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How did your career path lead to your current role?

I always knew I wanted to do something related to my geography degree and undertook a summer placement as an Environmental Advisor on a large construction project in the summer of my second year at uni.

I loved the role and after I graduated, I approached the company I worked for to see if they were recruiting and they took me back as a Graduate Environmental Advisor. From there I was supported in the company and worked there for three years, before feeling like I wanted to do something more strategic and carbon focussed.

So I moved to TfL and now work as an Environment Manager working on scope three carbon reduction projects.

How do you use the skills and/or knowledge from your environmental science/geography degree in your current role? How did your degree help you in your career path to your current role?

I found my geography degree gave me a well-rounded set of skills, but particularly the ability to think logically and critically.

To achieve genuine sustainability improvements in any company, you need to be able to challenge the norm and work with processes, and the mindset that my geography degree helped me develop is definitely applicable at work.

Also the ability to work in a team from group projects, and confidence with presentation delivery - both of which I use far more than I ever expected to!

What is your favourite and least favourite part of your current role?

My favourite part of being an Environment Manager is that I have the ability to influence all areas of a business, and get to learn about how other teams work and how I can challenge them to change.

I enjoy the sense of achievement when you are able to engage others on something you are passionate about, and even more so when it results in real change.

My least favourite part is the fact that change can take time to implement and it can be a long process to bring people on a sustainability journey with you, when you know how important it is that we change quickly.

What does your current role entail? What does a day-to-day working week look like?

In my previous job I worked four days a week on site, and did a mix of office and site tasks like inspections and audits, engagement visits and campaigns. My office work was often about having conversations with people about carbon reduction and how we can improve our environmental management, and making sure the environment was considered at every stage of the construction works.

Now I work hybrid and typically work from home Monday and Friday - I like the mix! I no longer work on site, but I like the change as it was often difficult managing two work locations.

My week usually entails meetings with procurement teams about how we tie environmental requirements into contracts; a weekly one-to-one with my manager about my development and any support I need; and there is usually a deck of slides that I need to prepare for regular presentations I deliver.

I often visit other offices for in person meetings too. A lot of jobs sound very meeting and email heavy, but it is more about the content of these that make it enjoyable.

What are your top pieces of advice to current students?

My top advice for current students is to not worry about not having life after uni figured out yet! There is a lot of pressure to have it all worked out, but it is not always easy and that's ok.

My second piece of advice is to do everything you can to keep your doors open by doing summer placements, work experience and part time work at every stage you can and it will make figuring you career out much easier!