What comes next?

Graduate volunteers are advising students about what to expect after graduation in our new alumni speaker series.

Recent graduates in 2022 are the most resilient. These are the alumni who have completed their degrees and commenced their careers during the pandemic, when the job market was at its most competitive.

In our new event series, What Comes Next, recent graduate panels are sharing the valuable lessons they have learnt transitioning from student to working life. Having recently been through the process themselves, their experience is relatable to current students, who are curious and apprehensive about the next steps after graduation.

The events are course aligned, so that students can hear from alumni who were in their very position a few years prior, and be inspired by the varying routes they took with that degree.

“You need to have patience,” says Georgiana Mariut (BA International Relations and Development, 2018), who spoke to Politics and International Relations (IR) students at the first What Comes Next event in November. “In my first six months after graduation, I wasn’t sure whether I should stick around or change my career direction. At the beginning I did face a lot of challenges. In total, it took me about a year to get my head around all of it.”

Georgiana now works in cyber security, but as a student, aspired to work in government.

“Most people who study IR want to go into something like diplomacy, which is pretty difficult to get into. There’s lots of competition. So I went for the opportunity that was available, which back then was recruitment.

“So this is where I am today. I’m a recruiter, but I work specifically with cyber security firms. It’s very niche, but very international. I’m happy because I learnt a lot about international markets.”

Joining Georgiana on the panel was Bertany Berty Mounkela (BA International Relations and Development, 2019). Bertany also planned to go into diplomacy, but during his degree, discovered a passion for development and now works in investor relations.

“There will always be something that comes up to trigger a different interest. I ended up focusing on economic development and global economy, specifically on the African continent,” he explains.

“I think the challenge for me after graduating, was how do you go to an employer and tell them I studied IR, but I want to get into the investment sector? I had to do some extra learning on the side, just to show some type of background of the field itself. But every time I went to an interview, I would remind them how you can cross the bridges between IR and investment.”

These stories of unconventional career paths and alternative roles is integral to the What Comes Next series. It reassures students of the vast number of employment options, and opens their minds to the possibilities which await them after graduation.

“A lot of students think there’s only one way into a specific sector. They forget there is a million,” says Bertany. “All routes lead to Rome. That’s why it’s important to have these types of events, so that students are exposed to all the things possible for them.

“It takes courage to do what I did and be an unconventional career seeker. So that was my main message. Because with courage you are building confidence and inevitably building a sense of purpose. It will open doors for you.”

There have been four events in the What Comes Next series so far. Following the first event in Politics and International Relations, our second event was for students studying Psychology or Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience. The third event focused on Criminology and Sociology and the fourth, Biological Sciences.

“I think I’m one of those people that kind of always had an idea of what they wanted to do in the long run,” says Rania Joudi (BA Sociology and Criminology, 2019), who joined us for the third event in the series. “But I wasn’t sure how I was going to get there.”

Unlike the other panellists, Rania has had a clearer career trajectory. While studying at Westminster, certain modules lead her towards conflict studies and security. She went on to study an MA in Security at UCL and now works as a Security Specialist at International SOS, mitigating risks for doing business across borders.

“My third year was very decisive,” she says. “I had the ability to be more independent in the topics that I chose and had the confidence to feel like this is what I want to do. If you had asked me three years ago if I want to get into security, I would have told you that I don’t really know what that is. I didn’t know it was one of the coolest jobs ever.”

So as someone who knew what she wanted to do, Rania’s advice to students was to stay determined and focused on their goal.

“What helped me overcome challenges was how much I wanted to do it. The biggest thing is to always remain confident in what you want to do and the fact that you’ll get there. Every obstacle is a learning curve, and you’ll grow from it. It’s part of the process.”

Thanks to the insights from our recent graduate volunteers, students are gaining a much better understanding of what they can do with their degrees. The series will return in the next academic year, so that more students can learn where their Westminster education can take them.

“I remember attending these events at university,” says Georgiana. “You look up to these people and think ‘they’ve done so well for themselves. Maybe one day I’ll be up there speaking’. So it feels good. Almost three years, and now I’m giving advice to students.”

Could you inspire a student?

Your experiences could be the inspiration students are looking for.

If you are interested in volunteering as a recent graduate, visit: westminster.ac.uk/get-involved