ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½

"Japan has a unique culture known as "shinsotsu ikkatsu saiyo" (simultaneous mass recruiting of new graduates). If you miss this window, job hunting as a new graduate becomes difficult. As my graduation timing differed from students in Japan, I was sensitive about employment, so I thought: why not finish job hunting before departing? That way, I could dedicate 100% of my time to my studies, table tennis, and enjoying student life to the fullest once I arrived.

"Before enrolling at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, I set my sights on the "Los Angeles Career Forum" - a job fair tailored for students studying overseas - and decided to take the plunge. Fortunately, I received an invitation for a final interview from one company. Living in Japan and about to move to the UK, travelling all the way to Los Angeles just for a final interview was a rather amusing situation. Yet, I saw it as a massive opportunity, boldly flew across the Pacific, and successfully secured the job offer. Although the company had to wait a long time for me to join, this strategic move allowed me to immerse myself completely in my studies abroad. After graduating, I returned to Japan and joined the company, starting my career in corporate B2B sales. However, as I began working and learning the fundamentals of business, my desire to challenge myself in a more global environment grew stronger by the day, and I made the bold decision to leave my first company after only about 10 months.

"When making the decision to leave your first company and take the next step, a self-analysis and preparation process that is even deeper than during your student days becomes paramount. I asked myself fundamental questions from the perspective of someone who had actually experienced the workforce: "Having seen the professional world, what kind of company do I truly want to work for?", "Is this environment really where I want to grow?", and "What products or industries genuinely spark my interest?"

"I researched my target companies, bought books to understand their corporate philosophy and culture, and analysed interview trends and interviewees' experiences online, practicing until I could articulate my thoughts and personal narrative flawlessly. Armed with this preparation, I applied directly through the official website, gave it my absolute best, and secured my current role as a Customer Onboarding Strategist at Google. Today, just as I once envisioned, I spend fulfilling days collaborating with brilliant colleagues from all over the world."

*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this profile are strictly my own and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of my employer or any organisation. 

"I graduated in December 2021 without a clear answer to the question every graduate eventually faces: 'what now?' I remember having countless training contract applications open and unfinished, because I honestly could not articulate why commercial law. What I did know was that I had thoroughly enjoyed my international law modules in my final year.

"So instead of pursuing a career path I wasn't convinced by, I made a deliberate gamble and chose to pursue an LL.M. at Duke Law School, where an elective course on Development Finance connected my interests in international law to the work of international development institutions. Breaking into this space required intentionality. I prioritised internships over entry-level job applications and landed one with the World Bank Group's Legal Vice Presidency. 

"In my final semester, I sent emails to Duke alumni working in the field. Two people responded, and a conversation led to a post-graduation role with the Office of General Counsel at DAI. These experiences paved the way to my current role as an Analyst on the World Bank's Pension Investments team, where I get to see how market factors, legal considerations, and risk appetite interact to shape investment decisions within the unique framework of an international organisation.

"Before my final year at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, you could not convince me to act without a detailed plan and a backup plan, just in case. But my time at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ taught me one of the most valuable lessons: complex problems often have more than one defensible solution. Realising there isn’t just one 'perfect' path gave me a tolerance for ambiguity that has propelled me ever since, pushing me to act in spite of fear, uncertainty, and the absence of a clear plan."

"My career path since being at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ has been far from linear. During the summer before my final year at university, I embarked on a 10-week internship in the statistics team within the Department for Transport. This experience set me up to secure a place on the Graduate Transport Planner scheme at AECOM for the September after I finished. I was elated to have a graduate place sorted so I could worry a little less about job applications and focus on studying and enjoying my final few months at university, a privilege I know can be harder to attain for today’s final year students.

"While I enjoyed my time learning about transport planning, and it was the perfect chance to utilise the map-making skills I’d learned during my degree, there was a feeling it wasn’t quite right. So I quit and started a two-month placement at a remote children’s summer camp in Pennsylvania, called Tyler Hill. The week before I moved to the USA, I secured a job as a Conference Producer at a media company in London, which was a complete career pivot. Deciding what to do after leaving the transport planner role was tricky as it seemed like the ideal job: using my degree directly, in a city close to home, and the warmth of being part of a graduate cohort, so it felt a bit like university again.

"But, day to day, I didn’t enjoy the tasks, so I asked myself, what did I really enjoy in life? At university, I loved being President of the Geography Society, ‘Geogsoc’, and helped to arrange the end of year ball, so I knew I could draw on this experience in an interview. Sometimes it’s the indirect, ‘soft’ skills you gained at university from extracurricular opportunities or course group work that can be drawn upon in your CV or job interviews.

"My summer working in the USA and travelling afterwards with the friends I’d made was the reset I’d been looking for, and I came back to London ready to make a proper start on my career. During this role, I helped to produce events for leaders in non-financial risk in banks, which took place in London and New York. Conferences may just seem like a day of presentations and networking, but there’s a team behind every event who decide the content, who the speakers will be, and understand what the audience wishes to take away from it, all while ensuring it is commercially viable. As Conference Production involves report writing and crafting an agenda, it was a requirement to have a degree, as each day I am utilising writing skills.

"In the last eight months since I started at a new company, I’ve worked on events in Riyadh, Paris, Milan, and Toronto. The travel is definitely a bonus of the job, and while it can be stressful producing events, I love being part of a tight knit team who have an event to be proud of at the end of the day."

"Since graduating I’ve been working as an Electrical Hardware Engineer at Turntide Technologies. At Turntide, our mission is to electrify everything that moves, we develop batteries, inverters and motors for a whole host of customers. I work primarily on the inverters side which, in all-electric vehicles is essentially the brains of the vehicle connecting the battery to the motor to enable the vehicle to move. At ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, I was sponsored by Turntide through the E3 Academy (ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ is one of only three universities involved) and I did two summer placements with the team that I now work in.

"My time at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ set me up for success in many ways. I was able to study subjects specific to my area of work with lecturers that were passionate about the subject and at the forefront of those topics. I loved getting to practically implement what I was learning in a lab setting, and to build the foundational knowledge that helped me hit the ground running in my job. I have used every subject that I studied at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½ so I will always be grateful for my time at university for setting me up for success and giving me opportunities to work on real engineering projects that helped me stand out in job applications.

"My time at Turntide so far has been great. I’ve had the opportunity to directly impact projects and develop my test and design skills even further. I have a wonderful team, who are great fun as well as training me up further and passing on their wealth of knowledge. I’ve also loved getting to manage our electrical placement students and expanding the outreach and mentoring I did at university.

"I’m a STEM Ambassador and have done events with young people where I’ve given talks on engineering. Myself and others at work have also been involved with promoting STEM, particularly inspiring more women to get into engineering which has seen us get involved with local networks like the Power of Women and the Advanced Manufacturing Forum’s Women Initiative. This has been especially rewarding and even enabled me to get a couple of minutes of fame when I was interviewed for BBC Look North East’s evening news to promote women in engineering and manufacturing – which was also publicised on the local radio and the BBC website."

"I took a few months off after graduation to rest and recharge following an intense final term. I travelled with my family, visited university friends who, instead of being just around the corner, were now scattered across the country, and rediscovered my love of baking.

"Although I was excited about the future, after almost 20 years of following the familiar rhythm of education, it felt a little daunting to decide what I wanted to do next. I started applying for jobs in October and secured a role as a Junior Design Engineer at Mous at the end of December. I was referred by a coursemate who had graduated a few years before me so knew it was a great company to work for. My course at ÀÖ²¥´«Ã½, as well as the experience of applying for placements and spending a year in industry, gave me the technical knowledge, interview skills, and confidence that really helped me with my job search.

"Now, almost two years after graduation, I've been promoted to Design Engineer and I'm really enjoying my role. Every project is different, which means I get exposure to many areas of the business. I've even had the opportunity to travel to China and Vietnam to visit our manufacturing partners, learn more about the production processes, and meet colleagues from the wider Mous team.

"I had no idea what was in store for me after graduation, but I also had no idea how much I would enjoy the path I was about to take!"