In March 2022, Irina felt she was stuck in a job with no prospects or future. She had recently completed her degree and knew she had to take action to change her career and her quality of life. She contacted the Employability team and worked closely with Anita Virik. They worked together to redraft her CV, and after several meetings produced a professional, well formatted document.

Irina then set out to secure a job, she applied for over 40 jobs and was invited for 10 interviews. For each interview she consulted with Anita; Anita prepared her on interview etiquette and technique and coached her – Irina could feel her confidence growing throughout this experience. This process taught Irina that not securing some jobs was in fact a positive thing as it helped understand more about what she wanted and where she needed to focus her attention. Finally, the role at the school came up, and 5 months in she has been offered a permanent position in Human Resources.

Irina attributes much of her success to her positive interactions with the Employability team, from the Passport sessions and Industry Exposure, whilst at university, to the ongoing one-to-one support in helping her navigate and make the right career choices. Industry Exposure was particularly inspiring for her, employers being willing to spare their time and share their knowledge to help students was a motivator to keep going in her job-search. Irina was happy to share her story and recommends that others make use of the range of support offered by the Employability team.

If you are inspired by Irina’s story and you would like some support, please email employability@london.aru.ac.uk - whether you are a current student or alumni the Careers Team is there to support and empower you on your career journey.

In January, she decided that she needed some UK experience, so she undertook some practical training and work experience.

At the beginning of March, Trudi from the Employability Team called to ask if she needed any help with her career development. Raluca explained her struggles and frustrations since graduation. Trudi asked to see Raluca’s CV and it was immediately obvious that Raluca was positioning herself as a recent graduate and underselling her skills and experience. Trudi explained that the first part of her CV, often referred to as the profile, should be tailored to her chosen role and champion her 10 years' work experience, her language skills and give rationale as to why she decided to undertake a degree as a mature student in the UK.

Raluca revised her CV. The profile now highlighted the responsibilities and achievements from her work experience. She had also changed her LinkedIn profile, so the headlines were more reflective of her skills and experience, and she was ready to go.

Within a week of using the updated CV, Raluca had one phone interview, 2 physical interviews, one video interview and 2 job offers. She contacted Trudi as she found it stressful making a decision. They talked through the pros and cons and also profiled each organisation to see if they aligned with Raluca’s personality and ambitions. In the end, Raluca was able to come to a positive decision and she started in the Accounts Department at the HQ of a national retailer on Monday 28 March 2022.

Raluca is happy that she engaged with ARU London’s Employability service as she now has a rewarding job offer. She would encourage any students or alumni struggling with their career progression to take advantage of these services. She is very appreciative of the University and all its support.

If you are inspired by Raluca’s story and you would like some support, please email employability@london.aru.ac.uk - whether you are a current student or alumni the Careers Team is there to support and empower you on your career journey.

The ARU London MBA courses are designed to broaden people's knowledge and expertise and fulfil employers’ requirements, helping me to make amazingly fast progress in my career. During my studies, I had the opportunity to attend the Employability Scheme - a service with the specific objective of enhancing students’ future employment prospects. This includes CV workshops, interview techniques, career counselling and visits from prospective employers. With the unconditional support received from the Employability Team soon after completing the scheme and obtaining the Employability Passport, I received an amazing opportunity to start working as a Learning Resources Analyst at ARU London. During this experience, I have effectively led several projects and implemented innovative learning resources schemes with the great support of a super-efficient team and a great mentor, Aykut Ozkaya. I will be eternally grateful for this opportunity and for the amazing projects we developed together.

But during all this time, I continued to dream big because ‘all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them’ – Walt Disney. In my case, it all started with an exciting opportunity coming as a job announcement in my Student Email Inbox: ‘ARU London partner Hitachi Vantara is launching a year-long internship for graduates with interests in business and technology. By reading the first rows of this email I was sure that this opportunity is for me, it came at the perfect moment and I have never felt more prepared for a new stage than then. I started to design my CV and the cover letter and I contacted the Employability Engagement Team to proceed to the next stage. I would like to take advantage of this opportunity to extend my appreciation for the incredible guidance and support Daniel South (Employer Engagement Officer) and Anita Virik (Head of Employer Engagement) at ARU London offered to me. Both of these officers put in endless hours working on this project, each one showing professionalism and diligence.

The recruitment process was well structured, and it involved a presentation and an interview with the Hitachi Vantara staff. The presentation was very well designed and each step strengthened, even more, my conviction to join a company that invests in its people and has committed to building a better and sustainable future through responsible and innovative digital solutions that answer society’s challenges. I am super proud and excited to say that now I joined the organisation as an Associate, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the opportunities coming from global business consultancy, data and digital transformation, IoT, data storage and analytics. But I will never forget the people who helped me to get there, who offered growth of skills support, knowledge, and experiences through extra-curricular sessions.