Luke Hayward

As a Front Desk Receptionist for the most frequently used medical service throughout the UK, you learn to adapt and work under pressure whilst maintaining a professional courtesy to those requesting the service. Being thrown into an environment were people are reliant on you to aid them through their troubles is a task like no other; each patient with a different request and attitude. Developing the necessary communication skills and ability to meet the patient needs is a core skill I will carry with me through every job I work in.

Having been a player for Surrey Hockey since the age of 11, it was an honour to be asked to coach a team and help invigilate the trials for the county. I have now done this for three years alongside my studies and job within the NHS, and I plan to do so for many more years. This job has helped me improve my management and leader qualities as taking a team requires you to not only organise your own tasks, but also delegate and ensure a small group of 20 other people know what they are doing. This is a job that I take a great pride in doing and as is something I always ensure I am giving everything I have towards.

Although I am very much set on working within the banking and finance world, I also have a major interest in the legal sector, hence my choice of 'Policy' rather than Philosophy within my PPE degree (among other factors). Being given the chance to shadow a barrister at within such a prestige environment was an honour like no other. During my work experience I was made to do mock trials from previous cases. I was given a short period of time to analyse a large quantity of data as a real test of how effectively I could analyse data and produce a compelling argument under a time restricting environment. Although this was a challenge, I did prevail managing to tick all the required boxes for a successful trial.

Although I only spent a week at the Digital Assets Custodian Copper, it was by far the most insightful week I have ever experienced. As my love for sales and assets was discovered, finagling giving me an idea of what career I want to go into. Each day at Copper I was assigned to a different floor within the company to shadow and take notes on how the business was ran. One day I was looking at the stock market and how to recognise which assets to buy or sell; the next day I was looking at stock management and how online wallets really work. I took a particular interest in the sales floor as it showed a high demand for work and a fast career growth if done right.