By Aiman Shahzad: Policy, Programmes and Research Officer at Rethink Mental Illness, BSc Social Sciences RHUL Graduate (2023).

Our Alumni Aiman Shahzad (BSc Social Sciences, RHUL 2023) shares her story from a graduate to the workplace.

Graduation and Employment Prep: Hard Work starts early! 

I graduated from the BSc Social Science in 2023 and because I applied for jobs right after my assignments ended, I was able to find a job very soon after graduation. I was already applying for graduate schemes during third year in December 2022, as were many others, but despite my best efforts many of the schemes were highly competitive and I had not reached past some of the skills tests in these.  I had to be resilient after seeing unsuccessful outcomes for graduate schemes and not let it hinder me from applying elsewhere and I would still recommend applying for these schemes as the applications and tests helped me to reflect on my skills. During this point in January 2023, my volunteering placement began so this was a golden opportunity to understand my skills better. Balancing job preparation and assignments was a tricky feat, and you certainly need to prioritise looking after yourself through it but every so often on weekends when big deadlines had passed, I would edit my CV and format it with my experience, adding in the voluntary placement after it was done. My other experiences included being a society committee secretary as well as a peer guidance mentor in second year and I had other instances of volunteering experience from lower school too which I added in.  Taking up these opportunities when they were advertised by the programme lead or other staff at the university was helpful to make my CV stand out. Worrying about having a job after studies was a key stressor during university as I did not need to think about this in depth before, so I really had to learn how to balance this alongside my assignments. This meant it was paramount that I placed an 80:20 split of my productive energy into university work and employment prep, and this slowly shifted into 100% placed into the latter when my final assignment was submitted in May 2023. Of course, I did have a few weeks off after finishing my degree to chill and have that relieving feeling of deadlines being over but because it left me feeling quite uncertain, I fuelled that uncertain energy into my time further preparing for jobs. As I had much more time it became something I placed nearly all my effort into whilst trying to use the other time left to spend with family and relax and feel accomplished about getting my degree done.  

Within this process until and after graduation I was sending in my refined CV to some peers to have a second opinion, a special mention goes to my older sister who is a Senior IT Recruitment Consultant, and her first-hand knowledge of CV formatting certainly helped me with my edit. (Top Tip: when making and editing your CV, get a second opinion or if you know someone who has a professional experience history, ask them to kindly take a glance over your CV and give you feedback, it helps with understanding another person’s perspective). As this occurred, I further embarked on my job searching trail (no wonder they call it a job-hunt- because it truly can be), I started to use the Easy Apply option in various websites and application, a specific mention to using LinkedIn (Top tip: Get on LinkedIn if you have not already- widen your network, it is a great platform to get to know others in your sector even if you do not use it to apply for a job necessarily). Something which also helped me was subscribing to job alerts, these can be found in various ways online through searching on platforms such as Reed, Glassdoor, Indeed etc. (However, do watch out for job application scams through things like WhatsApp and Cold calls, if a recruiter or site has not been used by you and they try to interact with you ensure that it is legitimate- some sites and offers can be deceitful and you would not want to get your hopes up to be made victim to a scam situation!) .

For my current role, I completed a written application in late June, which after being successful led me to the next stage and did a virtual interview in mid-July.

My Job:

I now work as a Policy, Programmes and Research Officer at Rethink Mental Illness, a charity that supports people severely affected by mental illness through local groups and services, expert information and campaigns. My degree in Social Science at Royal Holloway genuinely equipped me with so many transferable skills from research methods, policy analysis skills, critical thinking, knowledge from various areas and even volunteering!

As an organisation, Rethink Mental Illness is a leading mental health charity providing support to people living with severe mental illness, and those who care for them.  We provide advice and information as well as housing and community services at a range of locations across England. We campaign on a range of issues, including reducing mental health stigma, tackling the cost-of-living crisis and Mental Health Act reform.   

My job at Rethink Mental Illness involves working across various teams including Coproduction and Involvement, Equity and Racial Justice, Programmes and Policy and Influencing.  I support these teams through a range of tasks including assisting with policy research and development, engaging individuals with lived experience of mental illness, organising events, analysing data findings and disseminating key information to relevant teams.  

As a bonus I'm in a sector that I am passionate about because mental ill-health is such a common phenomenon in contemporary society.  I enjoy being able to make an impact on how mental health policies serve those with lived experience of severe mental illness through gaining authentic data that aims to capture the needs of experts by experience, thus allowing for awareness to be raised.

Volunteering during the BSc:

I'm glad I'm in a role where my social science degree experience has been so helpful.  In particular, the Volunteering in the Community module helped me to gain experience in the workplace which really enabled me to enter employment with confidence.  This module involves 60 hours of volunteering in the charity sector and lectures that support students to really concentrate on their skills development and reflect on their progress.  My volunteering placement was at the UK’s integrative cancer-care charity, Yes to Life, where I was a Project Coordinator for their upcoming Impact Report, to understand recommendations that could be made to meet the needs of diverse demographics and to be aligned with the charity’s strategy plan which involved me surveying and interviewing beneficiaries to understand the charity outreach (doing this certainly allowed me to gain confidence for job interviews as I had been in the interviewer position).

My studies:

I also took other modules that helped me.  These choices were vital in understanding my key areas of interest alongside in mental health already, as some of the theories and concepts discovered in further options made the specifics of the career I wanted to embark on, clearer. Before choosing further modules, I was not sure what career I wanted to go into- I did initially consider generalising in HR but later through my job search found this was not in alignment with my interests. During first year, I learned some of the basic aspects of social policy, the regulation of social institutions and about human development across the lifespan.  In second year, we had a dedicated research methods course where we got hands on experience of using research software and analysing data.  I also took a module on the welfare state, which touched on issues of poverty and social welfare which are so significant for relating with some policy areas that my work will be focusing on. One of my options was the “Madness” and Society module where I really enjoyed the lectures on gender and mental distress.  In fact, I completed my Dissertation in final year titled: “Honour, Shame, Izzat & the Meanings that British South Asian Communities Assign to Accessing Mental Health Services”. I conducted a qualitative analysis into Pakistani Muslim women’s access or lack thereof to services due to complexities between community dialogues and professional interventions, compounding their experiences of mental ill-health. It meant so much to me to complete this research project and being given encouragement by my supervisor to explore an area I was passionate about and continue to be passionate about. Our work in mental health organisations needs to continue working to break down the barriers that specific cultural communities face and who encounter unique experiences through having intersectional identities that can sometimes mean they face marginalisation in spaces that should be the safest. In my work now, I have a platform to drive the need for this urgent change forward and use my research experience to help do this!

Staff & Support:

Overall, I had a phenomenal time during university and continually put efforts into my studies trying to also volunteer whenever the opportunity arose, but I can certainly attest that the continual support from the academic staff through my three years at Royal Holloway really helped me to achieve these goals.  I’ve also met so many wonderful individuals at Royal Holloway and have a particularly strong long-term bond with my Social Sciences cohort since beginning to after graduating we are very close, and our group still checks in on each other- it is so wholesome and lovely. We have fantastic memories of studying together and hanging out and it is great that we got to build further networks with a wide range of classmates from other modules and courses too- you’ll never need to be worried about not having someone to sit next to in lectures and seminars. Everyone is super friendly and welcoming, and you’ll have ample opportunity to get involved with non-academic activities too, for example I was the secretary of our social science society committee during second and third year!

As a proud Royal Holloway graduate, I can wholeheartedly recommend the BSc Social Science to anyone who is interested in the ways that society shapes our lives and if you are keen to explore your interests too.  The course gave me an invaluable academic experience that has supported me so much into my career. The diversity of modules not only widened my perspective but also allowed me to gain key skills such as research and analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving and a plethora of others- these are skills strongly sought after in today’s job market. I also cannot emphasise enough that the support from the amazing faculty and career services at Royal Holloway you will receive throughout is excellent!

To prospective students, I encourage you to explore what you are curious and passionate about, just as I did. Engage in volunteer work, societies, and any other activities to enhance your current skills and discover where your interests are. Have fun but also put yourself out there and don’t hesitate to reach out if you are finding things tough- whether you have questions about the world of work, general wellbeing or any other type of advice, there are multiple outlets of support available to you at Royal Holloway- your journey here is just the start of an exciting and fulfilling adventure!