Built in Birmingham, forged for the future

My experience at Birmingham has been invaluable to kind of moving into this career path.

So, not only was I a social secretary, but also worked part time fundraising for some of the amazing initiatives Birmingham was supporting.

So that was really great for honing my sales skills, which helped me, kind of, get on to the grad scheme at PepsiCo.

I was looking for an opportunity academically to broaden my horizons that would, in the future, allow me to have that push professionally as well.

The University of Birmingham course allowed me to gain that experience.

It exposed me to so many new opportunities, to so many new contacts in the sector, that I was able to go off and meet and talk to and learn from, whilst also being able to drive that knowledge back into my role and grow personally and professionally as a result.

My time at the University has had a lasting impact on my career.

It taught me not just the science, but also how to communicate, how to interact with people, how to inspire young people.

I think my journey at university really helped prepare me for my career, because of the vast amount of people that you meet at university.

I think because UOB attracts people from all over the world.

It's just an amazing place to network and talk to people and really build your confidence in that sense.

I would 100% recommend studying at UOB.

I think academically it's amazing.

It's got such an incredible reputation.

I couldn't recommend it more.

I'm Billie Major, Chief Operating Officer for Capgemini in the UK, and Executive Vice President.

My name is Rocco Campanaro and I'm a Senior Content Designer at Capgemini. sI graduated from the University of Birmingham in 2016, where I studied Business Management with Communications.

My name is Amelia Wildmore-Evans and I'm part of the Facilitation Team at the ASE at Capgemini. I graduated in 2021 and I studied Business Management with a Year in Industry.

Birmingham is obviously a Russell Group University, it's climbing up the rankings. It has a great reputation, actually, for research. That research will feed into the teaching.

And so we're feeling confident that Birmingham students, when they come into the workplace, will be very aware of what's happening in the world, what's happening in the markets that our clients operate in.

We have to produce solutions for clients. Those solutions are never the thing that we start off with. We build on them, we iterate, and that's how innovation is built into those solutions.

Clients just want innovation. They want to be at the top of their own markets.

They want to give excellent service to their clients and so getting graduates from universities like Birmingham, where that ethos and that way of thinking has been almost ingrained in them, but it's been taught to them, they'll come into our organisation and bring that approach, and that's what we want in our teams.

That diversity of thought, the challenge, the curiosity, that's so important to us.

I actually started my journey with Capgemini in my First Year. I did a week-long internship called the Capgemini Community Challenge, and that's where 25 of us from the University get an opportunity to have a charity client. And it's like a real consulting week.

So, they had some problem statements, and then we produce some deliverables by the end of the week. I really enjoyed the process and the people that I met, so I knew that was something that I wanted to go back into and a company I wanted to work for.

So, when I went looking for my Year in Industry placement, I thought I'd love to go back to work with Capgemini. And through the networks that I'd made on that week, I managed to get a foot in the door and secure that placement, which I loved, and had a variety of roles within that.

So then looking at a grad role, I knew I wanted to come back and do that, so looked at different areas, consulting or business change, and in the end, one of my mentors from my freshers internship said, 'Have you thought about the ASE?', which is the Accelerated Solutions Environment, and we're a collaboration capability to help our clients solve their most complex problems.

So it's really creative, fun, working across industries. And I thought, 'that sounds like the place for me'. And I've been here for five years.

After graduating from the University of Birmingham, I joined Capgemini in a internal communications and change management role, supporting employees through major internal transformation.

Four years ago, I made the transition into user experience and content design. Currently, I'm the content design lead on a major government transformation programme.

In that role, I lead a team of designers to design digital services that are used by millions of users up and down the country.

My time at the University of Birmingham definitely equipped me for where I am today in my career, both academically and gaining hands-on experience.

During my studies, I completed the Capgemini Community Challenge and I also did an internship with Birmingham City Council in their International Affairs team.

Both opportunities, I sourced via the University's Careers Network, and both opportunities gave me early exposure to working with real clients, understanding their challenges, and delivering solutions that made a lasting impact.

I did Business Management, which definitely helped. There was a lot of transferable skills and a lot of modules that I had foundational elements from.

So, the change management modules I really loved, and there's still models that I use in that in my work today. Project management, helping to give me those skills.

I now manage teams, as well, within my role, which is really helping me to manage the project end-to-end. But also not just in my academics.

So, I was also part of societies, like the Salsa Society, Dance Club, Latino, which every year, there's a big festival of hundreds of students come across the country to come down to do it.

So, I actually had a team of a committee of like, 11 people, we had a five figure budget, and that gave me actual real-life experience of doing that project management.

So, that was really valuable, and I learned a lot of lessons through that and what to do, what not to do. And how's the best way to work forward.

So I would definitely say, like getting those extra curricular activities to apply some of the things that you're learning, or even if you're not doing like a Business course, that is where you can start to develop some of those skills.

So I would just definitely say, yeah, making the most of all of the opportunities there.

The most exciting thing about my current role is solving problems. No two days the same. So, the opportunity to work with a team of researchers, designers, developers, to understand user needs and designing solutions to meet those needs is really fulfilling.

My advice to current students would be to stay open minded when it comes to choosing your career. I switched careers five years into mine and it's the best thing I ever did.