Marketing Management student with international career

For 25-year-old Tarek Slimani the path to an international career started with curiosity and a desire to stand out.

15 February 2016

After having completed his study programme in Marketing Management at Cphbusiness, Tarek Slimani jumped on a plane and headed for Portugal. Here, he now works as a content marketer in the Danish company Samlino.dk, who has their marketing department in Lisbon. After only a short time in the job, he has no doubt that he has found his niche.

Prepared for an international career

- I think it's really cool to work down here. My primary tasks consist in Search Engine Optimization and Content Marketing. Everyday, tasks are to create quality content and analysis, which is then sent out to major media in Denmark, says Tarek Slimani, who feel that the study programme in Marketing Management has given him a wide range of tools and not least the desire to get out and use them.

- I think that the study program overall has awakened a curiosity in me to get out and work and try things out. You can’t learn everything through theory, says Tarek Slimani, who was not in doubt that the marketing management programme was a good match for him.

- I have a high energy level. I do not want to sit in a study hall and work solely with theory. So the opportunity to go abroad, the opportunity to get work experience and the opportunity to meet some like-minded people was what I went for, and I could get that at Cphbusiness, he says.

Adventures abroad were no accident

The fact that his first job was to be found abroad was, according to Tarek Slimani, no coincidence, for the desire to travel and meet new people has always been there.

I love to travel, and every time the opportunity presents itself, I'll take it

Tarek Slimani

- I love to travel, and every time the opportunity presents itself, I'll take it. I feel that it was a fairly natural route for me to seek a job abroad, says Tarek Slimani, who during his study, went to Asia for a semester.

His own recipe for success

For the adventurous Marketing Management graduate his trips around the world are about more than the opportunity to meet new people. It is also about standing out from the crowd.

- For me, when I studied, my goal was primarily to stand out from the many talented students, while experiencing life outside Denmark. I've never been the type to get straight A's, but I have always been at a reasonable average throughout my studies. If you want to really assert ourself and stand out in the labour market, when you are a recent graduate, I am convinced that you will need to invest some time and energy in building an exciting profile, Tarek Slimani says.

It is a privilege both to have the opportunity to go abroad through exchanges and internships, says Tarek Slimani, and it is wise to take advantage of these opportunities as a student, he says.

- To get out and spend a longer period in another culture and to form a network outside Denmark provides, in my opinion, some invaluable experience and connections that you can take with you, he says.

An international future

In the future Tarek Slimani hopes to continue on an international track and continue to expand his network and skill set.

- I love to meet new people across cultures, so I hope to continue my career in an international environment - like a startup, because it is easier to get responsibility and advance in one’s position. My plan is to absorb as much knowledge as possible in the process, while I extend my international network. Ultimately I dream of creating my own business at some point, Tarek Slimani concludes.