A collaborative effort between the alumni team and the Careers and Employability Service, Future Connections reinforces the university’s commitment to widening access to higher education, ensuring that all students have the opportunity to fulfil their potential.
The programme takes a group of students from less advtanged backgrounds through confidence-building preparatory workshops, followed by an unmissable trip to alumni-led firms. At these firms, students meet with sector leaders, network with recent graduates and talent acquisition teams, and take part in workplace simulation exercises.
This year, the trip saw students visit the London offices of Microsoft UK & Ireland and BloombergNEF, before culminating at EY UK in Canary Wharf. Join us behind the scenes and hear from our alumni hosts as they share their perspectives on the programme.
University staff with our 2025 Future Connections cohort at the Microsoft UK & Ireland HQ in central London.
Part 1 - Microsoft UK & Ireland
The first stop of the day (following a 5.45am coach departure from University Park!) saw our students welcomed to the offices of Microsoft UK & Ireland, where they took part in a Q&A with the CEO Darren Hardman (Economics and Quantitative Econometrics, 1998).
Then followed an 'early career pathways' Q&A to help inspire our students to think about their first steps after they graduate from Nottingham, before the session ended with an opportunity to network over lunch.
Part 2 - Bloomberg New Energy Finance (NEF)
The coach wound its way through the sights of central London before arriving at the super-swish offices of Bloomberg, which won an array of architectural awards following its construction in 2017.
If you aren't familiar, BloombergNEF is known as a 'strategic research provider covering global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies shaping the future of the energy transition'.
Our students heard from a number of employees about their career paths, as well as from CEO of BloombergNEF Jon Moore (Electrical and Electronic Engineering, 1986) about his own rise to the top.
Part 3 - EY
The final location of the trip was the Canary Wharf HQ of EY UK - quite the spectacular end to the day as the sun set over London. After being on the go for over 10 hours, our students were then subjected to the rigours of a consultancy challenge, where they had 45 minutes to design and pitch a concept to a room full of both their peers and EY partners!
The day concluded with a directed networking session, hosted by Global Vice Chair - Consulting Errol Gardner (Industrial Economics, 1990) and attended by a group of Nottingham alumni, which gave the students the opportunity to discuss five thought-provoking topics related to career development.
A huge thank you to all the alumni who gave up their time to share their career stories and advice with our students.