Name: Jessica King
Degree: BA Hons Russian Studies
Year of graduation: 2010
Current Job title: Assistant Educational Consultant
Background
I took A Levels in English, German and Theatre Studies at a girls' school in central London. I decided not to take a gap year and wanted to go to a university up North to experience something different!
Why Manchester and why languages?
I loved the city of Manchester when I visited for the university open day, and the student and teacher representatives in the Russian department were all really friendly and encouraging — I was pretty nervous about studying a new language from scratch!
I always knew I wanted to continue with languages, and the thought of a year abroad really appealed to me.
Year abroad
I spent my year abroad in St Petersburg and Volgograd which was fantastic. They are both very beautiful but very different cities, and I met a lot of amazing people along the way.
What next?
When I graduated from Manchester I began an internship with a Russian company who specialise in educational services for international students (mainly Russians and Ukrainians), the majority of whom wish to pursue their studies in Britain. The internship quickly developed into a full-time position, and I'm still here now (one year on).
Do you still use your languages?
I would not have been considered for this role unless I had the invaluable language skills I learnt at Manchester University. I work in an environment where Russian is spoken a lot of the time, and I am always encouraged to develop my own language skills in the workplace. Languages are a great tool for work and travel and definitely look impressive on your CV, plus it's always a conversation starter saying you studied Russian at uni!!