How long have you worked in Careers at York and what did you do before you worked here?

I joined the Careers team in September 2013, working part-time alongside completing my undergraduate degree in English Language and Linguistics. Prior to this I worked part-time as a restaurant manager and taught piano at the weekends.

What do you do in a typical day in your job?

Most of my time is spent on the Information Desk which involves handling initial enquiries from students, graduates, employers, members of university staff, visitors etc. These enquiries can be face-to-face, telephone or email. Although the routine is always the same, the wide variety of enquiries that we get at the Information Desk means that no two shifts are identical. I also help to keep the Careers Education sector Facebook page up-to-date with information about possible careers, sector development and generally interesting articles.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

The people I work with are lovely. My time at Careers has coincided with the final year of my degree and it has been great to come into work during stressful essay/exam periods to interact with people who don’t live in the student bubble! It has also been really interesting seeing the university from a staff point of view as well as student one.

If you could do any job in the world what would it be?

I would really love to teach in a primary school and specialise in pupil behaviour; I’d eventually like to work in a Pupil Referral Unit or similar. I have a place on an Initial Teacher Training course to start in September so hopefully it won’t be too long before I can realise this!

What are you:  

• Watching? I’ve just had a few months off TV to finish my degree so it’s been a while since I watched anything consistently. I do want to catch up on Mr Drew’s School for Boys though.
• Reading? Quiet: The Power of Introverts in A World That Can’t Stop Talking, by Susan Cain – my first non-linguistics book in well over a year!
• Listening to? John Williams and Ludovico Einaudi have provided the soundtrack to my essay writing.

Find out more about other members of the Careers team in previous ‘Meet the Team’ blogs: