Nora Horn: The Business Management course was the right one for me

My name is Nora Horn, originally from Hamburg, Germany and I am a University of Greenwich Business Management graduate, currently living in Munich. I now work for Amazon Web Services (Cloud Computing), as an Account Executive Central Sales for customers in Switzerland.

As soon as I visited Greenwich campus, I knew this is where I was meant to be; it doesn’t even look like a university, which makes it stand out from others. Greenwich is very different from universities in Germany which made me want to come here even more.

I love where the University is situated; close enough to London, but also far enough away to feel like a little escape from the busyness of central London, which is the perfect balance.

When I started my course, there was an International Week, just before fresher’s week. This allowed me to appreciate how international the University is, which put me at ease, being an international student myself. I got to know a lot of different students from around the world which helped me feel at home.

I’m a very active, sporty person so I also loved how many sports societies and teams the University has on offer! During my time at Greenwich, I was part of the hockey team. This was an amazing experience, where I made a lot of friends.

The employability team played a huge role in my university experience. I really appreciated their support during my studies; I took part in their mentoring scheme and received interview training. After graduating I decided to take part in the mentoring scheme again, but this time from the other side mentoring current students. The team also supported me with finding part time jobs whilst studying, as well as helping me find my placement for my year in industry.

I knew I always wanted to study something business-related. When I saw the Business Management course, I felt like it was the right one for me. The programme covers so many skills to help students become an effective business leader in a range of industries and sectors. It helps develop a broad understanding of business management. The variety of modules to choose from was really appealing to me. I chose modules on finance, business ethics, management, marketing, HR; this meant the three years of studying always felt engaging and never got repetitive.

My favourite modules were International Business Environment in first year and Managing in Critical Context in second year. They both had excellent lecturers and really insightful case studies, which helped develop our coursework.

However, my overall favourite part of my university experience was my placement year in industry. I worked as a Sales Excellence Intern for Microsoft. This years’ worth of experience and knowledge has definitely helped me since graduating university. I learned so much within the year and was able to transfer that knowledge and the many skills to my final year at university as well as the role I am in today. Before I started the placement, I didn’t know whether I would like this industry, but as soon as I started, I knew that Cloud Computing and IT was something for me. I loved my experience so much, it made me want to continue in this industry after completing my degree. I actually received an offer from Microsoft to become one of their UK graduates after university, however I decided to move back to Germany and took on an offer from Amazon Web Services (AWS).

I love the fact that Greenwich Business School is so international. It not only helped me feel at home, but also allowed me to understand and listen to different perspectives, which I might not have thought of before.

We had a mix of big lectures and smaller seminars and tutorials to give us the opportunity to have discussions with each other and explain our different views on certain topics.

Once I had completed University, I started my role at AWS as a Commercial Sales Graduate. This graduate role was for one year and then I transitioned over to an Account Executive – Central Sales role. In this role, I am responsible for exercising complex account management skills with engaged customers. I am helping customers to accelerate their digital transformation journey to the cloud. Cloud Computing is having a huge impact in the world and I am passionate to help customers using technology to solve business problems that have major impact.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please note that the availability of modules (and opportunities offered to, and services for, students) can change over time and things may not be available from one year to the next. In the case of modules, please always check the 'What will you study' section of the course webpage for the course and entry year you are interested in. You can find an index of all our subject areas, within which you will find the individual course pages, at: https://www.gre.ac.uk/subjects