On Saturday 7 June, Canterbury Christ Church University proudly hosted its 10th anniversary Alumni Gala Dinner, welcoming over a hundred distinguished alumni and guests back to campus. The event marked a momentous occasion, honouring their lasting bond with the University and celebrating the remarkable contributions they’ve made since graduation.

The Alumni Gala Dinner serves as the stage for the Alumni Awards ceremony, in which our best and brightest nominees are recognised as winners in one of five categories. Perhaps the most prestigious is the Outstanding Contribution category, which this year was awarded to Josh Hall (BSc (Hons) Advertising and Marketing, 2022) year, winning in the Rising Star of the Year category.

Josh has played a pivotal role in fostering the connection between academia and industry, not just in his field of Marketing but across various initiatives supporting staff and business school students. As a placement student himself, Josh has mentored other Business School students during their year-long marketing placements, offering guidance, skill development, and career insights. He has supported the business placements manager by giving talks and seminars, sharing his experiences and advice.

Josh has actively participated in student mock assessment events, providing critical feedback and realistic professional evaluations. As both an alumnus and employer, he has contributed to curriculum development and regularly delivers guest lectures on brand management and global marketing. Josh has also promoted the Business School through marketing videos, inspiring prospective students.

How did it feel to learn you’d been nominated for an alumni award?

I was nicely surprised and pleased. Having been nominated last year and not winning, it was a good feeling to see that the continuation of my support over the last year and additional support areas that I’ve given hadn’t gone unnoticed or become part of the ordinary.

How does it feel to have won?

It was a really great feeling to win. Knowing that there are so many nominees in all of the different categories, it’s easy to feel like maybe I’m not doing as much as I could. But as a very recent graduate, I recognise the struggles of transition from university into the working world, so I want to help students by supporting placements and industry involvement – through the assessment centre, getting students ready for applying for graduate positions, placement positions or industry positions – that is all part of the journey of transition from student, to professional, and into the industry. I want to help because I know the challenges, so being recognised for the support that that offers is really nice. Obviously that’s not the reason why you do it, but it’s a great bonus on the side of that work.

Talk us through what you do, why is the work that you do so important?

My current role is marketing communications for a global power and technology company called Cummins. I lead the global marketing communications for the marine and non-gas business, and we hire three students onto our wider team every year, so I lead the recruitment process for that; finding, recruiting and then developing talent in the same way that I was when I did my placement here studying at CCCU.

In terms of support for the university, the main areas have been guest speaking about the placement programme and the benefits of that, as both a recruiter and as an ex-student, and kind of helping to answer any questions there.

And then the other is supporting the assessment centre days, which are a really great initiative that I didn’t actually get involved in whilst I was at university, but enable students to practise in a safe environment and learn how they work for job interviews, which are quite common for graduate schemes. So getting interview experience as well as group activity experience and then I’m able to give direct feedback as they go through those sessions, which enables them to applying for opportunities having learnt these skills, keep working on them and developing them.

And then also finally being part of the business advisory panel, to ensure that the course continues to be representative of the industry and how it’s working today, gearing students up to be as practical as possible to give them real life skills and experiences before they join the world of work.

If anyone reading is thinking of working in your field, what advice would you give them?

Yesterday was actually our onboarding day for the three new students that have started, and I was telling them what developing into this industry would be like.

Creativity is one thing, whether that’s writing, or designing, it comes down to not just taking the first thing that comes to mind, but challenging that idea and developing solutions from that to really think about the end goal and then work back from there. Think about things in a new way and force yourself to come up with new ideas rather than just accepting the first one.

When we talk to our students, the proactive element is really the key – get out there! In a field with lots of opportunities, you get out what you put in because it’s never done. There’s never a point where you’ve finished all your tasks. There’s always something more that you could be doing. So having that drive, being proactive and looking and searching and coming up with those new ideas to take something a step further is really, really important.

What is your fondest memory of your time at CCCU?

From a course-related standpoint, I would always say the group work and bonds that we made on my course. It was a relatively small course and I am still in contact with those with people today. We became almost like a college, rather than students, working together for a shared goal. The opportunity to work with live briefs that were really tailored towards the industry were hugely beneficial as a graduate, to have had some practical work samples. So from an employability standpoint, that was really great. But then I think that, yeah, the group bonds, friendships and connections built doing that really stand out in my memory.

Outside of lectures I was also part of the Gospel Choir, which was another core place that I made connections and friendships that continue today. Friends that I lived with, and my girlfriend, who’s downstairs, would probably want me to say her because we met at university.

What are your goals for the future?

I think, still being relatively early in my career at three years in as of this last month, I’m looking back at the progression I’ve made so far; the areas that I’ve developed in or the key things that I’ve achieved, areas that I’m succeeding in or areas that maybe I thought I’d be interested or successful in but have actually struggled with. I’m at a bit of a reflecting point, which means that looking forward, I’m still a little bit analytical.

One of the biggest things I’d like to develop right now is my coaching skills: getting the most out of people reporting to me and maximising the impact we can have on our students that join our team. And I think that translates into continuing support for the university because it’s an opportunity to work with a broad range of students. One of my key priorities as I continue to develop is passing on the knowledge, helping nurture talent in others alongside myself.

The opportunities we had that when I was a student with people coming back to talk to us and share their experiences and practical guide guidance and advice was always a real gemstone as part of the lecture series, so. Yeah. Full circle, for sure.