Graduate Diary 

| Aoife Mulrennan

My name is Aoife, and I am originally from Mayo. I graduated from UL in 2020 where I studied Business Studies and French. It was tough graduating into the chaos of a global pandemic, but I was lucky enough to secure a Sales and Marketing role with Supermac’s. This is where I fell in love with the world of Marketing. I spent 18 months there before getting offered a place on the Dentsu Grad Programme which has been a dream so far.

In my spare time, I love to cook and bake, hanging out with my friends, going for coffee (probably my favourite pastime), listening to podcasts (some of my favourites would be My therapist ghosted me & Happy place), and going to the gym.

How did you find out about the entry to media programme opportunity?

I saw the ad on LinkedIn and sent forward my CV. I was then contacted directly by Joanne from the People team who set up a quick call to talk through the role and the interview process.

Why did you choose to pursue a career in media/ digital/ advertising/ marketing?

In my previous role, I found myself gravitating more towards the Marketing side than sales and always wanted to see what competitor brands were doing online especially TikTok as that medium blew up in the last two years. I knew I wanted to get more involved in Marketing and the media industry so when this role came up it was a no brainer. Starting with Dentsu has been brilliant for building on my media knowledge and skills, it has also re-sparked my interest in Marketing.

What team did you join? Tell us a bit about what you enjoy within the team? Tell us about some of the work you have been involved in.

After I finished the programme, I was placed on the trading team in Amplifi where I am an offline planning and investment executive. In the Offline planning & Trading team we are responsible for planning and booking all Radio, Press and Out of Home aspects of a campaign.

There are 7 of us on the team and we get on great together. Everyone always helps each other out so no one is left with a massive workload. They have been so welcoming to me and have always made sure to answer any questions I may have.

We have a strong relationship with suppliers as we are in touch with them every day. We are also in contact with the client leadership team making sure the client is happy with what we have planned for their campaign.

My favourite thing about the role would be the planning side, it is a great sense of achievement when something you plan out for a campaign gets approved by the client. I also love being in contact with client teams and suppliers and building relationships.

What was it like to join a company remotely?

I did not find it that bad, with the pandemic, zoom/teams just became second nature. With the grad programme, you were on calls multiple times a day with the other people on the programme, so we quickly got to know each other. We also got to work on various projects together which brought us closer together. When we eventually got to meet in person it felt like we had known each other for ages!

Can you share one piece of key advice you would give to someone interested in the programme or starting out in the industry?

If you are thinking about getting involved in this programme I would just say, go for it. It is the best thing I have done so far. I did not know much about the Media Industry before I started and the amount I have learnt in the last 3 months is crazy!

You are surrounded by like-minded people sharing ideas and learning from their experiences. You also get to be involved in big campaigns for many national and international clients every single day!