Alumni and students gathered together on Thursday 6 October in Fyvie Hall to discuss an issue that is little talked about but impacts a silent majority of graduating students. How do you get started in your career when you simply don’t know what you want to do?
Four alumni who have taken unusual career paths joined us for a panel event, ‘Now What…? Overcoming career confusion with Westminster alumni’, to share with us their personal stories of trial and error, fortuitous accidents, and challenges as they found their way to fulfilling, successful careers.
Watch the video to hear their full stories and learn from their journeys as they share their hard-earned advice and wisdom.
Miriam Hanna (Human and Medical Sciences BSc, 2012), now a PR and communications recruitment consultant for The Works Search, listened to her friends when they saw her potential for a role completely unrelated to her medical background.
Advice: “It is important to learn when to listen to people – and when to ignore people.”
Jack Hart (Politics BA, 2010) found himself writing letters about badgers and buying socks for MPs as a Parliamentary Assistant before becoming a Senior Researcher in Crime and Policing for the GLA Conservative Group.
Advice: “Every little thing you do eventually builds up into something bigger so take every opportunity you can.”
Rebecca Graham (Contemporary Media Practice BA, 2015), award-winning music video director, fell into a repetitive cycle of starting and dropping out of courses until she discovered she was dyslexic – a life-changing realisation.
Advice: “I learnt how to break everything down into micro-tasks. It isn’t 1,000 words I have to write, but one sentence. And then another sentence and another to make up a paragraph which will become a chapter. And that has echoes throughout life.”
Akshay Khullar (Computer Animation PG Diploma, 2007) followed his passion for gaming before side-stepping into the financial world to become the User Experience Manager at investment firm Fidelity International.
Advice: “Keep learning. Share. Break out of your comfort zone. Practise, practise, practise. And ask why.”
Organised by the Alumni Team, this is part of a new series of alumni panel events which will take place twice a year. Each event will have a different theme, and one event a year will be focussed on careers. The next event in the series will be around International Women’s Day in March, with details to be confirmed later in the year.
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