Humanities careers day welcomes industry partners and alumni to chat to inspire students

As part of National Careers Week, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences hosted its second annual Careers Day on Monday 6 March. The event was attended by local employers and industry professionals, with whom students had the invaluable opportunity to network and get advice specific to their career aspirations.

Hannah Beever, the school's Careers and Employability Consultant said, "The Humanities Careers day is one of the School of Social Science and Humanities flagship industry exposure and employability events. We focus on engaging a range of partners from industry, and Beckett alumni to showcase inspiring careers for our students. It’s a fantastic event for boosting student confidence that their academic knowledge and skills are in demand across such a wide range of sectors."

The day started off with a panel discussion of industry experts, which included a Q&A and the chance to chat and connect with the panellists afterwards. The panel included:

Ellie Groom - Curator of Television and Broadcast at both the National Media Museum and British Film Institute
Ben Emmerson – Leeds Beckett History Alum and Recruitment Executive at Harris & Co Executive Search
Tom Mcloughlin -Entrepreneur with a marketing focus who helps businesses grow using intelligent, cost-effective marketing approaches. Tom’s company give 100% of the profit they make to educational charities in the UK and overseas.
Katie Cain – Leeds Beckett alumni now working at the National Institute of Health who supports research and opportunities to improve clinical research provision in the NHS and the UK more widely.

After a lunch break, students then had the chance to take part in three different interactive workshops with industry professionals. These included:

Max Farrar from The David Oluwale Memorial Association (DOMA) which focuses on promote compassion, cohesion, inclusion and social justice in Leeds ran a session on applying skills for insight into careers that really make a difference with a task around charitable objectives and stakeholder engagement.

Ayesha Taylor-Camara who is a Consumer & Content Insights Researcher has experience working for the BBC and Audible, ran a session on customer research, where students connect with audiences who listen to True Crime or Investigative Journalism podcasts and find a new angle to cater to these audiences. Ayesha puts audience needs at the heart of her research and guides creative decisions by connecting the dots between audiences, content, and marketing. She is currently in a contract role managing UK Content and Audience Insights at Audible.

Chloe Byrne, Creative Director of Audience, devising successful and dynamic marketing campaigns. Set a client brief task to unlock business growth beyond the traditional marketing metric looking at Organic Social and growing an audience on social media. Chloe is not only the founder but can find herself involved in any part of a client’s digital marketing journey. From lead generation, to onboarding and strategy, right down to the creative aspects. 

The day was designed to complement already-existing employability modules within the school; such as Career Cartographies, which facilitates student placements, and Applied Humanities, where students can work with professionals and apply their skills to real projects.