The Black in Business careers event, held on 24 October 2023, was designed to inform and encourage black students on how to successfully navigate through the professional world.
The event was arranged by the Careers and Employability Service and co-hosted by Careers Consultant Iram Sial at the University of Westminster and Harry Ife, Project Manager at Countryside Partnerships. It featured a panel of six speakers: Anthony Opoku-Owusu, Construction Manager for Phillips 66 UK; Julie Quist-Therson, Community Engagement Manager for the 10,000 Interns Foundation; Shinel Crichlow, Founder of UK Entertainment Awards; Aaron Gavin, Manager at Equity City; and Jason Buwanabala, Senior Manager for Inclusion and Diversity at PwC.
Panellists gave their insights into the importance of equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and what it means in the workplace, and discussed issues disadvantaged students face when climbing the career ladder. Students also heard about unique employability programmes and initiatives, including those from 10,000 interns and Equity City.
Anthony Opoku-Owusu said: “EDI, to me, is about creating environments where people from different walks of life have a voice that is heard, adequate representation and opportunities to a level playing field. Within many environments such as the workplace, any lack of diversity creates an opening for systematic biases to go unchallenged and unchanged. A simple way for companies to overcome this challenge is to reach out to underrepresented communities to expand their candidate pool and implement strategies to remove biases.”
Iram Sial said: “It was truly inspiring to hear the panellists share their career journey into their respective fields, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them. They each provided invaluable advice and practical tips on how to transition into the job market and how to break the barriers. Tips such as how to research and prepare for a job, personal branding, building relationships with recruiters and the importance of seeking mentorship were discussed.”
Harry Ife said: “The passion behind bringing this insight to the students was to prep their minds for the challenges people face along their career journey, present real life examples of issues that are happening in the Labour Market today and help equip their minds with strategies to adopt ahead of graduation and before they fully venture into their respective career paths.”
Learn more about Careers and Employability services at the University of Westminster.
