Three of our students recently secured the opportunity to shadow a CEO of a major organization for a day, providing them with real-life experience in some of the most high profile jobs across the UK.
Aspiring students are provided with this opportunity by recruitment firm Odgers Berndtson, where they must pass a rigorous selection process involving group activities and written assessments. Despite the intense selection process, an amazing three out of fifteen of the total places were filled by our students: Alexander Blums (BSc Politics and International Relations), Nicholas Alford (BSc Accounting and Finance with placement) and Tom Phipps (LLB Law).
Alexander Blums (BSc Politics and International Relations)
We caught up with Alexander Blums to see how he got on whilst shadowing Andy Ransom, CEO of Rentokil Initial.
Q: Why did you enter the CEO for a day programme? What did you hope to get out of it?
Whenever I hear about exciting opportunities, I usually try to sign up. The university careers service sent out an email about the programme and I thought I have nothing to lose by applying. To my surprise, two months later I received an email inviting me to an interview/assessment day in London! Before attending I did some research on Odgers and some of the CEO’s taking part which excited me even more about the programme.
I hoped to understand how a leader of a large organization spends their day and get answers to some questions about living the CEO life. Having been in a leadership role in a society in Southampton, I also had a few specific questions about how to be an effective leader.
Q: What were the main things about your day that stand out – what did you learn?
Andy’s personal assistant had arranged a full day of meetings with various consulting firms and service providers from which the company buys services (insurance, banking, etc). In the evening we also met some investors who were thinking about investing in the company so it was interesting to see the CEO not only making leadership decisions but also engaging in sales (on a high level). I learned a lot about how companies work with external service providers when doing M&A’s, how ‘accounts’ can service CEO’s to make sure they are happy with the contracts they have and the importance of focusing on employees on all levels of an enterprise.
Q: What skills did your day help you develop that will be useful for your future career?
The shadowing took place over one day so I wasn’t able to develop any specific skills. The experience did however supercharge my ambitions in life and remind me that it is possible to achieve great things.
Q: Why do you think it’s important to get business experience as part of your studies?
Most people will probably end up working in some sort of commercial enterprise so any business experience gained while studying will give you a competitive advantage when entering the job market. It is also useful to get first-hand experience to figure out if you actually like the particular field you are thinking about going into.
The opportunity to shadow a CEO runs annually. Although it’s closed for now, you can get ahead of the game and find out more about potentially applying next year!
If you’d like to learn more about this and increase your employability? You can apply for support from a Career Mentor! We have mentors from a range of sectors and professional backgrounds who can offer expert careers advice. Support from a Career Mentor will increase your employability as well as develop your career planning skills and sector knowledge.
You may be looking to find out how best to manage the transition into the world of work or seeking guidance to formulate ideas for your possible future career, and what skills to develop. Whatever stage of career planning you are at, the Career Mentoring Programme can help you work towards your goals.
To apply for the programme please click here. You will then be required to attend a short training session in order to be matched with a mentor. Applications close on Wednesday 31 January 2018.
Find out more about the Programme here.
