Name: Jess
Age: 26
Degree: Spanish and Italian
Year of graduation: 2002
Current Job title: Settlements Client Relationship Manager
Background
I started studying A-levels in German, English and Art with a GCSE in Spanish to fill some of my spare time. I was planning to be a graphic designer but my plans collapsed when I decided my A-level Art really wasn't for me. I dropped Art and took up Spanish purely as I could do a Spanish A-level in a year and would have 3 A-levels.
Why Manchester and why languages?
I chose Manchester as I really wanted to go to a big city where there was a large student population. I had a fantastic teacher for my Spanish A-level and as a result really enjoyed my Spanish and wanted to continue studying it. I knew I didn't want to study just one subject and as I'd always wanted to study Italian (but had never had the opportunity before) I thought the course at Manchester would be ideal.
Year out
For my year out I studied as an Erasmus student in Bergamo, North Italy. I'm glad I had the opportunity to live abroad but in hindsight I wish I'd found a job in Italy for the year so I could have become more involved in day to day Italian life.
What next?
After graduating I went travelling to South America which was fantastic. Being able to speak Spanish was a real advantage over there - few people spoke English so I often ended up as the spokesperson and that was tiring at times but great fun. I then got a job doing the media strategy for Mars which was fun but it made me realise that I wanted to work in an environment where there was more scope for using languages so I started looking for other jobs.
Where are you now?
I currently live in London and work for UBS Investment Bank. I applied for my role purely as they needed people with language skills and although I had no previous banking experience I got the job as it was easier for them to teach me the job, rather than teach someone else the languages. My languages really help me in my job as we have lots of foreign clients. Our office also has a lot of people from other countries working in it so I often use my languages to speak with my colleagues too. Without my languages I doubt I would have got my job - I also got promoted last year and that was partly due to some of the opportunities that my languages had created.
Do you still use your languages?
I use my languages almost every day... whether it's to speak with a client or gossip with a colleague! I'd definitely recommend anyone considering going to university to study a language as part of their degree.