Alumni

Daisy Rushforth

Career Path: HR & Change Lead, ITV Studios
Location: Manchester, UK

After graduating with a first class degree in Human Resource Management I was ready to start my career at one of the big six energy companies in the UK. I undertook my dissertation research looking at how change affects people within the workplace, here is where I found my interest in change. I decided to apply for the Npower graduate programme as this was solely a programme which would support my learning further into change in the workplace. After a restructur at Npower, I decided to start searching for my next career move and found the HR & Change Lead role at ITV.

I was lucky enough to obtain the role at ITV and I am still getting to work and learn more about change as well as learning how to further develop my HR skills and knowledge. I am really enjoying my new role and my new place of work. It is exciting and fast paced and I am excited to see what future opportunities may arise and where I will be in the next five years or so.

What are you doing now?

I am currently in the role of HR & Change Lead at ITV based in Media City in Manchester.

What was it about Northumbria that made you decide to study here?

Newcastle as a city has amazing culture and I miss it everyday!

What was it like studying at Northumbria?

I found my degree to be more business based than HR, which has supported my decisions for my post-university career. There was a broad mix of both lectures and seminars as well as group work.

How connected was your course with industry?

I completed a placement year during my degree, I worked for Pizza Express on their Undergraduate Assistant Manager placement year.

If you took on a placement during your course how did you feel this helped you in your career/ with your studies?

A placement year is invaluable, I can't even stress enough how much that helped me excel compared to others at assessment centre's and interviews when it came to applications for graduate roles and graduate schemes. You gain an insight into the world of work, no matter what your placement may be. I undertook more of a hospitality-based placement yet I haven't gone into a hospitality role post-university, but it gave me the transferable skills in order to do well at assessment centre's and interviews. I was able to excel in competency-based questions and scenarios, as well as having a real-life experience to discuss and use as examples. A word to anyone at university now, deciding whether to take a placement, definitely do it! It will change your future opportunities for the better and open so many doors.

What was the best thing about your course?

The HR course at Northumbria had a smaller cohort than some of the other more popular courses such as Business Management or Marketing, so the core course lectures and seminars were much smaller and personal. The relationships with tutors were, I believe, to be stronger and this really helped in terms of knowing who to ask and where to go when you needed support or had questions in terms of the work you had to do and when it came to dissertation writing. Special thanks to Dr Russell Warhurst for being a superb Dissertation tutor during my time at Northumbria.

How did studying at Northumbria help you achieve your career goals/ give your career an edge?

I was influenced to work hard and aim high. I don't believe I would be at the point in my career as I am so early without my dissertation, and my placement year.