Stuff in my life means that I’m moving away from York and so I’m coming to the end of my time with the Marketing team. I don’t know how many people can say that they’re genuinely sad to leave a team, so I feel lucky to be able to say that I do.
Before I go, I thought I’d try to get down some of the reasons I’d suggest to anyone who’s thinking about applying for a job in Marketing at York should absolutely go for it. I’m going for 6 in honour of how many years I’ve been kicking about campus, and of the hexagons that cover the Hive – the building where the team is based.
1. Cake
It’s simple. It’s easy. It’s a necessity.
If there’s one thing that makes working in Marketing just that little bit sweeter, it’s the sheer amount of cake that ends up in the Hive’s kitchen. The team has a few keen bakers, and a lot of people with birthday leftovers. That means that there’s a pretty endless supply of delicious treats waiting in the kitchen for that morning/lunchtime/afternoon/any time pick me up.
2. Slack
The ability to send quick messages to colleagues has made working in the Marketing team one of the easiest and most fun jobs I’ve had.
It makes life easy when colleagues are working from home, when you just need someone to help me find that word I can’t quite put my finger on and when we’re really proud of a bit of work and want to shout about it. Also, it’s a great place to announce that there are treats in the kitchen.
3. Asana
Asana is a great project management tool that the team uses to organise all of its stuff. It’s also essentially an online to-do list that sends flying unicorns across your screen whenever you tick off a task. It’s made organising my working life for the past year and a half an absolute dream. It’s a magical place where you can find out what everyone’s doing and add updates to what you’re doing and tell teammates what’s going on with a project.
I’m sure there are people who’ve done good reviews about Asana online. I’m sure that Dan, the Asana guru of the team, will soon write a blog about how Asana makes the team’s work 10000% more efficient than it would be without it.
All I want to say is that it’s great and I love it.
Also, I’ll never get over the fact that the “Tab + B” function is literally just there in case you fancy filling your screen with cats.
4. (Virtual) high-fives
Working life is busy and sometimes stressful, which means that it’s not always easy to find the time to appreciate what we’ve achieved.
The Marketing team has not one, but TWO Slack channels dedicated to shouting about work that’s recently been completed and other great stuff – like when we receive positive feedback from colleagues around the University.
It means that everyone in the team has a place where they can pat themselves on the back for something they’re proud of, and everyone else can applaud their hard work!
5. Learn something new everyday
There’s a great attitude towards professional development, and that shows through a continued commitment to putting on regular events that everyone can get involved in.
Every week, there’s some kind of opportunity to teach yourself something new; whether that’s by watching an inspiring TED talk during a Learning Lunch, hearing from a colleague about something cool in a Knowledge Share or attending the bi-monthly Internal Skills Training sessions.
In this job, I’ve learned more about content than I ever thought there was to know – and I’ve only been in the team for a little over a year.
6. A super supportive atmosphere
Easily the best thing about working in the team is that I’ve never felt like I was alone. Everything that I’ve described above – yep, even the nerdy project management software – makes working in the team feel like you’re really all in it together, fighting the good fight for better content.
The support isn’t just limited to the work of the team either. Earlier this year me and another member of the team decided to run 10 miles for charity and the rest of the team were there with us every step of the way. They put up with a month of fun “activities” to help fundraise and we even managed to pull together a special Halloween themed pub quiz.
I’ve not been in too many teams, so I can’t say for definite, but I’m pretty sure that there are not many teams that have such a great sense of community and I’ll really miss being part of it.