Charlotte Cox, 24, from Cardiff loves fashion. After setting out in beauty therapy and fashion retailing – becoming an Assistant Manager at Oasis by the age of 20 – Charlotte realised that she wanted a career as a fashion buyer.
“I used to see new ranges coming into the store and I’d think about what I might have chosen and how I would have done things differently,” Charlotte, pictured, said.
“I knew then that my future was as a fashion buyer and that meant going to university and getting the right qualifications.”
With encouragement from her family Charlotte applied to three local universities but chose the University of Glamorgan Business School as it had an excellent reputation for quality and friendliness.
According to Charlotte the School lived up to her expectations.
“Staff at Glamorgan really helped and encouraged me, particularly in building my confidence, and enabling me to believe in myself,” she said.
At the end of her first year studying for a BA (Hons) in Purchasing and Supply, Charlotte received a prestigious award in the School’s annual prize giving ceremony.
She said: “Winning an award encouraged me to work even harder in my second year, and I won another prize!”
At the end of her second year, Charlotte had the opportunity to travel to Malaysia for a month-long study visit with four other students. Charlotte said: “It was an amazing experience, learning about another culture, studying with Malaysian students, discovering how they are taught, how they work and of course, studying the Malaysian fashions. The clothes were very different.”
During Charlotte’s final year at Glamorgan, she decided to try and gain experience in fashion buying, and approached Peacocks directly. The company were so impressed that they gave her a short term work placement before inviting her for an interview to be an Assistant Buyer, on completion of her studies. She started work at Peacocks as soon as her final examinations were over, and has now graduated with a First Class degree.
Charlotte explained: “My degree taught me a lot, and gave me a really good grounding in purchasing and supply chain management, which I was able to demonstrate during my work placement and at my interview. The fact that I had won student prizes and travelled to Malaysia gave me something special to talk about at my interview and I am sure it gave me the edge over other applicants.”
