James Kenyon

Country of origin: United Kingdom

Placement: BlackBerry

I didn’t like the idea of being at University without gaining work experience. Therefore, I decided that a work placement would be an area where I could use and gain unique skills, allowing me to flourish in my final year and beyond. I wanted to understand in greater detail the concepts gained from my modules at University and reflect upon these within a work environment.  

At BlackBerry I worked in a variety of areas within the business which allowed me to gain an overview of how the organisation worked together. Firstly I worked in Handheld Management & Tracking Team which dealt with pre-released devices and configuring these for external stakeholders, such as network carriers. I then was given the opportunity to work with the BlackBerry Systems Engineering Team based in Canada which focused on handheld software project release management. Additionally, I worked with the BlackBerry World Team for Europe, Middle East, Africa, Latin America and Caribbean. In this team I managed marketing campaigns and merchandising for applications, music and video on the BlackBerry World Store. 

I found the whole placement experience thrilling and very interesting. The projects I worked delivered huge gains for both the business and myself. Every day I learned something new which allowed me to improve my knowledge surrounding business processes, and work in different areas of the business. I also met a variety of people from lots of different backgrounds, giving me a broad understanding of a work environment.  

Many of the people I worked at BlackBerry with were welcoming and open to share knowledge, displaying both lean and dependable qualities, this allowed me to flourish in my role. Additionally I enjoyed meeting new, creative people, a flexible culture and being at the centre of processes, thus working one to one with high level managers to gain amazing results.

I found the LUMS careers team to be helpful during my placement search. They gave genuine advice with one to one sessions and resources to help me apply for placements, such as CV templates. If you have the opportunity to take it, the placement preparation module (OWT250) does include some useful resources, especially for tips when researching at work for my dissertation. I also found the various careers events held in the Management School to be extremely useful.  

When I finish my degree at Lancaster I would like to work in an industry which surrounds technology, or an industry which uses technology for multiple processes. The main transferable skills I have learned while on placement are mostly commercial skills such as listening, problem solving and managing. Additionally, I learned skills specifically in database management, agile software release project management and marketing.