Marketing Plans assignment : ARCADIA

PROJECT

COVER LETTER – COPY AND PASTE YOUR COVER LETTER HERE (MAX. 500
WORDS)
My name is Josh Freeman and I am glad to find an opportunity to work with ARCADIA
group. I am writing in order to apply for the job role of Merchandise Administration
Assistant. I believe I am the appropriate candidate for the mentioned job role. My
qualifications are as per the job role required and I believe I can make the best out of it. I
have a good experience in marketing for 2 years working for Marks and Spencer as their
marketing supervisor (Sharf, 2016).
I was assigned a responsible role where I learned things which were challenging and goal-
orientated at the same time at Marks and Spencer. I believe ARCADIA as being UK's largest
fashion retailer would be a perfect opportunity for me to learn more and understand the best
of the fashion industry dynamics. Along with it, ARCADIA is going to prove as one of the
best opportunities I'd like to be a part of as it is having its stores all over the UK and recently
have seen as one of the largest clothing company in United Kingdom.
Currently, I am working as a Marketing supervisor at Marks and Spencer where I am having
the duties and responsibilities of coordinating all external and internal marketing of the
organisation. Also, I manage the promotional efforts which include merchandising, PR,
community relations, demos, events and information. In the absence of marketing manager if
required I lead the team and prepare marketing budget as well.
Being a marketing supervisor I have also managed to learn various strategies that helped me
to gain more knowledge about the overall fashion industry. I learned strategies such as
consumer behaviours, the variety of inflations that impact the fashion industry, how to
overwhelm consumers for your marketing techniques and what factors lead to a successful to
a selling and buying of a commodity.

Along with it, I am a detail oriented person and have good organisation and team leadership
skills. I possess strong computer knowledge and a good knowledge of MS word, PowerPoint
and Excel. I am able to work in challenging and high-paces business environment as well.
I have completed my education from Central Lancashire university where I have done my
MBA from in the batch of 2014/15. During this time when I was a student of Master of
Business administration I have learned business fundamentals, soft skills, global impact,
leadership, introspection etc.
I have attached my resume along which will provide you with my details regarding my
overall educational background and my achievements as well. I am happy to find such
opportunity to work with a company that holds the reputation of being one of the largest
brands in the country. I hope to receive an interview call back from ARCADIA soon to get a
chance showcase my abilities and skills and how efficient I am as per the required job role. I
am able to join the ARCADIA group with 30 days of my initial interview. If there is any
further query you can contact me on 0987654321.

CV – COPY AND PASTE YOUR CV HERE (Maximum 2 sides of A4)
Personal Profile
I am a talented individual who wants to grow with the organisation which I am serving,
always ready to take initiative and helping others within organisational environment. I intend
to make the best out of the resources provided and make effective use of them. Want to join a
clothing retail company that helps me to increase my knowledge and gain me professional
advantage. I hold a good set of skills in marketing, advertising, sales and promotion and have
been working as a Marketing Supervisor at Marks and Spencer from past two years. Also, I
have strong communication skills, and organisational skills such as leadership and
adaptability.
Achievements and Skills:
·Good communication skills

·Fluent English
·Fluent French
·Helping various organisations that provide food and shelter to poor and needy
·Providing money to NGOs that helps in child support
·Good knowledge of computer and IT
·Winner of Winters leader's marathon 2017
·Supervising and managing marketing team for Marks and Spencer
·Successful leadership skills within an organisation environment under Marks and Spencer
Work Experience:
January 2016 – Present: MARKETING SUPERVISOR (Marks and Spencer)
Working as a marketing supervisor for Marks and Spencer managing duties and
responsibilities including:
·Managing and supervising the team
·Allocating them daily tasks
·Creating strategies to promote, market and advertise products
·Taking care of the sales and their performances
·Leading the team while the absence of manager
November 2014 – December 2016: SALES ASSISTANT (Adidas)
Worked as a Sales executive for and Adidas retail outlet with duties and responsibilities
including:
·Liaising with customers to ensure that the transaction are running smoothly
·Processing payments
·Maintaining high-level of customer service
·Serving and advising the customers
·To ensure that stock levels are well maintained
·To promote special offers and store cards
·To arrange window displays
·Provide customers with good information and pricing and product availability etc.

·Education:
·November 2014 – December 2016, Central Lancashire University, Preston, Lancashire
·Master in Business Administration
I have done my MBA from the above college and have managed to learn:
·The Global impact of different countries and their Gross domestic products
·Effective management skills
·Effective communication skills
·Overall improvement in personality and character
·How to manageable a team
·Strategies in building different businesses
·Exploring various options and analyse the growth of an organisation
August 2008 – September 2014, West Lancashire Community High School, Preston,
Lancashire
GCSE's: English Language A, French A*. Biology B*, Maths A, Business Merit* History A*
Geography C*
Interests and Hobbies:
·Writing
·Listening to music
·Reading
·Spending time with friends
·Watching sport
·Playing with pets
·Watching TV shows
REFERENCES:
Available on request

APPLICATION FORM (maximum 200 words per answer)
1.Why do you want to work for us?
I want to work with an organisation that stands as a leader within the clothing industry.
Arcadia is having eight major clothing brands operating under it with a reputation of serving
the best quality clothes to its customers around the country. Also, Arcadia has recently been
seen as one of the largest organisations of United Kingdom. It would prove as a huge
opportunity for me to work with a brand like Arcadia. Along with it, I hold the necessary set
of skills required for the desired job role. I am capable and responsible working as a
Merchandise Administration Assistant for Arcadia Group.

My education has taught me the required skills needed for the preferred job role. I
believe I will stand as capable employee for the duties and responsibilities assigned to me
and would do my best to maintained the organisation's reputation. My goal is to stand as
leader and a better employee in any job role that has been assigned to me. I desire to learn
and grow with the organisation that I am serving to. I am grateful to receive an opportunity
to work with an organisation that would make me better and will improve me along and i
would love to serve an organisation such as ARCADIA and being a member of its family.
1.Tell us about a time you worked in a group to achieve an objective (what did
you do and what was the outcome?)
While working in Marks and Spencer the whole team was assigned with a Christmas
task. In which I was with the selling team that required to sell the clothes which are were in
the sale from a very long time and required new selling techniques to be sold. During this
task, our team needed a variety of strategies to sell these clothes, these strategies needed to be
choose and implemented well. I was assigned to find such strategies that help the team in
building the right formulation for selling the products.
I managed to build few small strategies including that in which products can be sold
easily with decreasing the set prices and providing discounts. Also, we chose to sell products
in offers which enticed the customers towards these products and the company saw an
increase in profits in overall distribution. Later on, the organisation decided to implement
such strategies on various occasions to get the best out the profits and sales. This is the last
time when I worked with a team and managed to find the right solutions to help the
organisation. Also, I learned a lot along with the tactics, about the teamwork, effective
management etc.
1.Tell us about a time when you identified a new approach to solve a problem.
(what did you do and what was the outcome?)
I am a Marketing Supervisor of my marketing team in Marks and Spencer. Recently, there
was a conflict between two employees in the department due to the language issues and they
started using negative language with each other (Osland and Turner,2011). This started
impacting the overall department and the situation became worse. At this time, it was

important to take strict measures to resolve this situation otherwise it might had caused us
problems in our operations and management as well. The whole team complained started
complaining about these employees and our manager was on leave. Now, it was my
responsibility to resolve this issue.
I managed to call both of the employees together and asked them what the problem
was about. They both explained their issues and what made them behave like this. I strictly
informed them if something like this happens the next time, it can lead to their termination.
Also, I separated both of in different departments and after approving from my manager cut
theirs week's pay as well. Along with it, the very next day the whole team got informed about
what is going to happen if they showed the same behaviour and the operations started
running smoothly again.
1.Tell us about a time when you had to manage a number of different priorities
and complete a number of tasks in a short amount of time (what did you do and
what was the outcome?)
While supervising the marketing team in Marks and Spencer, the organisation once had to
face a lot of production problems because of the earthquake in Nepal that caused it
production plant to be sealed and damaged for a very long time. The demand was high and
the production needed to be shifted from Nepal to India. For the marketing team it became
necessary to ensure the regular marketing of the products in both of the countries including
China as well, and because of less production and less supply our customers were shifting
towards the competitors.
It was the time when there was a lot of pressure was on our team and managers as
well. We have to work with a lot of effort to ensure successful marketing so that we do not
lose our valuable consumers. I had to plan advertising, promotion of the products etc. and
throughout the days I had tonnes of task. I planned to complete my tasks with prioritising
everything from high to low. The tasks which were on high remarks were needed more
attention and long time and the low ones could've been done fast. While performing the tasks
with high priority I took help of my junior employees and completed the overall tasks within
my period.
1.Tell us about a project you worked on that required you to persuade others to
your point of view (what did you do and what was the outcome?)

There was a situation when Marks and Spencer needed to make its reach in those markets of
Europe where it is still unheard of and consumers are not aware of its product range. I built a
strategy where the products of Marks and Spencer are advertised in urban as well as rural
areas (Taylor, Doherty and McGraw, 2015). This could be done by advertising products on
Billboards, local TV commercials and newspaper ads as well, whereas the team wanted to
promote their products on Internet where these people spend most of their times on. I had to
make the whole team members and organisations head understand the importance of
advertising in form of billboards, TV commercials and newspaper ads.
I managed to explain them the importance of Billboards, TV commercials and
newspapers. How important these mediums are if we want to promote ourselves in the local
areas. These mediums can help the product to reach within the sight of people in different
areas and communities. Not everybody of each age group is today available on the internet
and spend most of their time on the internet. If we promote our products on newspapers then
everyone who reads might look at our commercials too and billboards are the best source that
will attract everyone who is passing from the lanes of the certain region. The organisation
and team members respected my point and chose to use newspapers, TV commercials, and
billboards.

INTERVIEW PRACTICE – COPY AND PASTE YOUR REFLECTION NOTES
FROM YOUR INTERVIEW PRACTICE HERE (MAX 200 WORDS IN BULLET
POINT FORMAT)
During the interview the below positive and negative points have been observed by me:
Positive:
·I reached the interview 10 minutes before which helped me to understand the situation and
analyse the environment much better that later helped me in my performance.
·My command over English and a good fluency showcased my overall personality and
helped in gaining more appreciation from the interviewer.
·Providing interviewer with clear and honest answers helped me in remaining confident
throughout the performance (Osland and Turner,2011).
·Not showing any nervousness while the interview.
·A good body language and time management.
·Good grooming
Negative:
·While answering questions I found myself fumbling and loosing my voice which made my
confidence loose in between. This is where I saw myself loosing my ability to answer the
questions and manage my speech efficiently.
·It took lot of time to think about the answers of few questions. During this time I saw
interviewer not being able to analyse the situation.
·I was unable to answer when the interviewer asked me about my Strengths and Weaknesses.
·I failed to maintain eye contact throughout the performance with the interviewer.

ASSESSMENT CENTRE PRACTICE – COPY AND PASTE YOUR REFLECTION
NOTES HERE (MAX. 200 WORDS IN BULLET POINT FORMAT)
The assessment centre practice took place in groups. Below listed are the Positive and
Negative points that I have observed during the whole practice:
Positive:
·During group communication we were assigned with different topics which later got
debated between us and I felt confident answering them all.
·There were pros and cons of some topics which I tried to mention from point to point
(Turner, 2014.).
·It was positive for me to sit between other members in a group and answering the questions
as others were confident in their answers which made me confident as well.
Negative:
·Sometimes I failed to understand the points of other group members which made me
unconfident and not answering the questions properly.
·Few of the group members took a lot of time to prove their points which made me forget the
points I had prepared for the performance
·Some questions were too complex and required detail analysis to be answered where I failed
to manage answering them and it proved as a barrier for me to answers.

References
Turner, J.R., 2014. Handbook of project-based management(Vol. 92). New York, NY:
McGraw-hill.
Taylor, T., Doherty, A. and McGraw, P., 2015. Managing people in sport organizations: A
strategic human resource management perspective. Routledge.
Greene, A.M. and Kirton, G., 2015. The dynamics of managing diversity: A critical
approach. Routledge.
Osland, J. and Turner, M., 2011. The organizational behavior reader. Pearson.
Evetts, J., 2017. Women in Primary Teaching: career contexts and strategies. Routledge.
Armstrong, M., 2016. How to manage people. Kogan Page Publishers.
Christensen, C., and et.al., 2016. Competing against luck. HBX Connext. Harvard Business
School, Boston, 6.
Sharf, R.S., 2016. Applying career development theory to counseling. Nelson Education.
Sloman, M., 2017. A handbook for training strategy. Routledge.
Drucker, P., 2016. The effective executive. Routledge.