s a great feeling to see that what I’m doing is increasing our follower numbers and hopefully it will continue that way!

What are you most looking forward to during your time with Hireserve?
The thing I’m most looking forward to now is our major marketing campaign that is coming up over the next few months. It was really exciting to have been involved in the planning of the campaign and am looking forward to going through each stage and seeing where it takes us. It’s going to be a great opportunity for me to continue to learn about different marketing techniques.

Considering I’ve only been at Hireserve for two months, we’ve already had some great work socials, so I’m looking forward to more of those as well!

Find out more

Meet Rob and discover why he’s Hireserve’s Mr Fix-It

Say hi to Anton and find out how to keep your ATS secure

Meet the rest of the Hireserve team

And learn a bit more about our company culture