"How did I land a job?" - A Conversation with the Ambassadors
The Careers Event on the 3rd of June titled “How did I land a job?” targeted students from various levels of study and the speakers, who are currently (or were) Link to Leeds ambassadors, covered topics from securing a placement position, improving transferable skills, gaining experience outside university to securing a graduate job.
With the help of the Employer Engagement Manager at the University of Leeds Careers Centre - Jan Spalek – the event turned out to be an informal discussion to help students prepare for the Summer Careers Festival starting on 7th of June. Engaging with the attending employers, arranging 1:1 meetings and improving your CV are some of the highlights of the incoming virtual event.
Yash is a recent MSc Advanced Computer Science graduate and is a former Link to Leeds ambassador from India who recently secured a job with Saggezza working as an Associate Software Consultant. Prior to starting his Masters in University of Leeds, he was working as a Java developer and started his own company. While he was working as an employee, he felt the need to expand his horizons and thus enrolled in a Masters course here! During his time here, he was actively working as a Link to Leeds ambassador where he was able to improve his public speaking and management skills. He’s currently working with the company’s client, Goldman Sachs as a Business Analyst.
He had around 4 months to land a job here in the UK and secure a worker visa sponsorship. He actually landed his job 5 days before his visa expired! He suggests making a list of what type of jobs you would like to do and visit the Career Centre to get any form of help. Listing the roles you aim to be in, looking for the company’s that offer those roles, and creating an Excel spreadsheet can go a long way in terms of managing your applications.
Ahmed is a Link to Leeds ambassador from Egypt who has also landed a job in Saggezza and recently graduated with his MEng in Computer Science with Artificial Intelligence. During his time in University of Leeds, he was able to participate in a lot of opportunities to grow his employability skills. After his 2nd year, he did an internship in the City of Hull that was advertised by the Careers Centre. During this internship, he worked a lot in graphics and game development but realized that he didn’t quite enjoy it. However, he stresses that internships are a great way to find out what you enjoy and what you don’t enjoy, which is equally important when job hunting! As a summer project, he helped a startup to build a website. In this project, he gained insight on how working in a startup was different to working in an established company. In his role in the startup, he was involved in various things beyond being a developer, such as helping in recruiting new hires and building their databases.
Similar to Yash, he repeats how important it is to network at different events and at any chance you get. During his time in the University of Leeds, he went to a lot of events, such as career festivals and Hackathons. In these events, he met a lot of people from different companies and got different feedbacks from them. There are a lot of opportunities and events on campus and he highly encourages students to try as much as possible to discover what they would like to work in!
Joceline is a second-year Medicinal Chemistry student from Indonesia who will be starting her placement in Centre for Process Innovation (CPI) in July. She moved to Leeds in 2018 and spent one year completing a foundation year before joining the University of Leeds in 2019. During these two years, she focuses a lot on growing her employability skills by participating in different opportunities in her first year. One of the schemes that she was part of during her first year was the Intercultural Ambassadors scheme where she was able to grow her team-working, communication, and public speaking skills. This helped her recognize her strengths and made doing applications much easier.
She suggests students to start early for applications, especially for those looking to work in a field that might close applications as early as November. Another useful tip for applicants is to create paragraph “templates” that highlight a specific skill. This way, when writing a personalized cover letter, a student can swap in certain paragraphs that highlights skills/values that match the company. Additionally, she suggests students to be open to feedback and criticism from those working in the field or are experienced in the hiring process. Lastly, she suggests students to know what they are looking for in a job but remain flexible and open as well!
Vaiva is a fellow Link to Leeds ambassador from Lithuania, who is studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics and is currently doing her placement year at Leeds International Piano Competition as a Campaigns Coordinator. She is responsible for providing administrative and campaigns support, organizing fundraising activities while also improving her artistic management, social and presenting skills.
During the event she shared her expertise on gaining useful experience outside her studies and how she managed to engage successfully with the academic community. She has actively taken part in the opportunities provided by the International Office and the Global Community at university, where she has been an assistant during the World Unite Week and has also visited the NATO Quarters and the European Parliament in Brussels.
To be willing to take the further mile, to be open-minded and to expand your experience in the most useful way were some of the highlights of her talk.
Youssef is a final year student in the sphere of Mechanical Engineering who recently secured a graduate role in a multinational manufacturing firm, where he previously did an internship and a training course in Bayreuth, Germany in 2018. As a Master’s student, he has over-shadowed a couple of internships in Bahrain, where he originally comes from, and has also gained some insightful experience while studying in Leeds and joining the International Office.
Some of his best tips for students who are now starting their job search were to gain experience alongside your degree by joining career workshops, to be passionate and flexible as possible, as well as to keep thriving no matter how many times you may get a negative answer when applying for a job.
It is important to use all the resources available for you as a student and to not be afraid to ask for help, when you need it – the Careers Centre at the University of Leeds offers CV and application support, all you have to do is ask!
Lia is currently on her placement in Germany, where she has been working as a Specialist in Congress & Meeting Management at Boehringer Ingelheim. She is in her third academic year, doing a joint honours Bachelor degree in German and International Relations.
As an Intercultural Ambassador in her first year, she gained some insights on how to improve her social skills, how to become a reliable part of a team and how to organise an event that would have a meaningful impact on international students. As she comes from Bulgaria, she shared with students some useful tips on how to tackle the initial cultural shock when moving abroad and how to become an active part of the student community. The university offers many opportunities to get out of your comfort zone and meet people who are going through the same – some of them are joining a society and attending social events organised by the Global Community.
Securing a placement position could be a challenging step to take, but if you do extensive research on the companies that interest you, while also start networking, it would be much easier to reflect on the mutual values and make the right decision at the end. Additionally, being prepared to face challenges along the way would help you accept constructive feedback as an opportunity to improve and do better the next time!
During the Q&A session, all of the ambassadors highlighted perseverance, surrounding yourself with like-minded people, and to not be afraid to try new things! And another important resource for university students is the Careers Centre. The Careers Centre can help students in every step of the job hunting journey and provide meaningful insight. Jan also highlights the importance of being open for different opportunities and explore what’s out there (and this is very important for the Career’s Festival!).
Finally, in order to prepare for the Career’s Festival (or any part of your journey in finding a job), these are what the ambassadors have suggested:
- Research the companies, their culture, and the roles that are available
- Prioritize which companies interests you most
- Ask genuine questions, show curiosity, and present yourself in the best way to the recruiters
If any students would like to watch the video recording of the session it’s available here.