Ela Hawran-Beaumont

Said the following about Karolina Szpigiel:

“Karolina did an industrial Placement year with Greater Anglia as a Marketing Executive. 2 years later, and she's now working full time as a Brand manager after completing uni, with an outstanding 1st Class honours degree in Management and Marketing. This achievement speaks for itself!

During Karolina's placement year, she showed real commitment, learned very quickly and took on any challenge that was thrown at her. Every task was met with enthusiasm, excitement, and professionalism. For such a young individual, she also demonstrated confidence in dealing with a variety of people across the business, agencies and partners, but also with customers, when going above and beyond by helping on the front line when required.

She worked on several projects including a partnership with the Sundown Festival to achieve the objectives of promoting the event and driving positive brand engagement on our social channels as well as increasing followers from a younger audience on our Instagram channel. We're pleased to say this had a positive impact on all those objectives and this made Karolina hungry for more!

After completing her placement year, we were desperate not to lose Karolina and managed to keep her on to support the marketing team on a part time basis. It was after her studies that she successfully applied for a new role that opened up in the team as a Brand Manager.

Karolina was also an exemplary student at the University of Essex and has regularly been recognised for her contributions throughout her studies, and has since appeared on the Uni of Essex's blog posts about the success of undertaking a placement year, and landing a job after completing a degree. https://www.essex.ac.uk/blog/posts/2023/01/31/my-marketing-placement-with-greater-anglia

Karolina is a true asset to the business because she demonstrates all the qualities needed to make a team and business successful. She understands the business and commercial objectives and works towards them effortlessly (and cheerfully) and collaborates with team members in digital and CRM and other departments such as Customer Experience and Customer Service to help achieve those goals.

It's a real success story to watch an undergraduate flourish so well throughout their placement year, and with their commitment and hard work, it can result in a blossoming career. Karolina's future is bright, and we're so pleased that she is continuing on the journey with us at Greater Anglia!“

Chantal Callaghan

Said the following about Karolina Szpigiel:

“Karolina joined us for a placement year whilst at University in 2021. She took to the role as Marketing Executive very quickly and threw herself into a huge variety of work. Karolina went back to Uni for her final year, she continued to work part-time for us and amazingly did so much work whilst finishing her degree. Karolina achieved a First. We were delighted when a role became vacant within the Marketing Team for a Brand Transformation Manager in 2023, which Karolina applied for & was successful in securing. Karolina has once again shown her versatility and quick learning and works on a wide range of projects from Social Media planning, informational comms, and branding, the tasks are many. All of which she always delivers in a timely and confident manner. Karolina is a superb team member. We're lucky to have her.“