Stuart Harrod
BA Hons Business Management and Marketing, 2013
Why do you volunteer as an Alumni Fellow?
I volunteer as an Alumni Fellow as I enjoy giving back. It is great to get involved in supporting NTU students in developing employability skills and giving insights into the professional world post-graduation. To be able to share my experiences so far in my career and time at university could make a difference to even just one or two students, and that for me is a great reason to be an Alumni Fellow!
What volunteering activities have you been involved with as an Alumni Fellow (e.g. mentoring, guest lectures)?
I’ve been involved in quite a few activities since being an Alumni Fellow. I have conducted mock interviews, speed networking events, career talks and mentoring of students. I have also participated in delivering a virtual presentation via Skype for Business for the Virtual Global Lounge during COVID-19 lockdown.
What do you enjoy and find most rewarding most about being an Alumni Fellow?
The most rewarding thing for me is seeing the reaction from students when you give them an insight or perspective into an area they have not considered or heard of yet - this to me is invaluable. I also find it rewarding when I have spent time mentoring someone and they are so grateful for the experience and insight provided.
Do you have any advice for someone thinking about volunteering as an Alumni Fellow?
My advice would be to get involved in a variety of different activities to mix things up and find more than one way to help students. Also a big bit of advice is not to underplay what you can bring to being an Alumni Fellow; I am still very early in my career and have less experience than a lot of other Alumni Fellows but I still bring my own experiences and insights to things which can bring a different perspective or approach to students.
What do you do when you’re not volunteering?
My career so far has been working in Procurement, which I really enjoy! I have worked for Rolls-Royce and now work for HSBC. I have been fortunate enough to travel to many countries in my career including India, US, Germany, France, Norway and Sweden. I’ve also lived and worked in Singapore for 6 months in 2019 which was one of the best experiences! I am a fully qualified Member of Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply.
Have you undertaken any other volunteering as a result of Covid-19?
I very recently took part in a new innovative way to conduct a Global Lounge career talk on Skype for NTU. This was the first time a career talk was conducted this way at NTU and it worked very well!