Graduate Diary 

| Eimear Nolan

Born and raised in Kilkenny, I completed my undergrad degree in Communications at DCU. From there I moved to California and worked in San Diego with Ornua Foods North America for over a year on their sales and marketing team which I loved. Due to the pandemic, I then returned home to Ireland and completed my masters in Advertising at TU Dublin. I then started the Grad programme in Dentsu which I’m loving so far.

In my spare time, I love travelling and exploring new places, reading, catching up on the latest Netflix series, staying fit and active by going to the gym, walking and running with friends, swimming and doing water sports when I get the chance. Fun fact: when I lived in California I got the chance to go to The Ellen DeGeneres, Jimmy Kimmel and James Corden shows which were all amazing!

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

I chose to pursue a career in this industry as I always loved the advertising modules in my undergrad and similarly when I was working in San Diego I always loved the marketing aspect of my role. Hence, I decided to complete my masters in advertising when I returned home as I loved both the creative and media side of advertising. Starting the grad programme with dentsu has been brilliant for building on the foundation of my media knowledge and skills.

How did you feel during your first week?

I was very excited to start my first week with dentsu as we were given an exciting and jam-packed schedule for the first few weeks which was a great insight to see what trainings, meetings, courses and sessions we had coming up. The first week was great as we got to meet a lot of new people and we were introduced to the different brands and teams within dentsu Ireland which was a great way to develop an in-depth understanding of the company as we began our training.

What was it like to join a company remotely?

After completing my masters remotely for the past year, I had become quite accustomed to working from home, Zoom calls became second nature hence, joining the company remotely wasn’t too difficult. The HR team also made it very welcoming to join dentsu remotely as we have weekly catch ups with them, our mentors and joined online coffee roulette which is a fun way of meeting new people and having a catch up over a coffee online!

What have you learned, enjoyed doing?

I have really enjoyed the grad program so far and I have learned a lot over the past few weeks. Within the programme, we rotate to different teams on a weekly or biweekly basis. This has been a brilliant way to learn across the different teams and has made the training so far really diverse and interactive. The various teams we have training with include the AV team, Radio, Out of Home, Digital, Client leadership and more.

Within the AV training, we had the chance to complete the Thinkbox TV masters which was a great opportunity to do a fun and informative course. I have also really enjoyed joining supplier calls across the different teams and the practical sessions we have with live demos. Within these sessions, we get the chance to use the different systems which is definitely a great way to learn. I also really enjoy the culture within dentsu and the various committees, webinars, guest speakers and events they have to offer.