Name: Anne Delauzun
Course: Career Education, Information and Guidance in Higher Education

What have you been doing since you graduated from your course?

Lots! I’ve presented my dissertation research on career development and social justice at various conferences and workshop events run by AGCAS, NICEC and others. It’s been really stimulating to connect with others across the sector who share my interest in this, and increasing the visibility of practice in this area, which I also aspire to as a member of the editorial board for the Career Guidance for Social Justice website. I really enjoyed the research elements of the course, and in 2020 I joined the AGCAS Knowledge and Research Committee, which has been great for maintaining this connection and shaping AGCAS’ work in this area.

About a year after my graduation, I secured a promotion to become Director of Careers and Employability at the University of Reading, and more recently I’ve joined the board of Adviza, a charity that works to support young people and adults to progress through learning and work. I also published an article based on my dissertation in the NICEC journal!

You were the winner of John Roberts Memorial Awards in 2019 – what does this mean to you?

I was really honoured to be recognised with this award, particularly given the strong reputations of both Warwick and AGCAS in the world of careers work.

Has your course benefitted you in what you do?

Undoubtedly. The knowledge and expertise that the programme enabled me to develop has been fundamental to my own career progression and fulfilment. It opened my eyes to the huge base of underpinning theories, models and approaches to careers work and the contemporary challenges we encounter that is incredibly helpful when working in a university, where credibility is vital. Through the course of the programme I built a great network of colleagues, many of whom I’m still in touch with, and some of whom I went on to work with. My dissertation supervisor, Phil, connected me with some active researchers whose work I was referencing, which has led to some of the things I’ve done since.

Did you encounter any challenges during the course? How did you overcome them?

The main challenge was probably managing my time. For the majority of my time on the programme I was also working full-time, and I did one module whilst on an extended maternity leave. To manage this, I broke down each piece of coursework into chunks and set myself lots of interim deadlines. Finding the energy to work on coursework in the evenings and weekends was sometimes difficult, but ultimately my interest in the subject kept me going. Completing the work in smaller chunks also helped me to see that I was making progress.

If you were to give one piece of advice to current CLL students on the course, what would it be?

Make the most of the support available from the course tutors – something I wish I’d done much more of on my own undergrad degree! The course tutors were great in sharing their own insights, but also challenging me in a supportive way. Knowing I had a tutor meeting in the diary would push me to have some work to discuss and some questions to ask, and I always went away with fresh ideas!