Emma Dodd
Business Development Officer
My English degree is used in every part of my current job.
I am able to communicate clearly with organisations, write clearly for marketing materials, social media posts as well as proof read text and analyse large chunks of texts. I have to read through a lot of job descriptions sent through by employers so my reading and writing has to be at a high level.
Post 16 Education: A Levels Media, Drama and English
Higher Education: BA English
Emma's advice
Get advice from a wide variety of people before making your next choices for your career/education. Speak to teachers, peers, parents, people one year into their career, people five years into their career and people 20 years plus in their career. They will all say different things as there are no right or wrong choice for your next steps after college/sixth form. Just do what you enjoy, and you’ll never regret any choice you make.
Also try lots of different work experiences, as each one provides you with transferable skills that you can take into the next role you do.
Emma’s experience as a student
I was the first in my family to go to University, so I had no idea what to expect! I turned up to student accommodation on my first day and noticed I hardly had any ‘essentials’ like pots and pans compared to my flatmates.
At first, I felt worried that University was out of my depth as a lot of people had received private educations that I met. For me, it ultimately didn’t make a difference and meeting so many different people from different backgrounds was the best part of going to University.
My mum and dad were unable to support me during University so I had to work to be able to afford living away from home. This taught me to balance working and studying which made me really appreciate my chance to go to University and pushed me to work hard on my degree.
The hard work was definitely worth it!
Emma's Career
I didn’t know what I wanted a career in, but I knew I loved English and would enjoy studying the subject further. I don’t think I realised how valuable my degree would become in my graduate career but I’m very glad I studied the subject!
I now work for º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ in their Careers Network department as the Business Development Officer. I work with companies that want to recruit students into their business.
I started working as an Intern for the team and through stepping up to various extra responsibilities, I was encouraged to go for the role of Business Development Officer and started this role in March 2019.
º¬Ðß²ÝÊÓƵ offers undergraduate degrees in:
English, English Literature, English with Digital Humanities, English with Creative Writing, English and Sport Science, English with Business Studies