What did you study at undergraduate level and when did you graduate? What are you studying now? Are you studying and working at the same time?
My name is Brofie Jiggins and I am currently between jobs but my most recent position was Marketing Account Manager. While at university I completed my undergraduate degree in 2016 with a Bachelor of PR, Marketing and Communications majoring in Film and Television Studies. I am not currently studying but picking up freelance writing jobs as much as I can while looking for other employment options in my field of work.
What have been the most important stages of your life?
Well, so far my education and career have been the absolute priority. I had always been encouraged to be educated by my parents who didn't have the same opportunities, so I decided on that to be my main priority. I finished high school with an early acceptance into my course at Griffith and went straight from there into my three-year degree completing it in 2016.
During this time I made sure I applied for as many opportunities as I could to make myself a valuable candidate for future employers. I completed several internships, volunteered and worked a part-time job all while maintaining good grades at university. After graduating I moved into my first position as Marketing Coordinator and have been working my way through roles ever since.
How did you get to your current (or most recent) job position and how long have you been working there?
My most recent position I recently resigned from due to a toxic work environment which was impacting my personal life. I was one of two Marketing Account Managers in this department and had been there for nine months. I received this position through word of mouth via my previous boss who knew the person who ran this department and recommended me for the position. I've found so far all the positions I've obtained have been through word of mouth starting with the recommendation from my first internship advisor.
What made you decide to progress with further study?
My parents had always made sure I was open to further education as they were not at my age. Being relatively good at academics I didn't even consider an alternative to further education and knew I would be applying for University. It was as I went through my last couple of years in high school I learned I was rather good at journalism and was encouraged by my English and history teachers to pursue this as a career.
How did you choose your particular further study course (compared to others)? / Were you weighing up any alternative degrees or career pathways before choosing this qualification?
After visiting the careers day at Griffith University with my parents my dad suggested to apply for the course which I ended up taking as it covered many other topics and didn't put me in a corner regarding jobs in the future. I'm very glad he mentioned this as I came to understand journalism was a very difficult and time-consuming career that did not fit into my big picture of what I wanted for my life. Lucky for me I really enjoyed the creative aspects of Marketing, PR and Communications and paired with my writing skills went on to pursue it as a career.
What was the process to get accepted into your course? What were the prerequisites?
I had to have a prerequisite of an OP 12 or better, or in my case have grades to showcase my hard work and skills. If I remember correctly a reference from one of my teachers. I might be wrong on that one so don't quote me. Eventually I received an email notifying me of my early entry before I'd even received my OP score.
What does your study involve? Can you describe a typical day? (if it’s difficult to describe a typical day, tell us about the last thing you worked on?)
There were so many different fields of learning in this degree this question is nearly impossible to answer. I took history classes, literature, creative writing, photography, graphic design, marketing and PR fundamentals, risk management and much more. A lot of these classes were individual work and lectures and others were collaborative work in group projects.
So I guess a typical day could look something like - go to a lecture, attend the class afterwards, head to the library to work on assessments and meet with groups for group projects, attend another lecture and class and then head home to do some more work on assessments.
Will this course be beneficial in your career? Where could you or others in your position go from here? Please explain your answer.
This course was definitely beneficial in my career and opened the door to my career for me. Not only this but obtaining one of my internships at the university set me up with my first job and from there a reference for my next one. I mean there is definitely a lot I didn't know coming out of university and into the field but I learnt on the job and I like to believe some parts of University made me prepared to learn as I go and make the most of what I can offer as a valuable employee. I also like to make sure I further my skills myself to keep myself employable.
What do you love the most about your course?
I really enjoyed the variety of courses I could take. I mean I took the fundamentals as everyone did for their degree and then to complete their major, but I was open to so many areas of the field which I loved learning about. I was able to take photography, graphic design, music production, creative writing, PR in politics, risk and crisis management and much more. This allowed me to safely explore which way I wanted to go in my career in the field I was in and definitely led me down the path I'm currently on.
What are the limitations of your course?
Honestly, the only real limitations were class availabilities. I started off planning out my semesters to work out when I could take my compulsory classes only for them not to be available the next semester when they had said they would be. This was a very inconvenient process which eventually resulted in a trip to the Dean who managed to move things around for me and make exceptions so I could graduate on time.
Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current undergraduate student? They don’t necessarily have to be related to your studies, or even to one’s professional life.