Advice from employers
Top employers , and took time out from the 2018 Careers Fair to talk about their graduate scheme, sandwich year and vacation opportunities, what they look for from jobseekers, and how to make your applications stand out from the crowd.
Graduate stories
Jo
BA (Hons) Business Information Systems (2007)
I did a sandwich degree and as part of this did an industrial placement year during the third year of my course at Microsoft. During my year, I was working as a Program Manager in the Microsoft Consulting group. It was during this year that I learnt that the TAM position existed and arranged to shadow a TAM during the last month of my placement. This year also provided me with an insight into the Graduate scheme.
TAMs are considered to be trusted business advisors to their Microsoft Premier Support customers. They provide valuable guidance around operations and optimisation of their IT infrastructure. Responsibilities include managing customer’s technical support issues by working with the appropriate support engineers, escalating where appropriate to resolution. You are expected to work with customers to understand skills gaps amongst their staff and arrange delivery of workshops, training and events, as well as developing and maintaining a good working knowledge of current and future Microsoft products and technologies. A core element of the role is relationship management and building a rapport with your customers. A key responsibility is ensuring that customers are very satisfied with their Premier Support contract.
I am on the Microsoft Academy for College Hire (MACH) scheme, also known as the Graduate scheme, which is great as you get lots of opportunities to travel and meet other graduates from across the world.
As part of my role, I am required to get a technical qualification and become a Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator. The discipline required during my degree, particularly around the exam period, has greatly assisted me. I felt I was able to apply the learning and revision techniques I used during university to work towards my qualification.
The industrial placement I completed during my third year was key for me obtaining my job. I strongly believe that if I hadn’t taken the year out I would have struggled to find a graduate job as I would have lacked relevant work experience. Doing a placement year is such a great spring board opportunity. It provided me with a wealth of knowledge about the IT industry and had the added benefit of helping me with my final year. It is the best of both worlds as you get an academic backing topped off with invaluable work experience. It also gave me real world work related examples to refer to during my graduate interview.
I have been on a steep learning curve over the last year and have been given so much responsibility during this time. My immediate goal is to continuing developing in my role. The great thing is that there is a clear promotional path that I intend to work up.