Friday 02-09-2016 - 16:19

Jonathan Martin came to Lancaster in 2010 and following graduation has taken up his new job with Quakers in Britain as their Marketing Outreach Officer at Friends House in London. Here's Jonathan to tell you more...

I came to Lancaster in 2010 to do an undergraduate degree in Politics and Economics, eventually graduating in 2015 with a BA & MA in politics. During my studies I became social secretary for a number of student societies including LUCCS, ULMS & the Green Party. Not only were these really fun positions but they also gave me the experience to become a Solutions Team member at Lancaster University Student's Union. When I graduated I became the marketing assistant for Lancaster Arts at Lancaster University and continued helping the union with planning for university open days. Through these jobs, I gained a range of skills in marketing and engagement which allowed me to take up a full-time post with Quakers in Britain as their Marketing Outreach Officer at Friends House in London.

At Friends House, I work to raise awareness of the faith and work of Quakers. Quakerism, by the way, is a religious society with no priests or creed who strive to live out the values of Equality, Simplicity, Peace, Sustainability and Truth - they are most known for work around conscious objection and campaigning in favour of same-sex marriage. 

My job involves managing our national advertising budget and placing adverts - I am pretty busy at the moment planning for Quaker Week 2016 which involves liaising with the Guardian, Private Eye & Big Issue, amongst others. I also manage social media adverts and help to organise outreach events, including festivals which is good fun! As well as working in marketing I do some work as a data monitoring officer looking at developing systems for improving their internal communications and capturing data. All in all it's very satisfying and varied work, I didn't imagine I'd be doing anything like this six years ago. 

All the voluntary work, society positions, and campaigning I did at university just came from saying 'yes' to opportunities when they arose. I was lucky that Lancaster University has a students' union that facilitates so many great activities. It's well worth getting involved because not only do you get to meet new friends and have great memories, who knows where it will lead you when you graduate!