The Faculty of Media and Communications welcomed graduates who have gone on to work at companys including Xbox, LBC Radio and the National Motor Museum, to share their experiences with current Humanities students at Talbot Campus last week.
The event was organised by Dr Scott Keefer, Senior Lecturer in History, and The BU Careers team. Humanities alumni shared their experiences, insight, and advice to attendees since their own graduations from BA (Hons) English, BA (Hons) Politics, and BA (Hons) History.
In addition, local history and heritage professionals Sarah Wyatt, Claire Cooper, and Joanne Ainslie attended sharing details of their own careers as well as providing advice.
Dr Scott Keefer commented, “This event was a wonderful opportunity to showcase the careers pursued by our humanities alumni and provide inspiration for current students.
“Studies in the humanities provide students with invaluable transferable skills opening up a range of professional paths.”
The former students explained thier varied journeys to their present-day jobs. Charley Hodson is a graduate of BA (Hons) English from 2015, she is presently the Social Media Manager & Events Lead for Xbox UK and Ireland. Hodson advised attendees “trust your intuition as it will lead you in the right direction”.
“LinkedIn was an important platform for me, it led to being headhunted for Xbox which is a career that has taken me around the world, meeting and interviewing influential people.”
Melissa Fleur Afshar, Life and Trends Reporter at Newsweek and BA (Hons) History graduate said “It was experience alongside my degree allowed me to stand out of the crowd, working at Nerve Media, BU’s student news outlet, freelancing after graduating, as well as completing a placement in my second year at The Times and Sunday Times all really helped.
"I had to push through my shyness to find my value. I also, with the help of my academics, tailored my dissertation to focus on Media History.”
Aaron Goldsmith BA (Hons) Politics graduate now works as an Assistant Producer at LBC Radio. Speaking candidly about the challenges he faces as someone with Autism he highlighted the values of resilience to achieve his ambitions, “perseverance is key, even though it gets tough – push through.
“For me, I wanted to understand my competition and what I could bring to stand out - that looked like a lot of research on the history of UK elections. I wanted to be an encyclopaedia of UK politics. I’d say, find out what you’ve got in your specialist kit to bring forward to a role.”
Jane Pimblett, Careers Advisor at Bournemouth University, said “this event has been a brilliant opportunity for students to learn about how our former students used their skills and knowledge gained from their humanities degree and combined this with their personal interests to be successful in a wide variety of occupations.”
Sarah Wyatt, Senior Curator (Archives & Trading) at the National Motor Museum at Beaulieu commented, “I enjoyed the opportunity to speak to the students about working in the museums sector and would encourage those interested to look at the varied career opportunities it offers”
