In this episode Kate chats to Tom Kelton, CEO and Co-founder of Pentaro, a telemarketing and business development agency.
Tom discusses how he co-founded Pentaro and explains the company’s rapid growth, the skills and mindset required to run a business, and the impact of his university studies. The conversation also touches on the challenges and opportunities in the telemarketing industry, including the rise of AI, and Tom’s advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
This week Kate chats with Nick Smith, Executive Director of The Rowntree Society.
Nick talks about how The Rowntree Society shares it's history and connects it to today’s issues plus he touches on the realities of running a nonprofit including funding, volunteers, and digital storytelling.
Listen for top advice for students & graduates wanting to break into this sector and why transferable skills can help you succeed.
Nick's Bio
Originally from Bedworth, just north of Coventry, I studied BSc Archaeology at Bournemouth University graduating in 2004. After solo travels around Europe working in retail, social care and as an archaeologist, I moved to York in 2008 to study part time for my MA in Medieval Archaeology at the University of York. I graduated with distinction but was unable to continue my studies due to lack of financial support. I continued to work in social care and retail, becoming a manager for both before being able to combine my heritage related education and management skills in my current role at The Rowntree Society. I am dyslexic and have experienced periods of mental ill health which I have had to navigate throughout my work.
In this episode, Kate is joined by Leah Tharpe, who works as an independent Art Appraiser with Tharpe and Fairchild LLC. As well as a fine art specialist with Copley Fine Art Auctions and is also currently undertaking a PhD.
Leah explains what the day to day role looks like, the key skills that are required and the joys and challenges of her work.
Leah's Bio
Leah C. Tharpe is a third-year PhD researcher at the University of York, supervised by Jason Edwards. Her research focuses on Australian frontier landscapes from the nineteenth century. She attended the Courtauld Institute of Art in London as a Deborah Loeb Brice Scholar, and is a graduate of Princeton University, where she was awarded the Stella and Rensselaer W. Lee Senior Thesis Prize and the Grace May Tilton Prize in Fine Arts for her senior thesis on American painter Charles Burchfield. She is also an accredited independent fine art appraiser and auction house specialist in sporting and wildlife art.Useful links and transcript
Kate is joined by Juany Murphy, who is Director of International Relations at the Otra Cosa Network, an International Development charity and alongside her, is one of her volunteers, Kate Geraghty. They discuss the satisfaction of making an impact with their work coupled against the precarious nature of funding for international development. Juany and kate also share their tips and advice for breaking into this sector.
Juany's Bio
NGO - Founder and Director of Otra Cosa Network (OCN) with many years’ experience of creating and implementing sustainable development projects in Latin America.
Skilled and experienced manager of people and resources, able to work alone or in a team, at an operational or strategic level.
Consultant working in international development, with specific expertise in education, health promotion, women’s and girls’ rights programming within a range of organisations, including project management and volunteer service programs.
Country experience in UK, Peru, Brazil and Mozambique.
Useful links and transcript
In this episode, Kate meets Flora Palmer. Flora is a current University of York student who is on placement year at the Walt Disney Company, working on production and operations for National Geographic.
Flora describes her role, the skills and qualities she has developed and how this experience has helped her shape her future career ideas. Kate and Flora also discuss taking the initiative and going for a goal!
Flora's Bio
I’m Flora, I’m an undergrad History of Art student, currently working in Production and Operations with National Geographic at the Walt Disney Company. I love art, history and film, and am looking to work in the art sector when I graduate!
Useful links and transcript
The Art Loss Register is the world's largest private database of stolen, missing and looted art, antiques and collectables. It currently lists over 700,000 items.In this episode Kate chats to Charlotte Chambers Farah who works as the Global Art Fair and Auction House Manager. We've got Lucy O'Meara, the Recoveries and Art Finance Manager and James Ratcliffe, who is Mediator, General Counsel and Director of Recoveries at the Art Loss Register.
They discuss how their studies and experience impacted their career paths, what their advice and tips are for students aspiring to a career in the art world plus the exciting recent return of a lost panel to York Art Gallery and the Art Loss Register's part in that!
In this episode, Kate chats to George Young. George graduated in History and undertook the Change 100 internship programme which matches graduates with any disability or long term condition with progressive employers.
Through the programme, George secured an internship with the NHS Confederation working in the People and Culture department.
George and Kate discuss the process of applying for the programme, using transferable skills and George's thoughts on how their disabilities have impacted their career.
Kate chats to Laura Gravini-Rodriguez who is a senior associate with DAI, a large employee owned International Development company.
Laura gives us an insight into her role and the many routes into International Development work. She explains the personal qualities she feels are key to her work and the skills she developed as an international student in the UK.
Laura and Kate also discuss the evolving challenges facing the future of international development work
Laura's Bio
Laura is a Colombian alumni from Class 2021 of the University of York. Since graduating from university, Laura has had the opportunity to work across various teams, dimensions, and sectors in international development, including business development, project management, knowledge management, and strategy development, focused on the delivery of projects in sustainable value chain development, climate and gender finance, and financial inclusion.
Kate is joined today by Faz Kazmi. Faz graduated in Economics and Finance and now works as a Vertical Launch Grants Manager at the UK Space Agency.
Listen as Faz reveals what his day to day looks like. He also talks about the breadth of roles within this sector for graduates from all degree disciplines plus his tips on how to develop your skills and gain insights to help you break into the Space sector.
Faz's Bio:
After graduating from York, I joined Meta's risk management and intelligence team, where I analysed social media trends. Recently, I moved to the UK Space Agency, where I manage government-funded grants to facilitate rocket launches from British soil.
Useful links:
UK Space Agency:
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-space-agency
UK Space Careers:
https://spacecareers.uk/home
European Space Agency:
https://www.esa.int/About_Us/Careers_at_ESA
Active debris removal:
https://www.gov.uk/government/case-studies/space-sustainability
https://www.esa.int/Space_Safety/Space_Debris/Active_debris_removal
Space Sustainability employer:
https://astroscale.com/about-astroscale/about/
Careers in finance and consultancy:
https://www.york.ac.uk/students/work-volunteering-careers/ideas/sectors/finance/
Kate chats to York graduate Cezara Jalba about her role as a Control, Electrical & Instrumentation Design Engineer at the Sellafield site, which is part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority. They discuss what her role entails, key skills, how Cezara's degree helped to prepare her for this role and what she loves about her job and the bits that she doesn't love quite so much.
Cezara's Bio
I am an engineer on a mission: to solve problems and make the world a better, safer and more efficient place. I specialize in driving innovative solutions for nuclear decommissioning and remediation projects in the civil nuclear industry. My expertise lies in delivering design packages that include control systems, robotics, and instrumentation; systems engineering; site asset management; and delivering digital transformation initiatives that redefine industry standards. Passionate about leveraging technology to put more people out of harm's way and deliver the mission of cleaning up the UK's old nuclear sites faster, safer, cheaper.
Links:
Sellafield careers, grad schemes and placement year
Nuclear Decommissioning Authority
Environmental and Energy related careers
Engineering and manufacturing sector
Jobs and internships in Electronics, Energy, Engineering and more!
A transcript of this conversation can be found in the Resources section on Handshake
Listen as Kate chats to Molly Watson about her past life working as a BBC News Journalist and her recent career change. She currently works as a Media and Communications Officer focusing on the impact of food on climate change. In this conversation, they discuss the similarities and differences between journalism and a communications role, leaving your comfort zone to make a career change and also Molly's thoughts on what personal qualities are helpful for a career in journalism or communications.
Molly's Bio
I'm a media and communications officer working with Professor Sarah Bridle, communicating about the impact of food on climate change and how we can make our food system more resilient. Until a year ago I'd spent my career working in journalism, starting off in newspapers before moving to the BBC and working as a tv news producer. Transcript and useful links
James Halpin is a York graduate who is currently on the science and engineering stream of the Civil Service Fast Stream programme.
Listen as Kate gets to the bottom of what James's job looks like. They cover the variety of postings James has undertaken on the Science and Engineering Fast Stream, the transferable skills that have helped him in his role and the future challenges for the Civil Service.
James's Bio
I'm part of the UK Civil Service Fast Stream graduate programme and I'm on the Science & Engineering scheme. I'm currently working at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and my past postings include the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and a secondment at the Newton Venture Program.
I hold a first-class integrated Masters degree in Chemistry from The University of York and I spent my masters year at the University of Helsinki as a year abroad working in a research lab. After University I worked for the charity Shelter for a year before joining the Fast Stream.
Izi Hutchinson is Senior Account Director at VCCP, an international integrated communications agency. Listen as Kate gets to the bottom of what Izi's job looks like. They cover the breadth of roles within advertising, the highs and lows of account management, the importance of mindset and attitude and what the future of advertising could look like.
Izi's Bio
Izi's most recent piece of work was relaunching Lotto (The National Lottery flagship game). She has also worked on client accounts for Maynards Bassetts, Nationwide, British Red Cross, McLaren, Saga, Royal London, Macmillan, Avis (EMEA) and MoreThan.
Izi is deputy lead of the VCCP entry level scheme - The Table. The scheme is designed to find future leaders in the industry.
Izi is a graduate of the University of York where she studied History.
Ian is an Academic Clinical Fellow and junior doctor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. After graduating in English during the 2008 credit crunch, he pursued Graduate Entry Medicine and an MSc in Global Health Science. He divides his time between clinical work and research into complications of pregnancy.
This is a re-released episode which was first published in March 2021
Harpal Sahota is a data scientist at MagicLab, who operate a number of dating apps, including Bumble & Lumen. He studied an MA in Computational Biology at the University of York, and went on to take a PhD in Computational Biology at University of London, before entering the job market, working for the likes of YouGov before settling at MagicLab, where he has worked since January 2020.
This is a re-released episode that was first published in May 2020
Alyson Webb is a Director at Frankly Green + Webb, an agency specialising in human-centred design to improve digital experiences in the cultural sector.
Listen as Kate gets to the bottom of what Alyson's job looks like. They cover working in the cultural sector, digital experiences, human-centred design thinking, consultancy and more!
Alyson's bio:
Alyson has worked in the cultural sector for 30 years. As a creative director and innovation programme leader, she has helped countless museums, galleries and historic sites share their extraordinary stories with diverse audiences around the globe.
Having designed the experience and content of the world’s first-ever multimedia guide, mobile phone guide and gallery podcast, Alyson has seen first-hand how this work can change how people think, behave and see the world. Collaborating with the expertise and profound knowledge within each organisation is one of her favourite parts of every project.
Her greatest reward comes in helping teams discover new creative opportunities, express what is unique and authentic to them, and understand their audience on a new level–ultimately so everyone feels that the knowledge and beauty held in these sites is theirs to take in.
Alyson is a National Heritage Lottery Fund digital mentor.
Kate Every works as a Service Design Practice Lead for global digital transformation company Mastek. Service design is a really interesting area of work that's getting more and more attention.
Find out what this job actually involves and how you can get a job in this exciting area!
Kate's bio:
Kate is a Lead Service Designer specialising in inclusive and ethical design and delivery. She currently works in Service Design consultancy for global digital transformation company Mastek.
Her academic background is in Human Rights Practice, with Masters’ fieldwork and research into restorative justice and survivor-centred approaches to criminal justice. She brings this lens to her work as a human-centred designer in Government and healthcare.
Dan is a York graduate and works at National Grid where he completed a year in industry before becoming a Transmission Engineer.
Dan tells us what his day to day job looks like as well as what you need to know if you're thinking about a career in this area.
Dan's bio:
I am a Transmission Engineer at National Grid working on design assurance of the protection and control system. I attended York for my Undergraduate where I was given the opportunity to do a year in industry - I am a huge advocate for these schemes which I feel perfectly blend academia and industry.
Outside of work I enjoy board games, card games and table top games
Elizabeth studied History of Art and thought she'd go into museum curation, until she discovered the amazing world of consultancy in the heritage sector! She helps museums, theatres and galleries solve problems... everything from how to boost visitor numbers to launching new learning programmes.
If you have always wanted to work in heritage and you're interested in what makes people tick, this could be the career for you.
Elizabeth's bio: I work with arts and cultural organisations helping them to understand more about the people who visit them and how to grow, engage and satisfy their audiences
Transcript and useful links on the blog.
Pretty much any student at York can do a placement year or year in industry! And right now second/middle year students can register for the programme. With that in mind, we thought it would make sense to speak to a York student just back from a year out in the world of work.
Toby studies History and spent his placement year working in recruitment for Reed. It sounded like a lot of fun. In this episode, he tells Kate what recruitment is like and why everyone, especially History students, should go for the placement year. Enjoy!
There is a full transcript and useful links on our blog.
Toby's bio:
Originally from Nottingham, I came to York to study History. I found myself unsure of what to do with my future, and figured why not apply for a placement. So I've spent the last 12 months in London, working in Recruitment, and I'm now excited to come back to university to complete my final year. While I've loved London, I've missed the greenery of the north and I'm excited to be able to go on long walks in the countryside again! London's too much of a concrete jungle for my liking!
