Tell us about your time at the university
I wanted a campus university with a lively city close by, a competitive yet social rowing team, offering Maths and Economics joint honours and was 2-3 hours from home...and Nottingham ticked all the boxes! Arriving on campus for the open day, Nottingham immediately just felt like home and I knew it was where I wanted to study.
My favourite things were the campus and its great facilities: the SU, sports centre and libraries. There were also plenty of careers events and activities, where you could go and speak to different companies about their graduate schemes and how you may be suited to them!
Tell us about your current role and your experiences since graduating
I am a Management Consultant within EY's Business Consulting service line, specialising in Product Management. I work collaboratively with clients to help them grow their business through large scale digital transformation, such as building new customer centric platforms. Although many may say my degree was not directly applicable to my career, my degree helped me develop my problem solving and logical thinking skills, both of which contribute to the success of our client projects.
I applied for a Spring week with EY after going to a Careers Fair on campus. After having completed the Spring week in the Easter of my first year, I was offered an internship for the summer of my second year and then following that a graduate job. It was a huge relief knowing that I had a graduate offer at the start of my third year, and allowed me to focus on completing my degree and enjoying my last year at Nottingham.
My biggest highlight to date in my career is probably being promoted off the graduate scheme to be a Senior Consultant after two years. It was great to reflect on what I had learnt in the two years and to take the next step in my career. On a smaller scale though, day to day it is great to see the impact we have on the clients we work with and helping them to grow and improve their business' performance.
What advice would you give to future students?
Don't have too many expectations and don't worry if you aren't entirely sure what you want to do. Consulting can be extremely varied but also it isn't for everyone. I wasn't completely sure when I started but I just embraced the job and it turned out I did enjoy it.
The world of work is ever changing and the jobs that are around today may not be around in 15-20 years time, so we are all probably going to have to change what we do in one way or another during our careers – so don't worry if you aren't sure now or even in five years, and until you decide just gather as much experience as you can in the working world.