Digital Marketing BA (Hons) student Amelie Barnes shares her experience of a placement year at Johnson & Johnson
I am currently on placement with Johnson & Johnson Vision Care as part of my Digital Marketing course. The journey to getting this placement was not easy, but it was through hard work and determination that I was proud to accept the offer with the company, who since joining have involved me in a breadth of projects and opportunities.
My time there has been truly amazing. Not only have I made positive connections with my colleagues, but I have felt like an integral part of the team. A unique part of J&J is the culture, with the strong value it holds to its employees. The support I have come to experience in my role has been unparalleled and that will be the part I miss most.
My biggest achievement has been the assistance during an event project for the UK’s biggest optical conference. I worked closely alongside the marketing lead, who felt able to rely on me executing our marketing deliverables. This trust allowed me to feel empowered and capable in making decisions on behalf of the team, pushing me to deliver a variety of marketing assets, one of which being on the front cover of The Optician magazine.
I was also heavily involved in the creation of our stand design and I was often asked my opinion of style choices. Feedback from the conference, both from internal and external stakeholders, was that it was our best yet and that we stood out for our professional look. Getting to attend the conference and see all the hard work our team had put in was greatly rewarding!
I would encourage any and everyone to do a placement year mostly because I now come back to my final year with a far greater understanding of what I want to do in future, along with a year of experience that not many students are able to say they have.