Hello! My name is Rhianna Wilson and I am currently in my first year at Lancaster studying BSc Mathematics and Statistics with a year in industry. Joining GROW Your Future has been one of the best decisions I have made as a first year: it’s opened so many doors for me, from having familiar faces I can go to for careers support, to developing key skills through a micro-internship exclusive to GYF students.

After going to an introductory talk about GROW Your Future in my first few weeks of starting university, I learnt about the Capital Connections scheme and quickly registered my interest. Capital Connections is a free overnight trip to either Manchester or London to visit the city and to meet employers, alumni, and peers. As a placement-year student who had - to be honest - no real idea of what sector I wanted to go into, I knew that I only had a matter of months before I had to start applying. I joined Capital Connections in order to be more informed about the type of options that may be available to me, especially within the context of applying to placement schemes.

While I’d anticipated that the trip would be beneficial, what I didn’t expect was that the application process would also help me develop key skills vital to obtaining a job in the future. As well as a written component, another aspect of the application process was a virtual interview, something I had never experienced before. This initially seemed daunting to me; I had never been interviewed before so I didn’t know what to expect. Luckily the questions were strength-based meaning I had to highlight my skills and interests and did not have to prepare too much. After the application process, I received feedback on my interview from a member of the GROW Your Future team which really helped me. If not for this opportunity, I would not have had the confidence to succeed in an in-person interview for a micro-internship which I had a few weeks later.

Once I had completed the application process to Capital Connections, I was offered a place on the London trip! There was a networking event around a week before the trip (with free pizza!) in order to get to know people who were also attending, which I really appreciated as it meant I got to meet my roommate for the trip before we went. We were also encouraged to others on LinkedIn in order to start building connections. This event also outlined our trip and the times we would be visiting each office, as well as the GYF team giving us some advice for networking with Lancaster alumni - which I was very grateful for as someone who does not particularly like networking!

During the trip we visited a range of offices such as the Civil Service, UBS and Samsung. On the second day we had a choice to either visit the Environment Agency and Local Government, or Unilever and OC+C Strategy. I chose the former option as one of the sectors I initially wanted to work in was the climate sector. However, the two most valuable talks for me personally ended up being the Civil Service and Local Government talks. Prior to this event I had not put much thought into working in the public sector, but this changed after hearing about the wide range of careers offered. One of the professionals who gave a talk was a statistician for the civil service, a career I did not even know existed! As a maths student looking to apply for roles in STEM, attending these talks opened my eyes to career branches involving STEM that I had not expected - such as becoming a public sector statistician.

The area of the trip I was looking forward to the least was the networking session on the first night. After an inspiring talk with UBS, we stayed in their offices to meet Lancaster alumni, some who had also gone through GROW Your Future. I was initially nervous but I was determined to try and make the most of this opportunity. Looking back I gained a lot of great advice from the alumni - in particular, advice about how to make the most of my time at Lancaster. One of the pieces of advice I received the most was to join a leadership position in a college/society. While this is still daunting to me, after researching more I realised that this would be something I would genuinely enjoy, so I am running for an exec position in my favourite society (wish me luck!). I am also going to apply for a JCR position in my college after recently talking to someone I met from Capital Connections about their time on the JCR. Even if I do not succeed in either of these endeavours, putting myself out there and running for these leadership positions is not something I would have had the confidence to do before attending this event and speaking to alumni.

Overall, I would highly recommend applying to Capital Connections as the overall experience - from the application process to the talks and networking events - has been highly beneficial for me not just in terms of viewing a diverse range of working environments, but also in terms of developing my soft skills and increasing my confidence when thinking about careers.

If you are interested in attending Capital Connections 2026, please register your interest here - https://lancasteruni.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9QSzwiZfRrLworc

Related Blogs

• 

  From Science to Strategy: Discovering Transferable Skills with Capital Connections

• 

  Using AI effectively and ethically in your job applications

• 

  Help Shape the Future of Higher Education - Take Part in the Graduate Outcomes Survey

Disclaimer

The opinions expressed by our bloggers and those providing comments are personal, and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of Lancaster University. Responsibility for the accuracy of any of the information contained within blog posts belongs to the blogger.