Kara Owen (BA, 1993)

"I left Sheffield University in 1993, already having secured a job as an Operational Entrant in the Diplomatic Service. Since then, I've had a huge range of jobs and life experiences and can honestly say that I can count on the fingers of one hand the days I've not wanted to go to work. Not many of my friends can say that of their 16 years in the working world!

I've worked on a development programme with newly capitalist Russia, helping them transform their command economy to a market economy in the early 1990s. I've learned two difficult languages (Cantonese and Vietnamese). I have helped Brits who have got into trouble (arrest, theft, destitution) in both Hong Kong and Vietnam. I have helped pursue the UK's national interests in the sphere of social policy in the EU. I have worked as an assistant to junior Ministers and then the Foreign Secretary, seeing at first hand how policy decisions are being made and also influencing them along the way. I've been Deputy Ambassador to Vietnam, thoroughly enjoying the times when I acted as our Charge d'Affaires (that is, our Woman in Hanoi). I've travelled all over the world, including to many countries that haven't been on people's top tourist destination lists (Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan, Libya). Now I'm leading the FCO's effort to promote diversity and equality in our workplace and the countries we work in. And along the way I've had the opportunity to learn new sports, compete in endurance events in fabulous locations, learn how to ride a motorbike through the countryside of Vietnam, develop a love of Asian culture and food and develop an international network of excellent friends......

How did my time at Sheffield and my history degree prepare me for this? Academically, I found the high expectations of the staff helped prepare me to work in an environment where excellence is expected and delivered. They taught me not to let any assumption go unquestioned and also they taught me to look for ways in which I could make a genuinely unique contribution and make a difference, both of which I'm still seeking to do. My dissertation was not allowed to be a "pregnant essay" or regurgitation of others' work. I was encouraged to seek out my own untapped primary sources and "add to the sum of human knowledge". I came into contact with a group of people whose backgrounds and experiences were much more diverse than I had met before.And, my fantastic social life in Sheffield prepared me to be confident making contact with complete strangers to help me achieve my objectives at work. (Diplomatic receptions aren't fun and glamorous, by the way. But at least they can be useful if you have the skills and confidence to make and pursue contacts during them!).

I've spent more years at work than I did at Sheffield. But I'm very aware that I'm still drawing from my Sheffield experience to perform."