Mitali attained a BSc in Business Management with a Year in Industry in 2014 and has been on ‘a journey and a half’ since graduating last summer.

After graduating from the Business School and a long summer off I moved to London and began my Graduate Scheme at BT in Business Management.

Since joining I have been on a journey and a half! There are 7 lines of business under the BT umbrella and so many options to build my own career. In the past 10 months I have decided to rotate through the network division, Openreach and working with big customers such as Sky and TalkTalk.

In my first role, I was a project manager looking at delivering financial efficiencies to the business. Now, I am involved in devising strategic work packages to improve engagement and design of our 4000+ engineering organisation. It is a big job, with real impact, and I am loving every minute of it.

This is only half of what I do though. In the short space of time being here I have been involved in the Women’s Network at BT interviewing Senior Leaders across the business in our very own TV Studios. I love all of the extra stuff I can get involved in and it feels like I run my own motivational business!

Aside from work I’ve been involved in charity fundraisers from the BT Tower to the hills of Snowdonia and I can honestly say time has just flown. With the company recently buying EE I am excited to be a part of building the connected future of Mobile technology in the UK and worldwide.

There is a huge community of graduates from Birmingham at BT and in London so there have been many opportunities to go back and visit. Since leaving I have come back to the campus to run a couple of mock assessment centre type sessions with the careers office. I love visiting the campus, I have made some very fond memories I will always cherish. I would love to come back for events in music or learning at the Bramall Music Building and look forward to invites!

I made friends for life at university and regularly visit Birmingham and my friends visit London. We shared highs and lows during the degree together and we often arrange holidays and events to see each other.

Luckily for me there are a few other Birmingham graduates at BT. We are based all over the country but we come together at training events around the UK. So far we have had meetups in London, Southampton and Ipswich and I am sure there will be many more to come.

I really maximised my time at university and I was really driven to succeed. In return, the University gave me so much back that I am eternally thankful for. In my first year I won a scholarship from the Business School to redress gender inequality and empower women in rural India. For me, this experience has always been so close to my heart. I have taken the learning directly to form part of my mission in the Women’s Network I produce inspiring content for, today. 

Another great highlight was the variety of modules I completed as part of my Business Management degree. Coming into the real world of business I find myself constantly referring to branding concepts, economic principles, financial accounting methods and even selling myself to succeed in my job. I really have had a step up compared to others who may not already have this understanding of  business. Finally, I completed a year in Industry at Microsoft which opened my eyes to the corporate environment for the first time. The opportunity to do this from the University was so great and I learnt so much which I am using today.