Sharing His Love for Education
As a self-described introvert, it may seem surprising that David Otomewo thrives in a role that requires him to spend much of his day on the phone building relationships with prospective learners.
But for David, it’s the common ground he finds with these students that makes it easy for him to open up.
“I love education,” he says. “It's always been important to me for people to educate themselves, and also for me to educate myself. So when I'm speaking to students about something that I value quite highly, it's not so difficult.”
Building One-on-One Relationships
A Senior Enrollment Advisor who supports the Northumbria University partnership, David says it’s his passion for helping people that led him to where he is today.
Prior to joining Boundless Learning (then Pearson Online Learning Services) in 2020, David worked in a number of sales roles within the education field, most recently for a company that provided IT training to businesses.
What ultimately led him to Boundless Learning was his desire to play more of a hands-on role in shaping the futures of the students with whom he interacts.
“In a B2B environment, you speak to multiple people, you try and find out which department needs this and which departments need that. It's a longer conversation over a period of time,” he says. “I really enjoy the intimacy of speaking to students one-on-one and learning their motivations.”
A Career Advisor as Well as an Enrollment Advisor
In his current position, David's core responsibility is to guide prospective students through the enrollment process.
He begins with a discovery call to understand their goals, helping them choose the right path to achieve them. To do so, he must be well-versed in Northumbria's diverse portfolio of degree offerings, which includes psychology, surveying, business, digital marketing, education, and computer science.
From there, he continues building the relationship with learners, serving as a resource to answer their questions and assisting them every step of the way as they prepare their applications.
He says the most rewarding part of his job is speaking with students who are unclear about their future plans and look to him for advice.
“Perhaps they know they want to study psychology,” he explains, “but they don't have an idea about the pathway to becoming a psychologist. I can outline the journey from starting the course all the way to four or five years after the course is done. So, I probably specialize more on outcome-based selling, promoting the long-term outcome of our courses rather than just pitching course features. I find this gives students more incentive to enroll, as the course becomes just a stepping stone to what they want to achieve.”
Taking Pride in Student Success
Even after students enroll and begin their courses, David still makes an effort to keep in touch with them, and takes great pride in hearing about their accomplishments.
He recalls one student whom he enrolled in Northumbria’s MSc in Psychology program shortly after he began working at Boundless Learning. They spoke at length about how this student could eventually go on to pursue a doctoral degree, and that was a big factor in his decision to enroll.
“He recently emailed me to say, ‘Hey David, just to let you know, I started my doctorate in clinical psychology!’ I was over the moon about that because you don't always see the direct outcome.”
Speaking from Personal Experience
When he talks to prospective learners, one frequent topic of conversation is what life is like as a student pursuing a degree online while working full time.
David is able to discuss this from a place of authenticity, as he is in the process of earning his master’s in computer science online.
As an online student himself, he’s able to give students an honest assessment of what they can expect and how they can set themselves up for success.
“I can be a bit direct,” he admits. “And the reason why is because if somebody is working full time, they simply cannot study full time. They also have other commitments. So we go through an action plan to help them figure out when they can study. Maybe it’s evenings, or the weekend, or doing some reading every day for a few hours. It’s about helping students create a schedule that is realistic for them.”
Being a Leader for His Colleagues
As much as David values helping learners, he takes equal pride in mentoring his colleagues, helping them hone their skills, and seeing them meet their target goals.
“As a Senior EA, I like to offer advice on how to interact with certain students. I’m just passing along knowledge that I’ve gained over time. I try to have an open-door policy for my team to come and speak to me about any issues they have. Similarly, I also like to learn from other members of the team.”
Mindful of his introverted nature, David shares this message for his London-based coworkers whom he hasn’t yet had a chance to meet:
“When I’m in the office, sometimes I put my head down when I’m hard at work and I might look like I’m not approachable to people who don’t know me. But feel free to come talk to me, especially if you want to discuss new ideas or any best practices or you feel you need some support. I’m here for you.”