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Meet Julia, Student Startups Programme Coordinator
- maryhartley19
- Nov 10
- 2 min read
Name: Julia
Degree: French and Spanish, University of Exeter
How did you spend your Year Abroad?
Madrid, teaching English & Paris, intern at NGO
Briefly outline your journey from graduation to now.
Upon graduating I decided I wanted to pursue marketing as I had enjoyed blog writing during my year abroad. I secured a graduate role at Exeter University where I studied, as a Marketing and Communications Coordinator in the Innovation department, promoting partnerships between the University and businesses. Through this role I got to know the Student Entrepreneurship team, and I provided them support 1 day a week on their website, social media and case studies. Their team was expanding so I applied for a role as Senior Administrator, to continue with marketing efforts but also to coordinate delivery of entrepreneurship programmes. I have been working in this role for almost 5 years, but 2 years ago the role was renamed to Programme Coordinator to reflect the fact that the role goes beyond administration support - I now advise students 1:1, deliver workshops, and much more!
What is your current job?
Programme Coordinator (Student Startups) - University of Exeter
What does your current job involve day to day?
I typically spend around 2 days a week working with students face to face, delivering programme workshops or chatting to them 1:1 to support them with their business ideas and goals. The rest of my time is more desk-based, overseeing administration around the programme (onboarding students, recording progress, sending emails with information, answering queries); as well as marketing (social media, newsletter). I also do a lot of event planning like coordinating pitch events and our annual awards ceremony.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
Communicating opportunities to other people, empowering young people to make an impact. The variety of tasks and hybrid working.
What advice would you give to someone interested in this job?
I think you could develop the transferrable skills for this job in lots of different ways. Something I wish I'd done more of at university is engaging with the entrepreneurship services myself or enrolling in student societies in this space like Enactus. I also wish I'd done something like writing for the uni newspaper or working as a student ambassador - anything that showed a real interest in the institution and also evidenced communication skills. What has worked well for me is being open-minded and saying yes to things, especially in my very first role, as it always opens new doors.
How has your languages degree been useful during your career so far?
Communication skills and ability to work with and support students from different backgrounds and cultures has been useful in my current role. Also my teaching experience on my year abroad has been transferrable as I now facilitate workshops for university students.
Do you use or practise your languages outside of work?
Not as much as I'd like! I go to a conversation group semi-regularly and take the odd holiday!
Connect with Julia on Linkedin here
Thanks very much to Julia for sharing her journey!
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