Having been in professional-level sport environments and now continuing to play semi-professionally alongside my career, football has played a huge part in my journey. At the same time, experiencing injury along the way also reinforced for me how important it is to have a strong educational background behind you, because in football you never really know what can happen. That's a big part of why Leeds Beckett was such a great fit for me. It had a strong sporting environment, which suited my background, but it also gave me the chance to grow academically and personally. I chose Economics because I was always interested in understanding how businesses, markets, and financial systems work. Over time, that interest developed more seriously and eventually led me towards finance and the career path I am on now.

What were you expecting to do with your degree after you finished or were you hoping to keep going with your professional sports?

No, I didn't have one exact job title in mind, but I always knew I wanted to build a career in finance. I was particularly drawn to capital markets, investments, and the broader world of high finance, including areas like investment banking, because of how fast-paced, competitive, and intellectually demanding those environments are. I liked the idea of being in a space where markets, strategy, and decision-making all came together. That was a big part of why I chose to study Economics. I saw it as a degree that would give me a strong understanding of markets and financial systems, while also keeping a lot of doors open within finance. At the same time, I was still balancing football and trying to pursue that seriously as well.

For me, it was always about having both ambition in sport and a strong foundation outside of it. Over time, that interest in finance developed further and led me into my current role as a Trading Analyst at FinIQ in the FinTech sector, where I have been able to get practical exposure to financial products, workflows, and the systems that support capital markets. It has been a really valuable first step in the direction I always wanted to go in.

What would you say you received from the course that you're using now in your chosen area of work?

One of the biggest benefits I got from studying Economics was learning how to think in a structured and analytical way, especially when it comes to problem-solving. That's something I use a lot in my role at FinIQ. Although my job is within FinTech, the work is still very closely linked to finance, so having that economic and financial way of thinking is really useful. It helped me understand the logic behind markets, pricing, financial products, and how different factors can affect value and decision-making. In my role, I work with systems and workflows that support financial products, so it is not just about technology on its own.

A lot of it is also about understanding the finance behind what the system is doing, whether that is around pricing, trade flows, product behaviour, or how certain inputs affect an outcome. Economics gave me that broader mindset where you are not just looking at numbers on a screen, but also thinking about the bigger reasoning behind them. I would also say the course helped build strong quantitative and problem-solving skills, which are both very important in the kind of work I do now.

How did you originally connect with the Beckett Careers team and how have they supported you?

Beckett Careers played an important role in helping me prepare for the workplace, especially as someone who came to the UK through football and was aiming to build a career in finance. I regularly sought their advice to better understand the UK job market and how to position my background in the best way possible.

They helped me realise that the skills I had developed through football, things like discipline, resilience, commitment, and the ability to perform under pressure, were all real strengths in a professional environment as well. That gave me a lot more confidence in how I approached applications and career decisions. I think one of the biggest things was starting early and being proactive.

I engaged with the careers team while I was still at university, and that helped me think more seriously about where I wanted to go, what I needed to do, and how to make myself stand out.

So what does the future look like for you now?

At this stage, the future for me is really about continuing to build strong expertise at the intersection of finance and technology. My role at FinIQ has given me valuable exposure to financial products, capital markets workflows, and the technology that supports them, and I see that as a really strong foundation for my long-term development. Over time, I hope to move deeper into the capital markets space and continue building a career within finance. My focus right now is on learning as much as possible, gaining exposure, and building both the technical and commercial understanding that will help me grow in that direction.

What would your top tip be for someone starting out and improving their employability?

My top tip would be to identify what makes you different and use that to your advantage. In my case, football gave me qualities like discipline, resilience, and the ability to perform under pressure, and those are things I have been able to carry into my professional career as well.

I think employability is not just about your degree. It is also about how well you can show the strengths, experiences, and passions that make you stand out from other people. Whether that comes from sport, extracurricular activities, work experience, or something else entirely, I think it is important to find what separates you and really lean into it. I would also say make the most of university resources and seek advice early, because being proactive really helps. Even doing that little bit extra can make a big difference.

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