All things careers
Hongzhang Guo
Air Transport and Logistics Management BSc(Hons) - Third Year
Hi, I'm Hongzhang from China. I am a final year Air Transport and Logistics Management student. I am passionate about consulting, accounting, banking, and supply chain management. I hope my experience will provide you with some insights into university life!
Hi, I am pleased to be here sharing my experience at the University of Huddersfield again...
I'm going to share the career opportunities and support you can receive as a student at the University of Huddersfield. I like Huddersfield because the staff really support you to do a placement year, especially if you're a student who wants some industry experience. One fantastic thing about our university is that they have a dedicated placement team to support you in securing opportunities.
I completed a placement last year, and it was a great experience. I worked for one of the biggest car manufacturers in the world - Stellantis! I worked with some very talented colleagues from many different parts of the world, and it helped me gain a lot of professional experience and transferable skills.
At the start of my second year, I remember the Placement team in Huddersfield Business School delivered a presentation for all the students on how a placement year will help you gain experience and make you more employable and professional. I was inspired and started looking for placement opportunities at the beginning of my second year. It turned out to be the right thing to do as I applied to many different companies and got to the final round of interviews. I interviewed at many big companies such as; Siemens, DHL and National Rail, but in the end, I accepted an offer from Stellantis to complete a placement in their Supply Chain team.
I had a great time there, and you can read all about my experience here.
The Placement team in the Huddersfield Business School helped me a lot. They helped me with my cover letter, resume, and the interview process. For example, they reviewed my CV and helped me to make it more professional. I had a few appointments with them, and they provided some great guidance on the job application. They helped me be more organised and enabled me to present a better version of myself so that I could achieve a higher chance of securing a placement.
The Placement team also helped me in preparing for my interview. As I said, I had quite a lot of interview opportunities from many big firms and I didn‘t have too much experience in attending an assessment centre or interviews, so I went to the Placement team for help. They helped me prepare to answer different interview questions, what to say, how to make myself stand out. For example, they suggested I do more research on the company and the position that I am applying for, they did a few mock interviews with me to give me a taste of what it feels like to be in an actual interview.
This preparation process helped me get used to the process and build confidence.
Aside from the Placement team, the university also has a Careers and Employability team to help you with everything related to careers, part-time jobs and volunteering. They offer appointments for editing CVs, mock interviews and consulting sessions on future career opportunities. I used their service many times and it encouraged me to pursue a career in professional services in the finance industry.
Apart from the above support I've received from the university, I also received much help from the academic staff. All of my lecturers are helpful and I've received much support and advice from them regarding jobs. They also share many industry opportunities with us, so they can be a good source of knowledge/support and I’m glad that my lecturer continues to do this.
To successfully pursue a professional career, I think that you need to prepare for the opportunity as much as you can because it’s all about dedication and persistence. You need to pay attention and put in a lot of effort, so when the opportunity comes you can grab it with both hands!
As a student, you may not be aware of some of the job processes, for example, how to deal with a group task in an assessment centre or how to deliver a professional presentation. To be able to deliver those tasks efficiently, you may require some guidance and that's where the University of Huddersfield really helped me.
It's also good to research your possible career opportunities. Whether it's a tutorial from YouTube, Google, or a career support organisation like Bright Network, you need to make sure that you've done your research and prepared yourself for the moment to showcase who you are.
Although an interview is relatively short in comparison to the whole job process, it’s your main chance to showcase your talent, your potential and skills. I believe that preparation is all it takes to make you unique and stand out, so I would suggest that you start thinking about what you want to do in your future career and start working towards it now. It could increase your chance of landing your dream job when you graduate (it's also ok if you don't know what you want to do yet!).
Good luck and all the best for the future...
Find out more about the university and our courses by chatting to our students via Unibuddy here.
More student life articles?
What is life like as a student? Hear it straight from our current students as they write about their student experience.
Meet our reps
These are the students who are sharing what life is really like at the University of Huddersfield.