Eloise Boyd, Marketing Placement Student

12 Month Placement in Wärtsilä Services, Fareham

I greatly enjoyed working at Wärtsilä for my placement year. I gained a lot of knowledge and experience in marketing which I wouldn’t have with my degree alone. I have also learned about the marine industry, which I had no knowledge of prior to my placement.

At Wärtsilä, everybody has been very helpful and supportive, allowing me to gain more confidence. I have had a chance to attend internal and external training so that I can broaden my knowledge. I have also assisted with the organisation and management of exhibitions, which helped me become more responsible and improve my organisation skills. My role is varied, which I find exciting, since I am able to take part in a mixture of marketing tasks. Recently, I helped to create the marketing plan for this year and have taken responsibility of fulfilling this plan and reaching the goals. My role also allows me to use my creativity in writing email campaigns, designing promotional items and updating the UK website. Additionally, I use web analytics to measure the success of the UK website and email campaigns.

I would recommend a placement at Wärtsilä, as the company is full of future opportunities, and staff are eager to support your development.

Chris Meah, Marketing Placement Student

12 Month Placement in Wärtsilä Marine Solutions, Havant

As a Marine Solutions Marketing Placement student I have been involved in supporting the marketing activities within Marine Solutions for various business lines as well as providing global support for Europe, Africa and the Americas. Wärtsilä is a truly global organisation, operating in over 70 countries, (so you are always kept busy) it provides a great opportunity to meet new people, build relationships and network.

During my time at Wärtsilä I have been involved in the planning and implementing of various product launches targeted in locations such as China, US, Japan, Greece and Spain. This also includes supporting the planning of global exhibitions, conferences and customers seminars, from personalising and send email invitations, to being present at the stands, as well as analysing the success of the event.

I feel having a year’s experience as a professional has drastically improved my CV and employability. I also feel skills such as cross-culture marketing awareness (understanding cultures, traditions, utilising the local resources and communication channels to effectively target customers), creative writing, communication Skills, time Management, problem solving. I didn’t quite realise just how full on a fulltime role would be, it has given me structure, makes you much more organised and disciplined which has really given me a strong work ethic.

Laura Hannula, Business Development Analyst Placement Student

12 month Placement in Wärtsilä Services, Fareham

I recommend working for Wärtsilä – the culture is welcoming and supportive, you get a lot of hands-on experience and they support your personal and professional development by sending you to various training courses and industry events.

Working as a Business Development Analyst for Wärtsilä UK Services meant I got to be involved in a variety of projects, my responsibilities increased tremendously, and I was always treated like a full-time worker instead of an intern. After the thorough induction, I found myself creating a range of analyses and reports on spare part and field service performance especially, using various reporting tools, Excel, SAP and data visualization software. It was rewarding to be involved in business development where people took my ideas seriously even though I had no background from either business intelligence or of the industries Wärtsilä operates in. The job was challenging, but I was delighted to notice there was always someone to ask advice from – not always someone from the UK however, but instead I often found help by calling colleagues in Germany and Finland for example. Overall, I learned a lot during my placement, and the experience helped me realize that business development is indeed the field I want to build my career in.

Laura is now in a graduate role at Wärtsilä. Click here to follow her journey.

Reuben Malicki, Marketing Placement Student

12-month Placement in Wärtsilä Seals & Bearings, Havant

My placement at Wärtsilä has truly been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life so far. Wärtsilä Seals & Bearings has given me the freedom to grow into an exceptionally broad marketing role and develop not only my skills but also the role itself.

I have been tasked with many responsibilities throughout my time in this position, such as managing all of the Seals & Bearings marine events, overseeing marketing campaigns from start to finish, even creating advertisement artwork. I have also been lucky enough to travel to China for the Wärtsilä Linesafe product launch, a product launch which I organised the marketing content and campaign for. Another one of my largest jobs was to completely re-design the website for the Seals & Bearings part of the site, this involved replacing all of the old product images and the written content as well as a complete re-structure to the site. Another important point is that Wärtsilä really want to develop and hone your skills, I have been sent to numerous internal and external trainings to help me develop as a marketing professional.

As you can see this is a hugely varied and very role. To list all of my responsibilities or all the projects I have worked on would be impossible, but take my word for it, this is an engaging and challenging position, a great way to kick start your marketing career

Hannah McCrory, Marketing Coordinator

12 Month Placement in Wärtsilä Services, Fareham

I gained a huge amount of knowledge during my 12 month placement at Wärtsilä, not only in marketing but also the Marine Industry which I knew absolutely nothing about before I started! The opportunities available to me are far bigger than I had imagined. Despite Wärtsilä being a global company, I was still given lots of responsibility which has enabled me to improve invaluable skills such as project and time management.

After my placement ended, I returned to university to continue my studies, but have had an amazing opportunity to continue working for Wärtsilä in their Seals & Bearings division. Here, I am working as a part-time marketing coordinator. In my current role, I am able to apply the skills and knowledge I built up during my placement, but also learn about another part of the business- which is really interesting! Also being able to work part-time alongside my studies means I am able to continue to build up my marketing experience which will help me progress in my career once I graduate from University.