Meet Lauren
French and Geography Combined Honours BA Honours
About Lauren
Business Management Graduate at Civil Aviation Authority
Course: French and Geography
Year of Graduation: 2020
What do you do in your current role?
I am Business Management Graduate at the CAA. Already I have worked in Customer Experience, Stakeholder Engagement and working on the Hydrogen Challenge towards hydrogen powered aircraft.
I've been to Parliament to run a workshop, gone all over the country to STEM events and even done some undercover auditing.
French and Geography were the perfect combination for a career in aviation. I've used French with passengers and ground staff, and used my awareness of a different culture and ways of working to my advantage.
My Career
Please tell us about your career since graduating:
I graduated in lockdown, so with the job market being the way it was, I decided to do a Masters in International Relations and Security at Liverpool (my original second choice uni). This was a great experience to further my academic career.
I then pursued my long-time goal of a career in aviation - securing a role at Jet2.com as Cabin Crew. This was such a practical, rewarding role I loved for the best part of 3 years. I then wanted to take the next step last year into regulation, successfully securing a spot on the UK Civil Aviation Authority Graduate Scheme.
The whole point of Combined Honours is not to limit yourself on what you want to study.
Student life at Newcastle
How did your course and experience at Newcastle University prepare you for your current role?
French and Geography were the perfect combination for a career in aviation. I've used French with passengers, ground staff and my awareness of a different culture and ways of working to my advantage.
On the human side of Geography, political geography e.g. borders, terrorism, etc. has fuelled my passion for international security, and I look to further my career in aviation security in particular.
What advice would you give to students starting to explore the next steps after graduating?
I can't emphasise this enough - do what you LOVE! The whole point of Combined Honours is not to limit yourself on what you want to study. Why would you then do that in your job?
I knew I loved people and planes and sought to find a job that would encompass both. So with whatever it is in mind, don't forget what gets you up in the morning and use that passion to take you where you want to go! Who knows the opportunities you might find...
How has your degree helped you outside of your job, in your personal life or other pursuits?
- I can converse with French people and go back to France whenever and feel like I fit in
- My degree which has led to my career, also was a talking point with my now partner - he's in aviation too!
- It led to my Masters
- It led to a remote internship in Fiji
- I still have close friends now from my time in Combined and we always treasure our experience