Marketing student Sarah Brooks donned her Hawksford hat and joined the marketing team for a week. Here she discusses all things marketing and reflects on her time with us.
Q. What were you involved with during your time at Hawksford?
A. I spent a week with Hawksford in the marketing team and got involved with a range of projects. I was able to sit in on several meetings including one with the team in Singapore via Skype, a weekly PR meeting with the PR agency, as well as sessions with members of staff from other areas of the business.
Hawksford produces a magazine for clients twice and I spent time helping with research and idea generation for this. I helped with content and layout for a new Cayman Islands brochure and helped with a Singapore business development video. The team were extremely helpful and friendly, making sure that I got an insight into the marketing techniques and channels they use and how the different jurisdictions and clients prefer to receive information from Hawksford both in Jersey and across their international offices in Europe, Asia and the Caribbean.
I explored what products could be used as giveaways to promote the Hawksford Trainee Programme at career days and events and I learnt how to write short concise news bulletins as part of an internal communication piece. I got to see how Hawksford communicated and briefed an advertising agency to produce banners for the website - from creative brief to final creative.
Q. What was the highlight?
The highlight of my time was definitely being able to see the variety of marketing techniques and channels the team use across their international offices. These varied depending on the country and client they were marketing their services to and it was exciting to see how every project was tailored towards its target group, making each project different.
I enjoyed the research side of things too. While I was there the team were planning for the next edition of the Hawksford magazine, Hawk-I, which goes to clients and intermediaries. I got involved with ideas for the theme and the content.
Q. We believe in having fun at Hawksford with a variety of after-work activities - did you have the opportunity to join in any?
A. I got to take part in an after work tennis lesson offered to staff by Hawksford. It was great to get outdoors and do something fun and active with the team. They also had surfing lessons for staff and a beach day coming up plus several more staff events. It is great to see Hawksford providing these activities for staff as it brings together the different departments and shows that they really care about their staff.
Q. You have recently graduated: what uni did you go to and what subjects did you take?
A. I went to the University of St Andrews in Scotland and graduated in Human Geography. In my first two years I was able to study three different subjects so I took classes in Classical Studies, Art History and Geography. In my second year, I was able to switch subjects and tried an English Literature module.
Q. What area of marketing are you most interested in?
A. I'm mostly interested in Online, PR and Content Marketing. Technology is constantly changing and it is important that marketing techniques adapt and change to keep up with technology. Hawksford has offices in Jersey, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Cayman Islands and because of the internationalism of their clients they use digital channels as a key way to talk with clients in different locations.
Q. What have you gained from your week at Hawksford?
A. I have learnt a lot about the different marketing strategies and channels that a financial services company can use, and have gained confidence in knowing that I definitely want to work in marketing in the future.
Q. What does 'looking forward' mean to you and what are you next career steps?
A. Looking forward is about snapping up as many opportunities as possible when they come along. I could see this approach in the marketing team as they were always looking for new and better ways to communicate with their clients. My next career steps are to look for and apply to graduate marketing training schemes in London, as I currently live there. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at Hawksford and hope to be back in Jersey soon!
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