Students jet off for real-world industry networking in New York City

In the city that never sleeps, one group of University of Northampton Marketing students have been taking a bite out of The Big Apple to gain real-world experience from some of the biggest names in the industry.

Senior Lecturer in Marketing, Kardi Somerfield flew 15 first and second year students across international waters to New York for five days, providing valuable real-world opportunities to network with industry heavyweights.

As well as taking in the sights and sounds of New York city life, the students were exclusively invited to meet with leading industry experts from eight multi-million pound international marketing brands, including McCann Worldgroup, Ogilvy and TBWA Worldwide.

The students spent time with strategists, recruiters, account directors and interns from across the industry as they set their sights on steering their futures beyond graduation.

As well as taking the time to work, students were also afforded time to play as they visited The Museum of Modern Art, clocked a home run watching baseball, watched a show on Broadway and soaked up the fast-paced New York life.

One of the students was Becky Hyams, who is now in her second year of studies at the University of Northampton and took a leap of faith in applying for the international trip.

On her experience, Becky said: “I was really excited to sign up for the New York trip when it was announced in my first year. This was something unique to the University of Northampton course, and I was excited to gain international experience.

“As I have multi-sensory visual and hearing impairments, the trip really took me out of my comfort zone and encouraged me to self-reflect. I discovered a lot about myself on the trip, and am very grateful for gaining interesting and helpful insights into the advertising industry, which is an area I am potentially looking into going into after graduation.”

Reflecting on the trip’s success, group leader Kardi said: ““This visit was all about getting the students inside the industry and gaining a real-world taste of advertising and digital marketing.

“We’re all incredibly grateful to the companies involved for taking our students under their wing and flaming their passion for marketing. Nothing was too much trouble, and we were extremely fortunate to shake hands and chat with the leading professionals from these companies, including CEO of Canvas Worldwide, Paul Woolmington.

“Most of the students started their trip looking to graduate within social media management, however after speaking with some particularly aspiring statisticians, they’ve now changed their minds and are looking at more strategic level roles.

“Safe to say, it looks like we might have the next generation of leading marketing professionals set to graduate in the coming years from the University of Northampton!”

Find out more about studying Advertising and Digital Marketing at the University of Northampton.