Featuring Manchester Met graduates who have entered the job market via a graduate scheme. This is a fantastic opportunity to hear from Alumni who have taken the next steps in their career journeys.

Alumni panels are a forum for you to ask questions, gain top tips, get some insight into different career pathways, and start building connections in the industries that interest you.

Nkosana Tony Opio-Te

Graduate Civil Engineer at Stantec

As a Graduate Civil Engineer at Stantec, working in the water sector means the goal is to supply, manage, and maintain clean water supply, design wastewater infrastructure and develop solutions to flood risk for our clients. We use digital technology such as ArcGIS and Google Earth daily, and increasingly FME. And I work with lots of geospatial, geotechnical, archaeological, and environmental professionals in order to inform design. We also work with water modellers (Hydraulic modellers) to test designs for efficacy. We go out on site a fair deal in order to understand the context of the problems and in order to gain a better handle on how a proposed solution may operate in the field. There is also a lot of stakeholder engagement, be this the client, local authorities or the public. Right now, whilst seconded into Thames Water I focus heavily on emergency and urgent works, developing solutions to failures in the Thames Water network (gray infrastructure). However, in previous projects such as Hull Living with Water, the focus was heavy on Green Infrastructure, identifying SuDs opportunities in order to attenuate flows in the catchment thus, flattening peak flows, reducing pressure on the network and managing flooding. I have also worked on pollution studies, developing notional solutions and storage solutions to control the levels of pollution discharged into waterways. 

Sunidhi Sood

Merchandising Admin Assistant at Superdry PLC, Cheltenham

Successfully finding myself a graduate job role before the submission of my master’s dissertation. As an international student, the whole experience of finding a job/role with a company, which aligns with your values and goals was very new and challenging and recruitment process is completely different as compared to the process in my home country, but the journey was very enlightening- as it made me aware of areas I can work and improve upon. My determination to land up with a group which is not just sustainable but also cares and believe in humanity has exactly landed me in Superdry where people continue to drive success.

Currently helping Superdry’s Merchandising department to find and get more of MMU talent into the business. It’s an ongoing project and I am helping my fellow colleague (also a MMU graduate), look for talented and motivating individuals to join the merchandising department under “MMU partnership project” for final year student of Fashion Business Management.

Sophie Higginbottom

Forensic Psychologist (in training)

My first role was as a Mental Health Support Worker in a secure hospital setting which I started towards the end of the course. I worked predominantly on a low secure ward with deaf males, but alongside this role, I volunteered as an Honorary Assistant Psychologist, giving me experience with varied client groups.

Following this, I worked as an Assistant Psychologist in a specialist residential setting for individuals with Learning Disabilities, Autism, Trauma and Complex Needs for 18 months. I then gained a post as an Assistant Psychologist at Alder Hey NHS Trust.