Why I chose to attend Capital Connections...

Raul Brinzan is a Lancaster University student studying Business Management and a member of the GROW Your Future program. He is currently the social executive for the Casual Football Society tasked with organising social outgoings and other events. He is currently looking at different work opportunities such as internships to gain more work experience.

"One of the reasons why I decided to apply for the Capital Connections programme was to learn more about the opportunities offered by companies to undergraduate students like me. The program provided me with insight into the recruitment process of top companies in London and what are the key skills and experience they are looking for from an applicant.

On the first day, we visited NGDP (The National Graduate Programme for Local Government) where we learned about their recruitment process which offers a fast-track graduate programme, and the different opportunities within the company to work with local communities. We had the opportunity to meet two graduates who walked us through their recruitment process and what projects they are currently working on. Our second company was Omnicom Health Group where we were welcomed by a panel of employees from different departments. I found it very different from NGDP as it was less formal and more friendly even though many of the employees on the panel didn’t know each other they had relaxed conversations and told a lot of jokes making it entertaining to listen to. We got an overview of what each employee does and what their responsibilities are, the main theme I picked from it was that even though it is a company in the healthcare sector it offers graduates the opportunity to apply for different graduate schemes without a science background.

In the evening we took part in a networking event with Lancaster University alumni. I was a bit worried about the networking event since I haven’t had the opportunity to network before however, the alumni that I talked to were friendly and open to any questions about their work. What I did to get over the fear of starting a conversation was to find out more about what they do in their workplace such as what they do as a daily task. There were a lot of people from different job roles which helped me learn a lot about different industries and ways to get the experience necessary to apply for a graduate job. Overall, the event was impactful as I got more insight into the career opportunities out there and what I can do while still being in university to gain the skills necessary to perform well during the recruitment process at a top company.

On the second day, we started with Mazars where we learned more about their opportunities in auditing from a panel of graduates who walked us through their recruitment process and their preparations to pass auditing exams to progress in their careers. It was exciting to learn about something new since I didn’t know much about auditing before attending however, they made sure to explain everything in simple terms for everyone’s understanding. What I found interesting was that during the lunch at Mazars, I had the chance to talk to two graduates and the person running the event, I had a friendly chat about work life and their time at university. After this event, we walked to Deloitte where we were given a presentation on their recruitment process and the different work opportunities offered to students such as different internships which can lead to getting on to a graduate scheme after university. However, due to running a bit late, we didn’t get the chance to answer a lot of questions, but we were offered a Q&A session over Zoom to answer all the questions that we had. After we attended the UpReach charity sector panel where we learned about different opportunities in the charity sector and an overview of how it is to work in that sector, the people on the panel answered a lot of our questions about their job activities and how it is to work for a charity.

The Capital Connection London trip is such an amazing opportunity for a lot of students to learn about the opportunities out there for them, it can change your perspective on how you look at your current career approach. I believe that the most impactful part of the trip was the networking event as I got to talk to a lot of alumni which helped me understand more of the opportunities out there for me as I was advised on what I can do to improve my current skills and how to learn more that would help me with the recruitment process.

"The Capital Connections London trip is such an amazing opportunity for a lot of students to learn about the opportunities out there for them, it can change your perspective on how you look at your current career approach."         

I certainly do recommend attending Capital Connections London as it was an amazing learning experience with lots of opportunities to learn from experienced people about the work environment as well as to communicate and get honest opinions from graduates who have gone through the recruitment process."

Applications for Capital Connections 2023 are now open. Join?this MS Teams group ?to find out more and apply via this link -?https://lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3FaMWyXiyITeW5o