How placement year at Pagabo helped Hull student Ben Mackay flourish

Business Management student Ben Mackay said he had seen his skills “sharpen and flourish” during a year in industry at Hull firm Pagabo.

Ben, who completed his year at the procurement specialist in September as part of a four-year degree at the University of Hull, had the opportunity to learn from industry leaders at Pagabo, providing him with invaluable experience and skills for the future.

Currently headquartered in Hull’s Bowlalley Lane, five of Pagabo’s twelve-strong team are University of Hull alumni.

As Ben’s chapter at Pagabo drew to a close, another fresh one began, as the business welcomed fellow Hull marketing student Charlotte Andrews to its ranks.

Reflecting on his year at Pagabo, Ben said: "I have thoroughly enjoyed my placement year at Pagabo.

“It has been really valuable to be a part of a fast-paced, dynamic environment where no two days are the same.

“From the start of my placement, I was given the responsibility to get on with my own projects and with this my skills have sharpened and flourished throughout the year.

Over the course of the year, Ben became a valued member of Pagabo’s team.

He took on the role of Design Lead, creating fresh user guides for Pagabo throughout the year along with supporting the business with many other designs.

During his 12 months, Pagabo also gave Ben access to LinkedIn Learning, which provided him with thousands of courses to extend his studies even further.

Over the course of the year Ben completed over 42 hours of learning with many different course achievements.

Ben Thompson, Marketing Manager at Pagabo, said: “We find working with the University of Hull to bring in placement students for our marketing team to be a really successful process.

“Ben was a prime example of that, and a pleasure to have working in the team last year. It was really rewarding to see him develop over the course of the twelve months, we hope that it has stood him in good stead for his final year.”

As well as the design element of the placement, Ben also took part in creating charity ideas for Pagabo, such as its bake-off event in which he helped raised money for the Pagabo Foundation during lockdown in April.

Ben was also given the opportunity to attend multiple Built Environment Networking events before the national lockdown. These events provided Ben with more opportunity for networking and an opportunity for him to showcase his skills to others, as well as representing Pagabo to both clients and suppliers.

As Pagabo continues to grow as a business, it has now welcomed University of Hull marketing student Charlotte Andrews to its team for a year-long placement.

Charlotte is now around three months in to her 12-month stint at the business.

Sharing her early experiences, she said: “I feel very lucky to have secured a placement this year with Pagabo, as things started changing quickly in March and many businesses decided not to do a placement year for the course of 2020/21.

“My three months here have gone so quickly and I have learnt so much already. I have been given some great responsibilities with some great projects up and coming, and no two days are the same.

Pagabo’s ambition is to make the procurement process quicker, easier and more effective.

It supports public sector organisations across the UK by providing EU compliant framework agreements, a DPS, and bespoke consultancy - delivered and backed up by a team of MCIPS-qualified procurement professionals with a huge range of experience.

Find out more by visiting Pagabo’s website here.