DMA Talent's Reconnect Event

DMA Talent’s mission is to connect aspiring talent with the data and marketing industry through a range of programmes and events. Hundreds of students throw themselves into our events every year with many practically walking into their dream role. For others that walk takes a little longer so we decided to reconnect with those students to help guide them back onto the right path.

We invited a handful of students who have recently attended our Summer School or Creative Data programmes to DMA House for an evening of mixing with a range of industry professionals from data to agency side to client side to creative to recruitment. It kicked off with inspirational talks from Andrew Webber, Founder and CEO at Human Theory, Grace Cassidy, Senior Account Director at Red Brick Road and Ross Taylor, Founder at Hidden. Andrew gave a whistlestop tour of his impressive CV and how that’s led him into a job he loves; Grace told us the top ten things she’s learnt in agency life since graduating from DMA Talent’s Summer School 5 years ago, and Ross gave practical advice on why we should all be ‘hacking’ our way through life.

After this, everyone took to the floor and chatted all things CVs, interview techniques, how to tackle application forms etc. The list goes on! The young talent in attendance was a mixture of individuals in roles they felt weren’t right for them whereas others were going through the dreaded interview process and so, as you can imagine were feeling rather deflated.

As well as giving general CV advice, the evening also acted to re-educate the young talent on the roles available in industry and where their skills would be best suited. The industry professionals in attendance had a real range of experience so offered varied and insightful advice over pizza and beers. The youngsters were prepped on the professionals attending in advance so knew who they wanted to speak to, to make the most of the evening.

Finding a job is not only a daunting prospect but can be an extremely difficult one in the current climate in a popular industry. It’s no wonder that not everyone finds what they’re looking for straight away even if they’ve got the qualifications and/or relevant experience. By successfully reconnecting with this young talent and giving support, advice and a bit of a ‘you’re doing alright’ talk last night, we imagine these events will become a regular slot for DMA Talent.

Huge thanks to the professionals who came and made the night possible: Andrew Webber (Founder & CEO at Human Theory), Grace Cassidy (Senior Account Director at Red Brick Road), Ross Taylor (Founder of Hidden), James Morgan, Jos Canavan (Account Director at Whippet), Dan Matthews (Founder & CEO at Daniel Marks), Matt Nudds (Partner & Managing Director at Daniel Marks) and Stephen Chandler (Coach & Mentor at Chandler & Friends).