I left school at 16 and gained an apprenticeship in Portsmouth Naval Base where I worked for 7 years. And then I decided I’d like to enter higher education as a mature student so I went to Ruskin College for a year then did a degree at Oxford Brookes University followed by a PhD. So my entry into the Careers Centre was a roundabout route, yeah.

Video Transcript

The technological change that the internet has brought is a big change; the other big change for the Careers Centre is the sheer number of students that seems to be going up and up and up all the time. So it is a challenging job; it’s a busy job at times.

I enjoy working with my colleagues in the Careers Centre who come from really diverse backgrounds. The students that we engage with – that’s what we’re there for really, working with them, helping them to see what careers are open to them.

The Careers Centre I think gives the impression to students and other staff at Oxford Brookes University that we’re a strong team, that we work together, that if we’re not the person to help them, then we can refer them to another member of the team or ask another member of the team if they can refer, so it gives the impression that we’re a strong team unit and that we work together as a strong team unit.

Traits that are needed for a successful career within Careers: organisation, time planning, people skills are very important, communication skills both verbal and written. A sense of humour, as well, is very important – you deal with such a diverse range of people that sometimes you need to just inject a bit of humour because, as I’ve said, it can be time-pressured, it can be quite stressful at times, so a sense of humour’s an important trait, I feel.