1. Name

Chris Millson

2. Job Title

Online Training Manager

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

After I graduated, my partner and I taught English in Japan for a year – it was great experience and fun to live there. I then got a job here in Careers helping students start businesses, which taught me a lot. From that job to my current role, I have worked in Careers for seven years – but I enjoy it here, so I don’t have the proverbial itch.

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

My job is to manage eLearning and interactive web apps for Careers, including the Employability Tutorial and Careers Timeline. It is easy to say ‘every day is different’; indeed, I have just done so, and while it is usually true, there are a lot of important everyday things in most jobs. You may not enjoy all of them, but being good at them could be what gets you the job; don’t forget this when applying for things. Here are some things I do very regularly: write/reply to emails, fill in forms, have meetings, talk about ideas and developments, research things online, write code for web applications, use databases to generate stats, follow things on social media. Here are some things I don’t do every day: meet employers and staff at other universities, go to conferences, and help with events like Careers Fairs/the YUSU Fair and York Award courses.

5. What do you enjoy most about your job?

I think everyone has said this too, but having nice colleagues is the most important thing for me, and the people I work with are great. Also, I get to talk to students, graduates and staff, to find out how we can improve our online services – it is very rewarding to feel that you are helping people, and exciting to hear ideas which I would never think of myself. If you are at York and have any comments/suggestions, send them over; we love feedback.

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

I used to think it would be nice to be a coffee taster, but then I read this article and realised I was romanticising it somewhat. I think I would enjoy my childhood ambition of being a DJ and/or music producer, but only in a hypothetical universe where I was talented and lucky enough to make it my day job.

7. What are you:

• Watching?

Just finished Utopia: amazing soundtrack, dark and quirky script. Also, just discovered Hot Tub Britain: a winning blend of office tension and logistical nightmares. It made me realise that working for a family business could be very difficult, as would being followed everywhere by a film crew.

• Reading?

My partner and I have been on a few long car journeys recently, and have discovered a fun pastime is to become a live audiobook, i.e. reading out a cheap – and ideally trashy – eBook, creating voices for all of the characters. So I have been reading a lot of cheap – and ideally trashy – eBooks.

• Listening to?

I love the new Radio 1 Friday night line-up featuring my favourite DJ, B.Traits. I am not always up late enough to hear it live, so I mostly listen to it on iPlayer while performing household chores. ‘9TS’ by Redlight is a great track at the moment, and an excellent accompaniment to both cooking and unloading the dishwasher.