Nicola Scrimgeour is a Senior Student Communications Officer in the Marketing & External Relations department.
Nicola shares her career story in this Q&A
Nicola's top tip for career success is:
“Choose to move into a role you really believe you will enjoy.”
Tell us a bit about your career to date?
I first applied for a Marketing Co-ordinator role at Edinburgh Napier in February 2018, which I didn’t actually get. After the interview I had the opportunity to take on a different position in the team on a casual contract helping the communications teams with things like press cuttings and news stories on the website. As I have a background in journalism, I took on this role, which I did for 6 months. A new position of Marketing & Communications Officer in Student Communications became available, and I was successfully appointed to this role.
How did you secure your current role?
Through the initial roles I took on I was able to build up a lot of experience working with different colleagues both within the communications team and across the wider University. I also built up my skills and experiences and that put me in a really good position when in 2022 a senior role came up within the team, which I applied for and was successful.
What difference has working at Edinburgh Napier made to your career?
The main thing that has enabled me to progress in my career has been learning on the job from different colleagues and getting involved in different projects that let you work with people outside your own team to get experience across the wider University. I also attended training to support me in taking on a people management role. The main thing for me was not applying for a role just because it came up, it was waiting for the right role to come up that I was excited about and felt I would enjoy and thrive in.