Meet Vita Coco’s newest ambassadors handing you coconut water on campus
You’ll find them at London Fashion Week and they can drink as much of the good stuff as they want
You’re obviously well aware of the magical health drink that is coconut water and have probably seen cartons upon cartons lining shelf after shelf in every supermarket as far as the eye can see.
What you may not know is that Vita Coco, the UK’s number one coconut water brand, are looking high and low for their next Student Brand Managers (SBM) – and you should be one of them. We spoke to three of Vita Coco’s SBMs to see if their job was really as good as it seems. Apparently it is.
Eilidh, third year, University of Edinburgh
Eilidh
How does being a Vita Coco SBM lend to your uni schedule?
It’s perfect really – because you plan your own hours, you can work it entirely around your schedule, it’s never, “You have to work this Friday” or anything like that. You are responsible for finding events and locations to sample at, but aside from that, you work when you want and for how long, which is perfect when you need to manage your uni work.
What’s been your favourite perk working for Vita Coco?
I’ve travelled all over the UK which is amazing and last summer I even got to go to France for a week – we drove there, stayed in a really nice hotel right on the Champs-Élysées, it was lovely! We’ve even done music festivals.
Did you go for free?
Yes! When you work an event, your accommodation is completely paid for and you get expenses, so you’re really not spending any of your own money – it’s pretty great.
What’s the pay like compared to other jobs?
Oh, it’s definitely paid better than bar work or something like that. But it’s also not just about the money – you get a lot of support from the company and the opportunity to do really cool things.
Go on, what’s your sales pitch for encouraging someone to apply for the job?
It’s a really really fun job, you get to know the city you’re based in a lot better purely from going to places you wouldn’t necessarily visit as students, you meet a lot of lovely people, and obviously lots of free coconut water, the ultimate perk.
Becci, third year, Manchester Metropolitan University
Becci
What’s the most enjoyable part of the job?
So it’s not like a normal job – everyday is different. You don’t go to one place everyday and do all of your shifts there. We try to change up the location for each shift so we don’t go back to the same place, which keeps things interesting.
The job entails you having to speak to people all the time – how do you find that?
I think before anyone applies, they should know that you have to be really confident and be able to speak to people. However, I do think it’s quite different to similar jobs, because you’re giving away a sample for free, you’re not trying to get someone to sign up to something – you’re just giving them a treat to try.
Like when we go into gyms, we’ll leave coconut water for when people are finished on the treadmill or squat rack, which they all really appreciate!
What skills are you learning that’ll help your future career?
I study psychology so I want to go into a role in the mental health sector, but the job is definitely helping me with my social skills – I’ll happily go up and speak to a room of a thousand people, just from being at events and having to speak on the benefits of Vita Coco – it’s really helped me with presentations. I really feel like the job has helped me boost my confidence and now open-minded to doing anything.
Is there anything else you think is worth knowing about the job?
I would just say that everyday is different, which I think is really important to have in a job, especially for students when they’re getting stressed out with uni work and then having to go back to the same place and do silly hours in a bar or something really draining. Whereas with this, I don’t really see it as a job, I see it as like, “Oh today, we’re going to go hand out samples at a park in Chorlton and then we’ll get ice cream.” It’s just really refreshing.
Ellie, third year, University of Edinburgh
Ellie
So what’s your favourite thing about working for Vita Coco?
We get to go to some pretty amazing events, like London Fashion Week, which is always huge. We always have a really nice looking stall so everyone always comes up to us which keeps us busy. We did an amazing event last summer at Boots skin care conference – they put us up in Nottingham for three days and we got to talk about the product to everyone who worked at Boots.
We also get a coconut van to drive around town which is obviously amazing.
How does the job weave into your uni schedule?
I actually work with Eilidh, so because we do the same course and have very similar timetables, it was a good opportunity to schedule shifts and stuff like that. The flexibility is amazing, especially during exam crunch time.
The company also extremely accommodating. This month we’ve got our dissertations due in and they’ve been very lenient with the hours and things like that – It’s a really good set up.
It’s also made me very effective at time management as I’ve had to balance shifts with uni work, which is always useful.
What’s the company culture like?
So the UK base is quite small, obviously it’s much bigger in America. I’d say the majority of people that work in the office are all really young, so you’ve got the same interests and as a result, you get to know everyone really well. There’s also a lot of social events – they put on a lot of dinners and we have parties with head office all the time. Everyone is just so friendly which is so refreshing.
