Part 1 - The benefits of my time and experience at University and the misguided glorification of the college/Uni 'drop out', by me.

Recently, I have been reading lots of negative press about Universities and that they are not up with the times and do not cater for the current business economic climate or give students the necessary skills to compete and succeed in business or embark on a career. 

Personally, I studied at Nottingham Trent University. My course was for 4 years, with the 3rd year being a work placement at an advertising and branding agency in London.

I started University in 2001, right after the horrific events that unfolded in New York, 9/11, an event that changed the world forever. I will never forget the week leading upto going to Uni because of this and the first people I met whilst there and all of the conversations we had together. Everyone had something in common to talk about, out of a really negative situation, my first University year came together to discuss, debate and talk about how the world is shifting and how our generation could help change things for the better to stamp our mark on the world.

I have always been a sociable and sporty person, keen to meet new people and experience different view points. On the first day at University, I decided to take on board the advice of several key people in my life, this stood me in good stead moving forward….this culminated as follows;

1. Go into the student union, walk around, introduce yourself to everyone and ensure your circle of friends is as wide and varied as possible. I ended up living next to a group of girls who were art students, it was not long until I was sat in my underpants posing for their charcoal sessions. Moving on quickly...
2. Join the University football team and stay fit. I did this and had a few great seasons
3. Ensure you do all your work on time, do not leave things until the last minute.
4. Do not get a girlfriend in your first year. Great advice. Wish I would have listened.
5. Join a society that you would not usually be involved with.
6. Make sure you go home at least once a term, reset yourself and go again.
7. Ensure that you wash your sheets regularly and clothing. Keep your personal hygiene standards high.
8. Get a part time job. I used to promote nightclubs and bars fairly regularly for abit of spare cash to splash, mainly for nights out and University course text books.

Stay in halls in your first year, then second year, get in a decent house with key people you have met that are a good influence. You never forget the people you meet at each stage of University. It is a real melting pot of personalities and people from all different backgrounds. It really moulds you as a individual and refines your social skills, relationships are put into hyper drive as there is so much choice! For me, this was a perfect scenario.

I suppose these things were a flavour of some of the advice I took on board. Some I followed well. Some things, like having girlfriend’s etc, I ignored, this actually, looking back, detracted my focus on what I was at University to actually do and achieve.

In my first, second and gap year, I did not own a computer. I had to spend time in the University library and ask to borrow computers from friends on my course etc. Not quite sure how I managed really, highly annoying looking back, but I managed! My family could not afford to buy me a computer at the time, so I just cracked on with what was available to me. Luckily, my brother was kind enough in my final year to buy me one with his whole month’s pay cheque from one of his first jobs!

My work placement year at University

A few job openings came available for students wanting to take a industrial work placement year. I was adamant that I wanted to get experience in London, working on top brands and experience everything London had to throw at me. The day came round where I got an interview to work for a branding and ad agency called Park Avenue, part of the Incepta plc group. I walked into the interview with two directors at the company and there was no way I was not coming away without the job. Looking back, I bet I really looked desperate, but never the less driven and motivated to grasp the opportunity I had in front of me. The role was project assistant. My salary was ￡12,000 per annum, my rent on a one bed flat in London was ￡600 a month. Do the math, it was not an easy year financially for me! But it gave me the key I needed and exposure to what I needed to fulfil my future dreams, goals and ambitions.

In 2001/2002, Facebook and the social media we see today did not exist. Park Avenue specialised in brand experiences. While I was there, we launched Orange mobiles on a pan-european basis with an epic road show and I was lucky enough to be involved in the 25th year anniversary and finale flight event of the iconic British Airways Concorde. On the day, I was press office manager. It was at this moment in my life at the age of 21-22 that I got a glimpse of the crazy, creative and inspiring world of advertising. A world very different to the one we know today. You had to run an event to get a message out, you had to pay for billboards to get messages out there, or even a TV advert. Things had to be done correctly or there was expensive production consequences. I am not saying these consequences do not come into play today, but with the internet and advanced online technology, things can be amended quickly at the click of a button.

It was on this year placement that I learnt the value of doing a job to 100% of your best ability with finesse and also with attention to detail. Values I often see lacking in lots of the people I interview day in, day out for roles here at Digital Next.

My final year at University

Then, in my final year at University, with all this experience, my head was set, I had focus, I knew what I wanted to do. I worked alongside agencies like M&C Saatchi, Global brands like British Airways, helping turn around their brand image after a few shaky years! Then launch a telecommunications giant (Orange) all over Europe with traditional marketing techniques, that had to be right first time, first shot with attention to detail and maximum impact. 

My future goals were set;

1. Run my own agency that was highly profitable and hit ￡1 million turnover by the time I was 30.
2. Find a advertising product I could quickly go to market with on a mass scale.
3. Surround myself with creative, motivated, talented people. People that have shared goals.

Light bulb moments...

It was in this year that I remember getting a notification from my housemate to join Facebook. It was that light bulb moment, the same one I got when I saw Google for the first time. With Google, I remember sitting on a computer at college (aged 17), logged onto Google.com and I asked the librarian;

“Can you search for anything you like?” 

her response was,

“Yes I guess so”. 

I literally could not believe it. The same feeling came when I saw Facebook for the first time. This tool allows anyone in the world to create their own audience and with the click of a button, broadcast their agenda and their message they want to promote out to the masses. An interesting point to note, after all, Facebook was created by people that met at University!

It was with this that I realised, my dream of hitting all my goals above and whizzing round in a Porsche had to change, I got this image from a 1980s film, cant remember the name of it, but it was about an ad mogul that did well and he drove a Porsche, this materialistic ambition, underpinned by achievement in your career is what I saw and wanted for myself. The world was changing and I had to change with it. The advertising industry as I knew it was to change forever due to the evolution of the Internet.

Luckily, I managed to finalise my higher education, I came out with a 2:1. I guess the point of this post was to tell my community and connections, the benefits of University education and how it has benefitted me. Amongst all the detail of this post, I would probably summarise with saying that the positives it has brought me in life are;

1. Set your sights high and do whatever it takes to achieve your goals and dreams
2. Focus is the key to success
3. Surround yourself with the right people. I was sent an article last week about how you become the average of the 5 people you hang around with and talk to the most.
4. Learn how to research a subject correctly. With the proliferation of ‘fake news’ across social media, this is key! University certainly taught me how to do this.
5. Report writing, University taught me this. Everyday, you write proposals for new business, internal meeting summarised notes and action points. I remember my marketing lecturer hammering me to reference things correctly! The number of times I have seen people re-hash messages and mantras into blogs and v-logs about themselves and what they are doing is getting crazy now. There is lots of delusion out there and so much copy cat work going on. If you copied or plagiarised someone at Uni, its a instant dismissal.

How to present and pitch. On my course at University, they promoted team-work, presentation skills and how to pitch.

In summary

There maybe lots of arguments to this, for and against. However, in my opinion, University education was beneficial to me, without it, I would not possess half of the skills and assets I have in my artillery today. I personally think a lot of what it teaches people is missing in lots of the millennial generation I experience today who have the ethos of instant action and 'winging' things. How has 'winging' something ever been a thing….The amount of people I see on social media saying they are going to smash it and seize the day and things like that is getting boring. Talk is cheap, show people your results. University taught me this, because ultimately, you are at the mercy of your lecturers feedback that is given to help mould you and shape you into a better and more productive version of yourself.

I guess, what frustrates me most with people who are quick to talk negatively about University and this notion of glorifying the “University drop out” is that most of the people who slate University as a place that did not give them what they needed or they were not learning the stuff they need today, actually met the people at University that they are in business with today. How does that make any sense….I guess, maybe write a letter to Mr Zuckerberg, he has a long list of people he met at University that are extremely well publicised and he certainly falls into the category of being a glorified "Drop out".

I am not saying Uni is for everyone. I went, I experienced the benefits and I would not change a single thing about it. Sure it can be improved, refined....cant everything? The fundamental benefits of University are plain to see. I accept University is not for everyone, but the experience and what it exposed me to worked well to help me in life.

Everything I have learned and been exposed to, I try to weave into Digital Next for the better. To help all our staff with my experiences and what I have learned.

To be continued...