Zeeshan Nazar graduated from our BSc Psychology programmE and progressed to a graduate scheme at BT. He spoke to us about his time at Queen Mary and how it prepared him for his current role.
I studied BSc Psychology. Due to the versatility and broad nature of Psychology as a discipline, it opens more doors than most people think. My degree has led me to my current job as a Commercial Management Graduate at BT, with a heavy focus on Major Contract Management.
As I said, with a degree in Psychology, the opportunities are limitless. The way I look at it, there are two routes: the first being a career in the lab and the second being a career in the business world. I wanted to enter the working world as soon as possible because I’m a practical rather than a theoretical person – I like to get stuck in and solve real-world problems.
So, I decided that rather than doing a masters and then a PhD to become a fully fledged chartered Psychologist, I would enter the business world. However, I always saw myself as a leader and someone who could drive projects and teams, so I narrowed my applications to leadership schemes where companies didn’t see me as a number, but rather as a future leader. One of my top choices was BT because they have such a big focus on wellbeing, their employees, flexible working and career progression.
Looking back, only now do I start to comprehend how much of an influence Queen Mary has had on my career, my development and my professional self. I honestly believe our mindset is the key to life, and Queen Mary helped me to develop the mindset I have today. During my degree, I started to explore the career path I wanted to take and to build a network to draw on other people’s knowledge.
This was the start of developing a proactive – rather than reactive –mindset, and it has continued after graduation. Queen Mary was there for me throughout my studies, and now I’m coming back as an alumnus and working on projects to improve employability outcomes for students and further my own personal development.
What was really special for me, and which continues to have an impact on me, was participating in [Queen Mary employability initiative] QChallenge.
This experience was a prime example of learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable – initially I was hesitant to take part, but now I reap the benefits through the network I built, the transferable skills I learned, and the fact that it set me apart from most other people applying to graduate schemes.
Looking back, QChallenge prepared me for the working world, where we need to constantly balance tasks on any given day to meet deadlines. I would encourage current students to seize the extracurricular opportunities, like QChallenge, which Queen Mary offers.