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.

My responsibilities include the following activities:

- Client servicing and project coordination (attending meetings regarding complaints or support).
- Documentation development (Memorandum of Understanding, Fee Proposals, Performance Reviews, Expression of Interest and Feasibility Studies).
- Attending major exhibitions, workshops, networking events and lectures.
- Overseeing the development of marketing literature such as pre-qualification documents, company portfolio, website and ISO certifications
- Cold calling potential clients and conducting introductory meetings.
- Providing management with feedback

As a business development manager, my tasks are quite inconsistent throughout a given week. However, to simplify, my first task when I arrive at the office would typically entail looking over my emails - primarily from clients, which is followed by a quick online search for any upcoming construction exhibitions in the region. After contacting prospective and existing clients, I typically work some form of a report, either managerial documents (MOUs, EOIs, feasibility studies, etc.) or marketing literature (PQD, portfolio or ISO certifications). However, given that I started in the company as a graduate engineer, I still take part in site visits and early conceptual design meetings.

It's very important to identify what you're good at as early as possible and see how to implement it in an industry that you have access to; I found out quite early on in my higher educational career that my strongest skill was dealing with people.

In order of importance:

People skills, people skills, people skills, technical skills.

I graduated from the University of Sheffield in 2017 and proceeded to begin my postgraduate degree from Imperial College London where I studied for an MSc in Structural Steel Design. I completed my master's course in the summer of 2018 and subsequently moved to Dubai to join Orion Engineering Consultants as a Graduate Engineer.

Diversifying my knowledge in upcoming technological developments within the construction industry before launching my Sheffieldstartup.

Be realistic in what you want from life and, in particular, what industry you can contribute to effectively.

Take everything you learn with a grain of salt and don't look for immediate applications of your learnings - it all pans out eventually.