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.

I manage a team of about 15 staff, coordinating disability support for students. This includes the day-to-day line management, but also strategic planning for the service, managing policies, systems and processes that underpin good customer service.

I work 9-5 and am mainly office based, although we offer support at 5 different sites/campuses of the university so I get to travel between offices a bit. A typical day would revolve around ensuring that the team staff are happy and working well together and picking up line management responsibilities for them, answering student enquiries for more complicated support cases or any complaints, and planning things for the service. For example, looking at ways our service can more effectively engage with students through marketing, service level standards or by raising the profile of the support available with academic staff.

Working as part of a team, having contact with individual students so that you can actually see the impact that your work is having.

I have to balance the needs of individual students within the constraints and the requirements of funding bodies and academic departments and sometimes this can be difficult.

I enjoy working for a university because I believe in what we do, and that students should be supported in their studies to reach their full potential. I also really like managing a team - this is an area which I'm new to, but where I've used a lot of the skills that I got from university (I used to be on the Technical Services Committee and also stage managed some stuff in the drama studio, and managing a team seems quite similar!)

A good understanding of Educations helps. I did an MBA here while working for this university (they paid for my fees), which has given me a lot of management knowledge that is very helpful.

A lot of in-house staff development - seminars and discussions groups as well as formal training (for example, I recently did something on Coaching Skills for Managers, which was helpful). They also funded a part-time MBA within the university. I think this is something that quite a few unis do, which is a good reason to work for one!

When I graduated I temped for a while. I wanted to go into stage management/events and had a role in a conference office. I injured my back which changed my initial career direction away from working in Theatre, which was my original plan.

I worked for the University of Sheffield as a graduate trainee in administration for a year. This introduced me to HE management systems, but it was fixed term for a year so I had to look for something new.

I got a job at the University of Brighton, where i still am now. It was a marketing and projects role within Student Services, ensuring that students and staff were informed about support available to them. My background in HE administration helped, but I'd also been volunteering for Sheffield theaters doing marketing stuff, which helped me to talk about those skills at interview.

I was seconded to the Equality and Diversity Adviser role within the department and this became permanent. This was a very different, strategic role, looking at making the university more inclusive. My understanding of student concerns and expectations from the project officer role helped me to get this, but I also had to do a lot of background reading about equalities legislation and good practice. I did my MBA at the same time as having this role, during the evenings.

I hope to progress to manage larger and more complex services, but I guess it also depends what opportunities come along!

I got my first proper job by going back for feedback after an interview had gone horribly wrong. I had been applying for a lot of jobs and got really nervous at interview. When I met up with the manager for feedback, she said that I seemed much better when I was less nervous and said she would call me back if anything else came up within the team. She called me 3 months later. So don't get disheartened if it takes time - ask for feedback and network. In interviews, don't feel shy about stating the obvious. I've interviewed a few graduates who have assumed that we know about the amazing volunteering work that they've done and who haven't talked about it enough and have just missed out on jobs... don't be shy! I now approach interviews a bit differently because I'm more confident, so I don't mind telling people about the things I've done well and I also think that interviews are about you finding out about the company and what they can offer you as much as it is about them learning about your skills.