Kern
Routley

Did you have the option to personalise your course?

I got to choose what language to take and also to pick supply chain rather than marketing. This was great for me as I knew I didn't want to do marketing and got to focus on something I was interested in.

Can you tell us a bit about your placement?

My placement changed everything for me. I moved to a new part of the UK and made some life long friends. After I graduated I went straight back, starting work in September 2020. All my new friends were still there and we picked up like I had hardly been gone. I definitely matured a lot during the placement year, I was surrounded by professionals in the office and had to act accordingly, This definitely gave me a different level of focus for my final year, as I wanted to go back and work for the same company, dependent on me getting a 2:1 in final year.

What does a typical day for you involve?

Typically, I'm updating or creating a project plan, managing budgets and schedules, allocating resources and working with various teams from sub contracts to Quality Assurance Engineers who all have a part to play in the projects I manage. The projects range from agile software development projects to hardware relocations of critical development and test equipment, to name a few of the things going on at the moment.

What attracted you to your line of work?

I got to talk to lots of project managers during my placement and was shown a little about what they do. The job sounded engaging, challenging and exposed you to lots of different areas of business which is what I was doing anyway as part of my rotations.

What challenges have you faced?

Managing teams through periods of both high and low volumes of work has been a challenge.

What has been the biggest highlights of your career so far?

It would have to be the feeling of leading my first "big" project, something I owned from start to finish that required a wide range of management over 3 years. This made me feel really proud, that I'd successfully worked with a team through challenges and successes and delivered the project on track and within budget.

What are your plans for the future?

My plans are to take a new project to completion, one that will have a large impact on our operation and involves technology and processes that I'm rapidly trying to improve my knowledge of. I also want to help a programme management apprentice pass his exams and develop into a great project manager.

If you had a time machine, what would you go back and tell yourself at university?

I would honestly say keep doing things that are fun with people who make you a better version of yourself.

How can a current student make the most of their time at Nottingham Business School?

Embrace all the opportunities NBS has to offer. Attending mentoring sessions or helping out during freshers week are low effort ways to drastically improve your employability. Employers want to see people who are enthusiastic to learn new skills and can be thrown into uncomfortable/new situations and thrive. The more you practice in a safe environment at Nottingham Business School, the more comfortable you will feel taking on challenges at work.