Do you know what career you want to pursue? Would you like to talk to a professional who works in that field, to ask them about their work, their career path and to get their advice?
Fintech? Teaching? Banking? Consultancy? Social enterprise? Software Engineering? Finance? Communications? Paralegal? Lecturer? Analyst? Maritime? Business Development? Economist?
The professionals listed below are all University of Buckingham alumni and they are happy to speak informally with Buckingham students (e.g. via video call or over the phone) to give you an insider’s view of their profession; what the day-to-day work is like, how to get your first job and how to progress your career. If you would like an introduction to any of these professionals, just contact the Careers and Employability team at careers@buckingham.ac.uk to ask for a careers conversation with your chosen professional(s). We will give you some tips to help you prepare and suggest questions to ask to ensure you get the most out of your career conversation.
This is a great way to research your career ideas and to start building your professional network!
"The diversity of Buckingham alumni amazed me. Some of these graduates have kindly shared their experience and helped me to shape my future career." (University of Buckingham Economics student)
Professional contact 1
Job title: Managing Director of a family run investment office
Description of role: Expertise in finance, asset management, alternative assets (real estate, hedge and private equity/venture capital), entrepreneurship, fund raising, NGO and third sector, corporate governance
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: PhD Modern War Studies
Professional contact 2
Job title: CEO and Founder of a social enterprise that helps people access technology careers.
Description of role: Running a social enterprise that helps people with disabilities to access technology careers. Also advising the Vietnam government on labour issues on behalf of private sector chambers of commerce and World Bank. International keynote speaker on the future of work, digital transformation and corporate social responsibility.
Country of residence: Vietnam
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Business
Professional contact 3
Job title: Managing Director of a membership association for finance professionals.
Description of role: I work at the society based in New York, USA, however there are societies around the world, including the UK. We focus on building a network of finance professional.
Country of residence: USA
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Economics
Professional contact 4
Job title: Skills Director at an organisation specialising in education, training, life experience and career development.
Description of role: Working internationally and in the UK to develop and implement high quality skills and English language programmes within a government funded and inspected regime. Understanding and implementing complex government contracts to ensure maximum social impact in our communities, both home and abroad. I am an example of how you can use the discipline of a Law Degree without going into the legal profession.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Law
Professional contact 5
Job title: Director, Channel Partnerships Europe, for a fintech company
Description of role: Enabling regional sales teams to drive regional revenue goals; Working along the entire process of partnership acquisition and management; from first idea and pitch to negotiations, then launch and successful long-term scaling, retention and account management. My passion is bringing more female voices and diversity to the payment industry.
Country of residence: Germany
Course studied at University of Buckingham: MSc Service Management
Professional contact 6
Job title: Founder, CEO and Director of a tech company
Description of role: Accelerating purposeful and profitable impact for Energy industries powered by design and AI.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Computer Science
Professional contact 7
Job title: Associate Director for a banking group
Description of role: Relationship Manager, Commercial Banking. Joined a major bank on their graduate scheme so would be happy to talk about this process.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: BSc Business and Management, MSc Financial Service Management
Professional contact 8
Job title: Recently retired from a career in the shipping industry. Roles have included re-founding and chairing one of the world's largest privately owned shipbroking companies; serving as a Director and Chairman of the Baltic Exchange; and acting as a market analyst and expert witness.
Description of role: I am familiar with every aspect of the world's shipping industries and markets and would be delighted to talk with Buckingham students and graduates contemplating a career in the maritime world. It's valuable, important, full of interest and great fun!
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: M.A. Philosophy
Professional contact 9
Job title: Associate Director at a firm of architects, planners and construction managers.
Description of role: Business Development, Management Team.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: BSc Hons Business Enterprise
Professional contact 10
Job title: Assistant Head of Products and Technology for a fintech organisation which creates platform solutions to meet the needs of sustainable impact investing and green financing.
Description of role: I head up the development of business process outsourcing service solutions, integrating and distributing new technologies through partnerships. I'm also responsible for consultancy and provide strategic advisory for the company's management.
Country of residence: Hong Kong
Course studied at University of Buckingham: BSc Marketing with Psychology
Professional contact 11
Job title: Software Engineer for a recurring payments platform
Description of role: Design, build, and maintain APIs, services, and systems; Architect, design and develop large, complex projects; Apply modern best practices in your designs and implementations; Collaborate with other engineers to prioritize and ship features; Mentor junior engineers; Partner with Product Managers to scope and estimate new work.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Applied Computing
Professional contact 12
Job title: Assistant Finance Analyst for a consulting group
Description of role: Financial analysis and R&D tax work.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Accounting with French
Professional contact 13
Job title: Economist/Economic Adviser
Description of role: I lead an economist/analyst team in planning/designing and delivering ex-ante and ex-post analysis to inform various areas of government policy primarily related to business regulation, company law and corporate reporting. My role involves project management, engagement with senior stakeholders across government and externally, and the application of economic theory in developing impact assessments, post- implementation reviews, business cases, bespoke modelling and research projects.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: BSc Economics
Professional contact 14
Job title: Director (Consultant) for a small consultancy firm
Description of role: Business transformation consultancy firm specialising in applying Lean and Agile principles in organisations with a social purpose
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: MSc Service Management
Professional contact 15
Job title: Paralegal Assistant to DPO
Description of role: Dealing with data privacy matters of a global B2B cleaning solutions and machinery business.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Law
Professional contact 16
Job title: Account Executive for an organisation providing live-in care
Description of role: Managing customer accounts on the phone and email. Problem solving their issues to make sure they have a good customer journey.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Business Enterprise
Professional contact 17
Job title: Senior Digital Communications Manager
Description of role: Social media and digital communications manager for a UK Government department.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Journalism with Politics
Professional contact 18
Job title: Secondary School English Teacher
Description of role: Teach secondary school age children English.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: English Literature with History
Professional contact 19
Job title: Associate Lecturer; Visiting Lecturer at a UK university
Description of role: Academic/Lecturer/Teacher/Researcher. I'd be happy to talk/offer support etc to students interested in pursuing research/academia/tutoring.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: English Literature with French (BA); English Literature by Research (MA)
Professional contact 20
Job title: Solution Design Director, Logistics Manufacturing Services
Description of role: Global supply chain design, implementation and operational excellence lead.
Country of residence: France
Course studied at University of Buckingham: PhD
Professional contact 21
Job title: Digital PR Executive for a digital marketing agency
Description of role: Creating and pitching creative PR campaigns to a range of publications - including national, regional, lifestyle, travel and industry/niche press. Our campaigns are created with SEO (search engine optimization) at the core, to help develop a website and its position in Google rankings, as well as other business goals.
Country of residence: UK
Course studied at University of Buckingham: Marketing and Media Communications
Professional contact 22
Job title: Senior Consultant and Trainer for a consultancy based in The Netherlands.
Description of role: A professional in the field of organizational transformations and has extensive work experience as a trainer, consultant, coach and program/project manager and as director in a fulfilment company. The human side is central here. He shapes this from his pragmatic, analytical approach, motivation and enthusiasm to achieve goals together with the employees and management of the organizations in an inspiring, simple and creative way with a sense of personal relationships. Partly because of this, he is able to optimize business processes.
Due to his extensive experience, he has a solid practical basis and is able to enter into discussions with all parts of the organization about possible improvements. Thanks to his knowledge and experience, Jan has numerous examples from practice and has a lot of experience in service and administrative environments as well as production environments.
Country of residence: The Netherlands
Course studied at University of Buckingham: MSc Lean Enterprise