Georgina has a BA in History from the University of Reading. She graduated in 2009 and now works at the University of Reading...

When I was a student at university, I was involved with the Student Union Writer's Society, acting as producer for its plays which took place every term. This gave me experience of managing and liaising with a team and organising events from beginning to end. It was this experience that got me my first job organising first aid at local events for a national charity where I developed further skills of liaising between people internally and externally, doing a range of administrative tasks and organising various elements of events.

I then got my current job, where I run all parts of academic courses including preparing materials, booking rooms, updating electronic resources and being a central point of support for over 150 students. I am currently working on a temporary project as the graduation administrator for the second campus at our university.

My degree was in history, which was not specifically relevant in terms of actual academic content but it did give me lots of practical skills, which I continue to use. History, like many humanities subjects, requires the organisation of your own workload due to so many hours of independent study. This gave me a good grounding for the world of employment.

The time spent on group projects also gave me the experience of working as part of a team. I rely heavily on the writing and communication skills acquired at university in writing day-to-day emails as well as more detailed documents which must be clearly structured and easily understood by the target audience - ranging from students to academics.     

I get to work with colleagues in a variety of different departments from design and print to finance, as well as students who need advice and guidance on a wide range of topics. I also enjoy bringing all the elements together for an event or course. This ensures that no day is ever the same and on the day of graduation, you can see all the hard work in action as students have a brilliant celebration to complete their qualification.     

Ensuring all the elements come together at the same time and on time for graduation is very satisfying. There are lots of different pressures that require regular attention so sometimes juggling everything can be a challenge.

Recognising when something can be put on the back burner and when something has to come as an absolute priority can take time to learn. Staying calm under pressure is also a key challenge as you never know what you're going to need to react to and there's always something that doesn't quite fit the normal process so you need to be flexible and think outside the box. 

I would advise students who want to work in the industry to volunteer at every opportunity. Not only can you do something positive for a charitable cause but you will gain vital experience, especially in key skill areas such as communications and administration.

I found employers at interview stage are just as keen to discuss volunteer work you've undertaken as they are paid work experience. It also enriches your university experience and gets your CV ready for the world of work.