It’s OK not to know exactly what you want to do

Caitlin Kirwan spent her placement working for BMW UK Group in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, and today she is an internal communications manager for PayPal. But when she joined the University of Gloucestershire in 2010 to study Events Management, she wasn’t exactly sure what she wanted to do, and the variety of the course really appealed to her.

Her 12 month placement was at BMW UK Group, a major sponsor of London 2012, where she worked as an internal communication and events assistant at MINI Plant in Oxford.

And she loved every minute of her time at university. “I loved the sense of community. I spent my first year living at the Park Campus in beautiful Cheltenham, and I really enjoyed getting to know my flatmates, coursemates and lecturers. In my second year my course moved to Oxstalls Campus, and I loved how contrasting the modern buildings were. I have many happy memories of being holed up in the Oxstalls Library. Sitting at a computer next to the big glass windows, gazing out at the nature reserve and banning myself from moving until I’d read X number of pages or written X number of words!

“The support provided by our lecturers was excellent, and I always enjoyed being pushed and feeling challenged. My year with BMW was incredible. It gave me my first taste of internal communications, and really threw me in at the deep end to the world of work. Within my first month I was supporting huge internal events in the lead-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games, as BMW were one of the lead sponsors.”

The day after her final exam, she moved from Gloucestershire to Oxfordshire to start working for a boutique events and communications agency as an Account Executive. She organised events and campaigns for clients including EE, Intel and Panasonic.

“I remember my first time working onsite with the rest of my team running a conference for 600 Intel employees. I worked 18 hour days, and didn’t step outside of the hotel for four days straight. But it was so exciting, and I felt so proud to be part of the team. I helped build event websites, organised a marketing stunt involving a gang of pandas on the London Underground (not real pandas, you’ll be pleased to know!), booked countless venues, ordered thousands of cupcakes, and randomly bought 4 cars. After 6 months of fast-paced agency life, I decided to go traveling for a few months, so ventured off to South East Asia and Western Australia for an adventure.”

Since returning from Bali in 2015, she has worked her way up the ladder in the internal communications industry. “I still organise events, but they are just one channel in my ‘toolbox’ of things used to engage, inspire and connect employees. I also write a lot… scripts for leaders, articles for intranets, leadership briefing documents, newsletters and monthly updates. Before moving to Dublin to start this role in May 2020, I managed all internal communication, employee engagement and wellbeing for DAS UK Group, the UK’s leading legal expenses insurer. My experience with DAS set me up perfectly for my step up to an Internal Communications Manager for PayPal. We have more than 23,000 employees around the world, and 100% are currently working remotely. This makes the task of keeping them all connected, engaged and inspired more important than ever. I work as part of the Global Customer Operations organisation, supporting teams across North America, EMEA and Asia. I love the variety – my role certainly keeps me on my toes! Working across the global timezones takes a bit of getting used to.  I learn new things every day, and am surrounded by inspiring and very skilled people.”

Caitlin feels that her time at university taught her far more than her subject. “It taught me so much. Discipline, responsibility, interpersonal skills. The amount of group work required sometimes felt challenging, but was certainly one of the most important experiences to carry forward into my future career. The importance of meeting deadlines. Of proofing work. Of being punctual, and taking responsibility for my actions. The modules that focused on accounting and finance management equipped me with practical skills that helped me to manage my budgets once I graduated, and my marketing modules gave me very practical skills in things like writing persuasive language for websites.”   

And her main piece of advice is that it’s OK not to know exactly what you want to do.

“When I started university, I don’t think I even knew what “internal communications” was, and would never have imagined that I would fall into a career that challenges me, enables me to travel around the world and be creative every day. My time at the University of Gloucestershire really shaped who I am, equipped me with a ‘growth mindset’ and gave me the confidence to progress to where I am today. It’s ok not to know what the finishing line looks like. Just dive in, enjoy every day, and always try your best. The only thing we can all really do is strive to be the best version of ourselves, whatever that looks like.”