Mehrun Javed

Were you always interested in attending university?

I was always interested in attending university. The main reason behind this was that I was doing well in education and for me, university was the next step. Within my family, I was the second individual to attend university.

Why did you choose the University of Bradford?

The University of Bradford, for me, is close to home and comfortable. When I originally applied for the University of Bradford, I chose radiography. At the time I was getting told maybe I should go into the teaching or medical side. However, I did not go for radiography as I went for a two-week work experience and I realised that I did not feel comfortable, and it was not something I saw myself doing all the time.

What made you choose that course?

From a young age I was always interested in computers and technology in general. Even in school, I got awarded the best IT student award, and I found it easy and interesting. I immediately realised Radiography was not for me and changed my option to Computer Science. Starting the course, I was overwhelmed with the technology and the course showed me ways to internships and working in offices, working on real-life projects and developing programming skills. This helped me understand what type of jobs I could go into.

How did the University of Bradford support/guide you through your career journey?

One of the things I really like about the University of Bradford is the support that they provide. If you, as a student, take every chance, and if you are taking and looking into what you can do as a career, then the University is there for you. Definitely...to start off with the University of Bradford Career and Employability Service (CES) is very useful especially when I reflect back on my own experiences. At the end of my first year, I started to look into jobs, and I came across the summer experience programme and thought, “I might as well try this”. I got to work within the University of Bradford in the Centre of Excellence department.  I was responsible for attending conferences, standardising the VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) and rolling out this across the university. I believe I was able to pick a lot of skills from there that I continuously use in my workplace. The University of Bradford provided me with the opportunity, I even got paid during the experience which was great.

From there, I started to pick up roles such as PAL leader, which is the Peer Assistance leader, which also gave me exposure to problem solving and planning. During my second year at University, I investigated industrial placements. So, I got an industry placement as a Software Developer and Data Analyst within FGH, the University of Bradford had those connections which provided me with the options to apply to various industry placements. From there, my career sort of continued and at the end of my placement year I applied and got on to another summer internship through CES. This time I worked with Student Union as a Web Developer, they quickly realised my skills and offered me to continue as a Research Lead part time. I took advantage of all the opportunities that the University of Bradford provided. I don’t think a lot of universities provide such a range of opportunities.

Can you tell me about your current role?

I currently work as a Design Engineer Professional. I lead the transition of the Network Design team to use new tools, drive business improvement and change initiatives, as well as setting standard governance framework. My job role includes leading and developing with a team of technical developers. I document, analyse, and manage critical implementation, working with global design teams. I frequently attend and present at meetings with over 400 people. During the taking of this interview, I am moving on to a new role, I will become a Transformation Manager where I will be picking up end-to-end process and workflow within the BT Global space. I hope to continue to grow as a professional individual.

What inspired or motivated you to apply for this role?

I applied for the BT graduate scheme. What interested me to apply for the role was that BT is a huge company. They were offering graduate roles in various areas and what I liked about BT was that they understand as a graduate you are new, so they do not put pressure on you, they also offered a range of training for the first two years. During my interview, I informed them that I would be interested in sitting on a global scale and communicating with people around the world. I believe getting a job where I can communicate with people on a global scale has really helped me a lot. It keeps me on my toes, so I get to work with people from India, Brazil, America, Hungary, Malaysia, and many more. Such opportunities have really helped my communication skills. I think one of my strong skills are my communication skills but being able to communicate with a variety of people such as senior leaders to people around the world. I have really been able to adapt and use my various skills in different settings and with different people.

Tell us about how you got into the job and what the application process was like?

The application process for the job was quite long and it is something that graduates should expect. When you apply as well as your grades, your professional experience is something that recruiters will be looking at as well. I started to apply for the graduate schemes early in my final year because being early means that’s how you need to grasp the opportunities. I had a total of six interviews, from my internship I knew the big companies have a complicated process, however, I did not expect the number of tasks I had to do. They really do challenge you.

Did you face any challenges in your career journey so far?

I would say there have been many challenges some bigger than the others. Sometimes you can walk into a group, and they might treat you differently. But you have to put that to a side and be confident in yourself. That is what I have learned in the past two years, whoever I am I should be proud of myself and should be able to do whatever I want. Why should we not put ourselves out there and go for whatever we want.

Was the location of the job ever a potential barrier stopping you from getting where you wanted to be?

Initially, when I got offered the job, they said to me that I will either be based in Manchester or Ipswich. I informed them that Ipswich was too far, so I took Manchester. I feel like I was lucky at the time because when I told them I travelled from Bradford, they said why did they not put you in the Leeds office, so I told them I asked for the Leeds office and there was no space there. They told me if I was happy, they had a team in the Leeds office and they could put me in there as it was more convenient for me.

What advice would you give to our current students and graduates based on your experiences?

I would say keep applying and applying even if you do face rejection. I feel like you should never take rejection as a failure, you should see rejection as a point of experience. Continue to apply for jobs and if you do not get in the big companies, it does not matter. You should focus on building your experience in your first few years as a graduate. Once you have built your experience you can progress and move on to better things. You should never settle for less, once you are in a job do not think that I am in this forever, you need to move around and build up your experience.