Inspiring Futures engages students in live consultancy projects, which allow them to explore and practice business skills and professional behaviours. Plymouth Business School graduate, Jacob Asghar completed two consultancy projects during his studies.
Experiential learning opportunities
Working on two different projects, for two different businesses, meant that Jacob was able to gain a range of experiences during his time at university. With one project focusing solely on a marketing strategy and the other on both access to finance and a marketing strategy, Jacob was able to implement theory he had learnt, creating efficient resolutions and plans for both businesses.
“A lot of the skills I developed in other modules, I hadn’t put into practice within a business scenario, and by getting this opportunity it really validated what I had learnt and made me feel a lot more confident about taking that into the working world.”
What has Jacob gained from working within industry?
- Experience of communicating and interacting with a client whilst maintaining a high level of professionalism.
- Key professional skills, including conducting a meeting, working to a strict brief, and using initiative in a multitude of real, business situations.
- An understanding of the importance of collaboration in teamwork to ensure a project is completed to a high standard within a given time frame.
Personal and professional growth
Gaining real business experience while working on live, client-given briefs as part of his university course gave Jacob rare opportunities to develop an understanding of a range of different career roles, including project management and marketing. Equipped with excellent experience and glowing feedback from the businesses, Jacob felt more confident entering the career world after graduation.
“Just being able to see that even as a student I was able to add so much value to a business and get recognition for the work we had done was such a valuable thing, partially for my confidence and also for being able to demonstrate those skills.”
Mutually beneficial for student and business
Feedback from Jacob’s client:
“Jacob was extremely enthusiastic, friendly, professional and had lots of great ideas to help us. He had a clear understanding of our business and the industry. He had clearly done his research and put a lot of effort into this project. It was a pleasure working with him on this and I would gladly work with him again in the future.”
During Jacob’s time working on the group consultancy project, the hard work the members were investing into the project became about more than the grade they would receive. They also felt great satisfaction in seeing that the business was able to gain from their hard work.
“I have been able to ask the clients for LinkedIn recommendations and I’ve stayed in contact with clients that I worked with. I would consider a job with them in the future if one came up. It feels really good that a small opportunity, could potentially lead to so much more.”