Well, now that I work as a careers adviser it has been really helpful to work for different types of organisations, both to see how different types of jobs – what’s involved in different types of jobs - but also to pick up on different company cultures. My main responsibility working at Oxford Brookes is to the whole student body, so whoever needs help in anything to do with getting a job, doing a CV; or in a wider way, you know, maybe wanting to change universities or to change course, often we can advise on that as well.

Video Transcript

I also have a special responsibility for the healthcare school so I am particularly interested in what’s going on in the NHS - and there’s always something going on in the NHS, there’s always another reorganisation! I think there’s now very much a recognition that the student is the expert. You know, we hand over the resources, the websites, we comment on what’s happening with an up-to-date employment situation, what employers are looking for, how to prepare for interviews, but in the end, the student, when they’re armed with all of that information, they are the expert and they’re the people that take those decisions.

You’ve got to be interested in people and you’ve got to actually want to help. But not to do everything – as I say, in the end, students are adults and I think you’ve got to be very accepting that they in the end make their own decisions. You’re just part of the process. I don’t think I would ever say, “I’ve seen five people today and they all wanted to do the same thing,” because everybody’s unique – you never know who’s going to walk in and what their situation is so I love my job.

I must say that I enjoy helping people and that’s a fairly obvious thing to say. On a more selfish note, I think one of my big values is working with a small team of people who I know are supportive and I suppose a bit like me; we all want to do the best we can for people.