Having lived in Florida for the past six years, my transition back to the UK to attend university was a new chapter for me to say the least. I was not sure what to expect but it was a rite of passage all youngsters my age seemed to take. At the time, my older sister Sophia was facing the challenge many graduates face – of the sheer competition in applying for a job that was advertised to thousands, with only a small number of candidates being taken on. She took the Making The Leap workshop, and I remember her experience vividly. She would constantly come home with new stories and experiences that she faced. Amazingly, I saw my sister transform in front of my eyes – from a fresh graduate who was still trying to find her grounding, to a serious candidate within her field.
Within a year my sister was in full time employment and my mother was extremely impressed with her development since joining Making The Leap. As my graduation approached a month later and the excitement arose, my mother started to ask the infamous question most graduates will hear after receiving their degree “What are your plans?” As excited as I was to finally finish university, I was still unsure of what career pathway to choose, especially having come from a broad degree in Finance.
Given my sister’s success, my mother suggested that I too sign up for Making The Leap. I was greeted by the staff there in such an amazing manner as if we had met before! The following three weeks in the workshop were phenomenal and I made sure to not miss a day of the experience. The biggest skills I personally was able to improve on was strengthening my communication/presentation skills, bettering my overall brand – that consisted of the help I received on my CV, professionalism in corporate environments and a huge help with preparation with assessment testing when applying for graduate programs. Even after graduating the workshop and becoming a Fellow, I made sure I took full advantage of any CV workshops and Corporate Experience Days that were available for us to attend.
During a corporate visit to Foxtons, I not only had an amazing time, but I was also asked to attend an interview for the company by one of the directors. Following the interview, I was soon offered a job as a Move Consultant and I was ecstatic! My time at the company has been a great learning experience and I am happy to say since then, Foxtons offered me a new job as a recruiter which I gladly accepted. Thanks to the amazing work at Making The Leap, I felt much better equipped to enter a corporate environment for the first time, and felt I was a better, more polished version of me.
A fun fact about me is that I have a twin brother and given the difference in his university timetable he graduated a couple months after me. Like me, he did not secure a job straight after university but did undertake a three-month placement for an engineering company in Nigeria. Naturally after completing his placement he was also on the job hunt and given the success of not only my sister but myself as well, him joining Making The Leap was inevitable! He has also since graduated from the workshop and is currently on the final stages of an interview process for a role within his field of study.
I want to thank Making The Leap for all the effort and hard work they have put in for me and my family and for the opportunities they have provided me.
By Wumi, aged 22
