Keeping busy!

Alongside hectically proofing the UG prospectus, lots of the work I’ve been doing over the past week or so has revolved around the Postgraduate Virtual Open Event coming up on Wednesday 5th February. Advertising, emails, flyers and notices have all been arranged and it sounds like sign-ups are going well. I’m looking forward to it as it’ll be my first experience of a virtual open event and it’ll be good to see how it all works from behind the scenes. I think a virtual event would’ve been really helpful when I was applying to my universities myself, so I hope those who have signed up will get a lot out of it.

I've been doing lots of filming and
editing over the last couple of weeks.

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve spent quite a bit of time out and about filming students and staff members for various projects. I’ve done lots of this since I started working at the University and it’s something I really enjoy. It’s great to meet the students - after all, they are what all of our hard work is for. It’s really interesting to listen to their opinions and hear about their University experience. Despite my computer struggling at times to cope with the editing process, I really like putting together the clips I’ve filmed – it’s good to see a process through from start to finish.

Nobody says goodbye like the
Von Trapps...

It’s been a whole week since we said goodbye to Rehanna. She made me feel very welcome when I was brand new and finding my feet in the department and I will certainly miss her! What’s more, Friday marked the end of Sophie(our intern)’s time with us. She spent the last three weeks working on various projects with the team, and was a huge help to us. With all the goodbyes have come lots of delicious lunches with the team – every cloud has a silver lining I suppose! I’m really looking forward to welcoming new members of the team over the next weeks and months; it’ll be good to have somebody sitting in the (currently very empty) seat next to me again – it’s lonely over this side of the pod!

All Change on the Marketing Front

Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Interviewing for our
Marketing Officer

Last week saw many changes to the staffing in the central Marketing team. Firstly, I chaired an interview panel, alongside Paul Fryer (Digital Marketing Manager), and David Fryer (Web and Publications Officer in our LRC) on our quest to recruit a new Marketing Officer. It was a great day where we met a lot of promising candidates, each with a lot to offer. Michelle, our Marketing Administrator, provided a vital role on the day in doing the meet and greets, and getting each applicant to sit through a number of practical tests before each interview. The only thing to go wrong was on my part, whereby I actually forgot to allocate some time for us to have a lunch break - oops! Luckily, we managed to squeeze in sometime for a quick sandwich. Note to self for next time: actually provide a lunch break, or else I won't have a happy panel ;-). Towards the end of last week we came to a decision, and now look forward to our new Marketing Officer, Kylie Aldridge, joining us at the beginning of March.

Goodbye and good luck to
Rehanna (centre)

Secondly, Rehanna Khan, our Marketing Assistant left us for new adventures as a Marketing Officer at the University of Northampton. Rehanna had been part of the central marketing team for almost five years, and during this time had helped contribute towards our Undergraduate marketing and recruitment initiatives. The team gave her a send off in true Bedfordshire style, as we took her out for a leaving lunch to none other than Marketing favourite, Pizza Express, where we surprised her with banners, balloons, and many friends from her time at Bedfordshire.

In other news, applications for our Campaign Officer position close today, and so I'm gearing up for another week or short-listing, devising practical tests, preparing interview questions, and working up an interview schedule that actually includes time for a sandwich or two, if my panel are lucky! There are lots of changes within the team at the moment, but we look forward to welcoming each of our new starters, and shaping the next generation of university marketers.

New year, new initiatives

By Sarah Hampton, Marketing Manager

Happy New Year! Well, we're finally back after the Xmas break, and already there is loads to tell you. But before bringing you up to speed I thought I'd share some pre-Xmas updates with you.

The CST staff away day

Just before the Christmas break I was invited by the Department of Computer Science and Technology (CST) to deliver a presentation at their staff away day on how to improve recruitment to their undergraduate courses. So, with only two days to prepare, and having never delivered a presentation to such a large group, I set about harassing all the other Managers in the MARC department to dig deep for the latest market research, application figures, recruitment initiatives, and web developments. Before I knew it the day had arrived and I found myself standing on a stage in front of the entire department. After overcoming a few technical difficulties (and by that I mean there being no laptop!) and we were ready to go. The presentation went really well, and all of the staff were really engaged and interested to see what market intelligence we could share with them. From where their applicants come from and the schools they attend, to what their most popular/viewed course is online and what factors may influence their decision; it was all in there.

One of our newsletters:
Art & Design

Now that we're in 2014 our attention has turned to conversion: whereby we encourage our applicants to select us as either their Firm (1st place) or Insurance (second place) choice. So a lot of work is currently underway preparing a range of marketing materials to send out straight after the 15 January 2014 UCAS deadline. For the last few months we've been working on producing a series of departmental newsletters (see left) which provide the latest information, achievements and happenings from the applicants' area of interest. We've also got our bloggers up and running for most subjects (thanks to the Digital Team) which consists of current undergraduate students posting about their experience and what they get up to as a student.

Work is well underway on the 2015 Undergraduate Prospectus. We're now at 2nd proof stage and so the team is busy working away; proofing, sourcing outstanding information, chasing new course copy and selecting relevant new photography to keep us on track for our print deadline. It's all starting to take shape; so check back here in early February and when it's approved for print, and you can get an exclusive first look at the cover.

In other news, award season will soon be upon us, with the deadline for the CIPR Excellence awards only a mere 7 weeks away. So, hopefully we can get some of the above tied up fairly soon, so we can turn our attention to writing some award entries. After all, a good dinner and dress up will be a great way to celebrate all of our hard work after getting the prospectus off to print. Which is no easy task!

Here's hoping we can get some entries in!