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.

Main responsibilities are to meet clients at strategic selling points or trade fairs and educate them about the products, especially the water purifiers. The water quality around the island of Mauritius has gone down steadily over the last twenty five years.

The infrastructure that we have is quite dated and we are investing heavily in the process of having our main lines and pipes renewed. Hence we are advising interested people to buy the water purifiers if they can afford them. We even give interest free payment facilities.

We usually arrange meetings with potential clients or visit them at their homes to do demonstrations about the products.

Also we collect payments or arrange standing order facilities.
Finally we have to ensure that our own commissions are claimed in time.

A typical day will be to drive to a local mall or trade fair, set up our hired stand and wait for potential clients to express interest and then advise them on our products.
Else we note down phone numbers and complete telemarketing work after a week or two of our first contact. We have to be convincing but not too persistent in our telephone approach.

I also enjoy B2B or door to door approach whereby I approach businesses and shops, advise and try to convince their owners, hand them marketing material such as brochures or send them emails with presentations. People usually express interest as a water purifier is a relevant product.

Communicating with potential clients. Overthrowing negatives into positives. Turning convincing arguments into sales. The joy of closing a sales lead.

There are usually more negatives than positives. This is rather straightforward process. People need the product; hence they should get one. If you can afford a good water purifier system, you should buy one. Clean water is vital when it comes to health.

Now convincing people that you are the most cost-effective solution is the art of communication that you need to master.

This is a very diligent type of work. You have to be very organized. On top of that you are educating people on the health benefits of buying water purifiers. Like I mentioned, people who can afford should buy one. You also get rewarded handsomely for your efforts.

The art of communication. You need to stay energetic and calm through out the day. Be positive and smile.

You need to manage yourself efficiently. Project management and time management is very important.

Work Experience

26/09/2016 to 11/11/2016: Chemistry Teacher, City College
I am licensed by the PSSA (Private Secondary School Authority) to teach upto Form 5. I taught the Upper 6 class as well upon the rector’s request. Duties were to prepare notes and teach students, correct homework, check student journals if well kept, prepare assessments and final exams and correct papers for applicable levels.

01/09/2016 to Now: Sales Specialist, WaterHouse Products Ltd (Freelance)
Freelancing in the selling and marketing of water purifiers, energy savers and other appliances useful to the household. We explain the health benefits and advantages of those products.

04/04/2016 to 27/05/2016: Sales Executive, Chartered Brokers Ltd
I worked in brokering services to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and Corporates through its two companies Chartered Brokers and Medibrokers. I was responsible for the following up of sales leads and in winning new clients. Market segments that were assigned to me included spare parts shops, garages and factories, as well as personal or adhoc clients such as other shops or friends and relatives.

12/01/2016 to 31/03/2016: Brokering agent, MindAfrica Brokering & Consultancy Co Ltd
I tried to come up with ideas to optimize sales by going through my personal contacts list and raising awareness on insurance needs. I analysed previous years’ turnovers and revenues by salespersons, policies, insurers (service providers).

01/07/2015 to 15/12/2015: Financial Advisor, VFS International Ltd (Freelance)
Freelancing in Insurance brokering by advising on products such as medical insurance, life insurance, regular savings, lumpsum investments amongst many other products. We meet with clients and identify their needs by completing a client profile, and hence go through a tailor-made approach. This was an enjoyable and revealing experience as freelancing requires an entrepreneurial spirit.

14/01/2013 to 30/11/2014: Client Services Administrator / Accountant, Deutsche Bank (Banking)
Working within the custody team, I assisted with fund subscriptions and redemptions requests, invoice processing according to set control procedures for clients, transfers in and out by funds based in the US, Cayman, Jersey, European region. We also performed control procedures to adhere to compliance.

01/2010 to 09/2012: Derivatives Trader, GHF Futures (Banking)
I worked on the ICE (London) exchange as an Energy Trader for more than two and a half years, trading Brent spreads, Gasoil Spreads, as well as Brent Outrights. I have had the amazing occasion and good luck to attend training and work in the Bangalore branch twice, once for two weeks in 2011 and the second time for two months (March to May 2012).

10/2009 to 12/2009: Intern, Engineering Department, Air Mauritius Ltd
I started in the avionics section where I formatted the MEL for A319 by comparing to Master manual. Then I moved to the planning department where I performed quite a lot of duties some of which are the forecasting and scheduling of the helicopter maintenance, performed filing duties, took initiative to develop an excel sheet to manipulate the data imported from Rocade (software) onto Excel.

09/2007 to 02/2009: Associate Level2, PricewaterHouseCoopers LLP (Accounting / Auditing), Associate Risk Assurance Services (RAS)
As a RAS associate, my engagements were both on conventional audits carrying out tests to validate the components of the client’s financial statements; and also working within RAS which comprises of channel 2 work such as internal audit work, corporate reporting & governance or complementary audit work such as Information Technology General Controls (ITGCs) and data work.

08/2006 to 06/2007: Customer Services Adviser (Part-time), London Borough of Enfield (Public Sector)
Frontline of the borough and providing effective service to the public. Advising the council’s customers confidentially. Keeping a positive and helpful work attitude towards customers and colleagues.

I enjoy marketing and sales. I would like to pursue the water purifier business that I have set up. It is successful enough to carry on. I have performed sufficient tests. Some geographical regions are more responsive that others. Some client types, e.g, couples are more decisive than most.

I have also set up a bicycle and retail project on the side. I got a trade name and VAT registration for this project. I have to set up my own shop by September. These are medium term goals. Sales and marketing is definitely an area where there is continuous learning.

Positive thinking is very important in business.

They need to pay attention to all aspects of their engineering degree. I never trained as an aerospace engineer or as an engineer for that matter. I went straight into auditing and finance. I was always aiming for a managerial position. I found out that I was always learning.

I enjoyed working as an oil derivatives trader. I learnt quite a lot about world markets, fundamentals and technical issues. I found out that through experience I could even predict the next move in the world markets, be it oil or gold, or anticipating the world economic climate. Did you know that you can do this by tracking the price of copper?

I moved into a bank to learn about fund administration, having in mind that I can later on be a fund manager. However this did not work out as there were quite a lot of outside forces that moved this venture out of the picture. These things can happen anytime to anyone, for example a company restructure or job cuts due to recession. You have to be able to adapt yourself.

Some solutions are part-time employment or freelancing. I chose freelancing. I then decided to stay in finance and learn about insurance. Insurance is a big piece of cake in the world of finance. I would gladly recommend this to anyone.

As they say, I will like to have my cake and eat it. Pay attention to your engineering management modules. Project management and time management skills. They will help you a lot towards engineering your life. Life is always a learning process be it on the academic side or the emotional side.

Enjoy your time at Sheffield University!