What an amazing way to kick off the final week of the year for our 21/22 students.
Our final graduation Speaker’s Day welcomed 6 incredible guest speakers to share their inspiring stories and companies with our (almost) graduates.
To kick things off we welcomed back two 2021 Graduates, Bella Francombe of Tiger Recruitment and Mattie Paterson of Hakluyt & Co, who spoke openly and honesty about their 12 months since graduating.
“Understanding your driver in your career is fundamental to finding something you’ll be happy in. Are you money driven? Would you prefer a 9-5 that offers more work/life balance? Is Hybrid working more your cup of tea? These are real considerations when starting on your career path” Bella says.
Most of our student’s head to London once finishing with us, so hearing first hand of a graduate’s experience of finding their feet in the city, where the best places to live are (and how expensive!) and how even travel needs to be considered in the monthly budget is invaluable wisdom for our students. Hearing that the path once graduating is not always smooth sailing is something that we often must experience, so these real-life accounts are vital.
“I had 3 gap years in total, before joining OMBS in 2020 and they have all been invaluable to me developing and learning the skills I’ve needed to be where I am today. Building up your CV with temp work is not only a great thing to do, but it also gives you loads of exposure to many different roles and industries. I have been a nanny in New York, a Chalet Host in the alps and since graduating OMBS I have found my way in a more corporate environment, which I just love” – Mattie explains.
Next up was Lucy Chamberlain, founder of C & C Search and global thought leader and expert speaker, who delivered the most interesting talk about the mastery of communication, how living life in our Guru state should be more of a priority and teaching our students methods to accessing this area of the brain. Explaining how small shifts in our mindset can lead to more impactful interactions both in our personal and professional life.
A few tips to improving communication from Lucy’s talk looked a little like…
• Look to understand first through asking lots of curious questions
• Look for the similarities not the differences with others
• Don’t attach stories and meanings before you have the facts (separate opinion from fact!)
• Engage the power of the pause before responding and about 24 hours is about right If someone has triggered you on email or text
We then heard from prestigious property company John D Wood and Executive Search Company, Odgers Berndston. Who parted ways with some tips and tricks on how to impress when interviewing for a job, and what it is like to work in a corporate environment. It was fascinating advice for the students in the audience who are looking to get their foot in the door of a big Law, Property or Finance company.
“64% of the UK workforce want to launch a business and the average age of a business owner in the UK is 40”
This was just one of the stats that Jennifer Williams, an award-winning entrepreneur, and all-round awe-inspiring woman, shared during her open and honest ‘Route into business’ talk. Allowing the students to ask some pretty personal questions
“How much do you pay yourself?” and “How do you actually compare to an in house PA service for companies?” to name but a few.
Detailing her journey into business from idea-conception to its delivery, it was an amazing talk that got our students fired up and for the ones who are already running successful empires (we have a few!) it gave them ideas of growth and business pathways.
Finally, we welcomed Winch, an interior design company, which is always a popular option for OMBS graduates.
These networking opportunities are what term 3 is all about and we were honoured to be able to deliver such a successful, final, Graduation Speaker’s Day for this years’ cohort of students.
To mark the end of a brilliant day, it is an OMBS tradition for the students take the tutors out for celebratory drinks on the Monday before graduation and this year was no different with Prosecco in the Park! Much merriment was had, and a song for Sally was performed by her final tutor group in celebration of her semi-retirement. I think the gallery of photos says it all!
We are so proud of our students who graduate tomorrow – we almost can’t quite believe the classrooms will be silent again until September!
