Jignesh was born in Kenya and moved to the UK aged fourteen. Moving to a new country was challenging, and Jignesh had to balance schoolwork with learning a different culture and environment, as well as studying in English, which wasn’t his first language. His parents hadn’t been to university, and though they were encouraging, they were unable to provide the guidance he needed. Consequently, he found it hard to know which choices to make when it came to his future.
He studied engineering at university, but when his post-graduate plans unexpectedly fell through, he found himself suddenly on the job market. At first he was focused, but over time grew disheartened by how competitive it was. He felt he lacked the right knowledge when it came to excelling at interviews, or writing cover letters. He discovered that MTL could offer him attractive career prospects, so signed up for the three-week workshop for 18-25s.
He loved every bit of the workshop. One exercise particularly struck him because it helped him identify that to go from A to B, you sometimes have to go via C. Afterwards, he attended MTL’s Corporate Careers Programme, where he developed his commercial awareness and received regular mock interviews. Jignesh really felt the value of MTL when he saw the skills he’d learned being put into practice- such as attending an interview and being asked a question he’d already prepared for. As a result, he was offered a role as a Junior Business Analyst at a software company, where he offers
business support and project management to asset management firms. He’s very happy in his role and with the skills he’s developing, will have fantastic opportunities to progress.
‘If you’re thinking about coming to MTL, I’d say, miss it, miss out! You’ll miss loads of information that’s really relevant to you. When you’re approached, you might think it’s not for you, or you don’t fancy the early mornings or wearing suits. You should ignore the hundred million excuses not to go because down the line, it’ll really help you. After coming to MTL, I felt prepared for the business environment. Generally it’s not going to come straight away. You have to persevere, put in the hard work and you’ll get there. Through MTL’s support, I’m now in a really good role where I’m learning a lot of skills, so the future does look really bright.’
