International Festival and Events Management student Karen Tomaschekova talks about her placement experience at IAST Sports and the benefits a placement can offer.
Can you tell us a bit more about your employer and your role?
IAST SPORTS is a certified FIFA and UEFA match agent company that has organised more than 200 international football matches. My role as an event manager at the company consists of planning and ensuring the smooth running of matches as well as being the main point of contact for team admins to ensure maximum client satisfaction.
What projects have you been working on so far?
The team and I have been on working on multiple events since the beginning of my placement. Our biggest event has been a women’s tournament called PINATAR cup 2023 where we have successfully organised 16 matches in 9 days (alongside other friendly matches). The event included teams such as the women’s national teams of Scotland, Wales, Iceland, the Philippines and other WU19, WU18, and WU17 teams. Currently, we are organising Week of Football with U21 teams of Scotland, Wales, Sweden, and Colombia, with some friendly matches for Czechia U21. On top of working on-site, we are planning a training camp for the Scottish A team in the upcoming months as well as events for later months of the year.
Have there been any challenges in your placement so far? If so, how have you learned to overcome them?
Having to work in the fast-paced environment that events naturally create, I expected to be faced with many challenges due to a lack of previous experience. However, I overcame factors such as long working hours at times or the requirement for quick adaptability by having great people in my team who are always very helpful in any challenging situation that may arise and truly provide the support that is needed.
What do you hope to take away from your placement?
I came to IAST SPORTS with zero experience working in the event industry. Therefore, my confidence in the workplace was very low in the beginning and it quickly became an area of focus for me to improve during my placement. Halfway through my placement, I can say that there has been a huge improvement in my confidence in client interactions. Once I got an idea of how everything works in practice and the flow of the company, I felt much more comfortable in my role.
What advice would you give students who are considering doing a placement in the future?
With a degree such as Event Management, experience plays a major role in securing a job. I think doing a placement allows students to gain practical work experience before entering ‘real life’ after university which can be of great advantage. My experience at IAST SPORTS has only strengthened my resolve to pursue a career in the events industry, and my advice for other students would be to do placement, if the opportunity arises, because it provides a good insight to their role in chosen industry.
If you are an employer interested in hosting a placement student, or a current student that’s eligible for a placement module, and are keen to find out more please get in touch with the Placement Team on nbsplacements@napier.ac.uk