Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

Assessing children's speech, language and communication skills.
Creating care plans and delivering interventions for children with a wide range of communication needs (developmental speech sound delay/disorder, language delay/disorder, dysfluency, Global Developmental Delay, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Selective Mutism, Learning Disabilities, genetic conditions, Verbal Dyspraxia etc).

I work in three different community clinics and see around 4 children per day for a mixture of initial assessment, review and therapy appointments. I comprehensively assess children's communication skills and progress towards any targets previously set. I create and deliver tailored care plans and ensure joined up multidisciplinary working via communication with relevant agencies and other professionals involved in the childrens' care.

Working with children and the intellectual challenge of the discipline.

The variety of presentations that I see in different children and the workload due to working in the NHS! Also the level of administration involved.

A few years after graduating from Sheffield Uni, I realised that I wasn't satisfied with the jobs I had experienced following from my undergraduate degree. I considered going into teaching and gained a position in a primary school as a Speech and Language Teaching Assistant, where I fell in love with the field of Speech and Language Therapy and helping children to meet their communicative potential. It is a job that is both intellectually stimulating and rewarding where I feel I am able to make a positive contribution to society.

My skills gained through my MSc in Speech and Language Therapy, as well as transferable skills learned through my undergraduate degree at Sheffield and other professional positions held.

N/A (However, the PGCE course you must complete to become a qualified teacher lasts for one year, and is mostly made up of teaching placements in schools, as well as academic assignments and essays)

From the summer of graduation (July 2010) up until the following summer (June 2011), I completed a year-long internship for a translation and English editing company, working in both Beijing and Singapore.

Upon returning to the UK after completing this internship, I then gained a place on a graduate Marketing scheme with Associated British Foods. I completed one year of their 2 year scheme, however I realised that Marketing was not the career path that I wanted to pursue, so I decided to leave this position.

I moved down to Southampton in September 2012 with my partner for his job, and found a voluntary position working as a Chinese Teaching Assistant at a private school in Portsmouth.

I began a PGCE in Chinese and French at the Institute of Education in London, however paused this after 2 months due to personal reasons. I then began a job as a Speech and Language Teaching Assistant at a primary school in Essex, where I moved to.

I then completed an MSc in Speech and Language Therapy at the University of Essex, and have held my current position since September 2016.

Progressing within my field as a Speech and Language Therapist, building my clinical skills and moving to a Band 6 role and upwards. I have also considered the possibility of moving into academia in time.

Don't worry if things don't quite work out as you thought they would after graduating from your undergraduate degree. I felt quite disappointed for a time that I hadn't achieved what I should have achieved, and because I wasn't enjoying working within the fields I had studied as much as I had hoped. However, I then came upon Speech and Language Therapy and I now love the field in which I work! You can't plan everything when it comes to your career, sometimes you just have to go with the flow (which was quite a lesson for me to learn)!

Although I no longer directly use the knowledge I gained through my undergraduate degree at Sheffield, I believe it is a huge reason why I have reached where I am in my professional life, and I enjoyed every moment of my time at the university.