Alumni of the Month – Kajal Chopra
"Before you start to think about your career, take time to think about what you enjoy, what do you love learning or reading about, what interests you? For me, I always loved Business and Law. This is why I studied these two subjects back in college and then wanted to study BSc (Hons) Business & Law at university as it combined my two great interests.
Initially, life at ARU London was quite hard for me as I became overwhelmed with what was to come and if I would be able to achieve my goal. As months went by at university I was also battling with some things throughout my time there, but just like you, we all face challenges/ struggles in life. It’s what we do to overcome them and what we prioritize shapes our life.
I would definitely check out the Employability department as they offer a wide range of online sessions, mocks interviews, and job search help. I went to them for help on my CV layout and they gave me some tips on how to improve my format and structure. This then led to me finding a job a month after my graduation. I was working in Account Management where I would handle projects for a corporate deal gift leader who manufactured financial tombstones for investment banks and private equity firms in central London.
My previous academic modules I had studied helped me a lot at work when I would face different scenarios, for example, when I would look over client contracts or submitting billing documents. It reminded me of the information I had learned when studying modules in Business Finance or Contract Law.
Some tips I have are to make sure you ‘do you’, for example, in-class many people brought laptops to make notes, I preferred a pen and notebook. When teachers allowed students to show draft assignments I would never rush, even though many other students would have already shown their work and got feedback. If you have a question or do not understand something never be afraid to ask, I never left a classroom without asking all my questions during or after classes (and I usually had many haha!) What is important is to find your style of learning, even though I had lovely friends in class I preferred to work on my own most of the time.
I was so thankful that I achieved my First-Class Honours in the end and could finally say ‘I did it’. Everyone learns and processes information and knowledge at their own pace, so never compare yourself. Put your head down, commit to the process and you will succeed".