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.

In my role I am the main student contact for students on internship. I also do the recruiting for these internships.

On a typical day I will be heavily involved in the recruitment process for the internships we advertise. I advertise the vacancies, market them, send the shortlist to the employer, book in interviews with the students, give feedback to the candidates and arrange start dates. During the internships I am the main contact for student support. I do 1 to 1 skills sessions with them, deal with any issues they are having and pay them their bursary payments for the work they are doing on internship.

On a typical day I am often doing a mixture of the above activities, along with answering student and employer queries when they come up.

I have also surprised myself in my career how much I enjoy administration. It sounds a bit boring but I love a bit of fiddly organisational work and I really enjoy the recruitment administration I get to do for this job. I considered going into recruitment work at a recruitment agency but the stories I heard about the cut throat, heavy sales environment in some of these companies scared me off a little. I would be better paid in one of these companies but you have to think too about your happiness in a work environment and what is important for you. For me having a work life balance and a slightly more relaxed work environment is important, and the University provides that.

I suppose the 1-to-1 meetings are the most challenging part of my job. I am not a Careers Adviser and don't have the depth of knowledge they have but sometimes students get a little confused and think I do. It's about managing expectations, being honest enough to admit when you don't know, and signposting them to someone who can help.

The other thing which can be easy to slip up on is the level of accuracy. My role requires me to have extreme levels of attention to detail, but there is also, especially at certain times of the year, a significant quantity of work. We don't have a proper IT system for our recruitment admin, only various spreadsheets, so the risk of making little mistakes is pretty high.

I really enjoy the student contact, and being a support to them. I am still young enough to remember being a student and the pressures and insecurities that came with, so I am in a good position to offer them empathy and support. A lot of them don't realise how well they are doing actively thinking about their future and getting work experience. Some of them have amazing CVs already, but are hard on themselves. I like to think I can make them realise in the grand scheme of things they are doing rather well for themselves.

At Newcastle University I think to get any job it benefits you to have a degree, particularly if you want to progress here. My history degree really helped with my writing skills. I have used these skills to write various blog posts for the Careers Service for our Be Workplace Ready Blog.

Other skills I use frequently are initiative, communication, organisational skills, problem-solving and teamwork.

I have done my European Computing Driving License which has helped me become more capable on all of the different Microsoft Office software. I have also done various bits of training through the university which has helped in my various roles, such as minute taking training, secretarial training, excel training etc.

I have been considering the possibility of doing an Open University degree in Human Resource Management but it is a big monetary and time commitment so I am still deciding.

Other careers I have considered are Personal Assistant work, or continuing on at the university working my way up first by doing roles involved in helping in the administrative running of the academic schools and hopefully leading into office management style roles.

Essentially I suppose I am still not fully sure about what's next, and have been using a bit of a trial and error style to building my career so far. Trying various roles that feel of interest to me, seeing how I like them, and then using the information on what I have enjoyed and not enjoyed from that role to decide where to go next and what to look for when applying for new roles.

I have never ever regretted doing a History Degree, in fact I wish I could do it again, but better. I think the important thing I have learnt from working at The Careers Service is that many employers are open to graduates from all different disciplines so do something you enjoy, are good at or interested in, work hard, get a good grade and you will have a better pick of roles at the end of your degree, regardless of your area of study.

Grades aren't the be all and end all though. Experience counts too. Loads of students come out with 2:1s and firsts, what will set you apart from the crowd is your work experience. Other things can help too like volunteering, hobbies and societies. All of these things show you are well-rounded and allow you to have examples of how you have shown you have certain skills, which is great for job interviews and applications.

Also use your careers service, no one is an expert in how to write a CV, cover letter or application, or how to answer interview questions until they get some help from someone more experienced. Also don't be afraid to go to your Careers Adviser even if you don't know what you want to do. That's the whole point, they can help you see what your skill set is and where you could use it in the working world. They can introduce you the the idea of roles you didn't even know existed.