Jack Kavanagh - working here
Placement Year Manager, Jack Kavanagh joined Nottingham University Business School in 2019. He manages a placement year programme for undergraduate students, supporting them to undertake a year in industry during the penultimate year of their degree.
Jack explained: “I was interested in having the opportunity to build a programme from the ground up and test my self in new ways. This role posed a new challenge for me and I was keen to explore how it engages with the wider community through its activities like the Ingenuity Lab and Enactus programme. I wanted to be part of something that contributes not only to the University of Nottingham but also to the wider community, through the brilliant students we work with.”
The placement year programme supports students who want to gain experience of working in industry. It has grown from a handful of students taking part three years ago, to over 300 now. Jack visits each student twice during the placement, making sure that they are gaining worthwhile experiences that will benefit them in the future.
Jack said: There’s nothing better than seeing a student that you have worked with all year - helping them to understand their strengths - entering the workplace. For some, its their first experience of a professional job, and its great to see how they develop and how their assumptions about work change. Its genuinely inspiring to see how some have had such a beneficial impact on the businesses that they work in.”
Find out more about how we connect employers with our students at Nottingham University Business School:
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Jack has also benefitted from the supportive environment encouraged at the Business School. He added: “The best thing about working at the Business School, is the positive attitude - everyone has five minutes to contribute their time or advice – I’ve been challenged on things, but it’s been a positive challenge, making me think about things I am trying to achieve on a different level.”
