Career Profiles - BSc in Information Management
Students on the Department's BSc in Information Management can expect to find employment in a wide range of industry sectors. The emphasis of the BSc programme in placing the study of information resources, systems and services into an organizational and business context, means that students will be able to go on to both jobs with dedicated information or IT/computing-related roles and also jobs with a more general management focus. Four recent graduates of the BSc in Information Management detail their experiences after graduating from the Department:
Clare McDermott, Graduate Trainee Data Management, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
"I started working at international law firm Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer after graduating from Sheffield. I work in the Data Management department, which I greatly enjoy, and my contract has just been renewed for an extra year. In Data Management our main role is to ensure that information held within the firm is accurate, consistent, current, legal and easily accessible. We are involved in the following areas: data standards; database design, in consultation with data owners; copyright; privacy/data protection; intranet and knowhow taxonomy. My role includes maintaining and testing databases based upon the firm's SQL database software; designing and building Access databases; designing and maintaining pages on the Knowledge Management Subweb on the firm's intranet and getting involved in project work.
I have benefited from in-house training and have attended many external conferences and seminars. I have found I am well prepared for this job as a result of my degree. The BSc in Information Management covered a wide range of subjects. It focussed on important areas such as: database design; taxonomy; information literacy; website design and html skills; and many other skills in general information management. This has enabled me to feel confident whilst working in a demanding business environment."
Kerry McDonald, Human Resources Assistant, Advanstar Communications UK Ltd.
"I am currently working for a business to business publishing and exhibitions company in their Human Resources (HR) Department. I decided to pursue a career in HR, as through my BSc Information Management course I realised that people and information are what really make businesses tick. My daily role includes recruitment, payroll, managing ongoing projects/concerns and implementing our Access database! Increasingly championing knowledge management is becoming part of my role here, although we don't necessarily call it that! I love that through my job I get to immerse myself in different departments and tackle a variety of issues. My research skills have been invaluable as within weeks of beginning my job I was asked to begin work assisting with the updating and re-writing of our employee handbook. I have elected to begin studying for an MA in Human Resource Management on a part-time basis, at Manchester Metropolitan University, and I was pleased to note that I had covered several of the topics outlined in the syllabus whilst studying on the BSc in Information Management at the University of Sheffield."
Richard Wong, Graduate Technology Consultant, Capgemini
"After successful completion of my BSc in Information Management I was still unsure of what direction I wanted to take as a career. I decided to travel for 10 months, spending 7 months in Australia and New Zealand and 3 months in SE Asia. Travelling gave me some of the best and most memorable experiences of my life. It also offered me plenty of time to reflect on my course and I decided I wanted to work within the Information sector but wanted to lean towards a technical role. On return from travelling I applied to various graduate schemes and struck lucky when Capgemini offered me a place on their "Advanced Technologist Program". It offers 3 month rotational placement in various different system design roles for 24 months, providing me with the skills necessary to become a confident IT consultant for some of the largest companies in the world. Whilst most of the competition at the interviews came from computer science backgrounds, what most impressed the assessors at the interview stages was that together with the technical modules that I had studied they could also see I also had a strong focus on business and understood the wider implications of IT strategy on business as a whole. The BSc in Information Management provided me with a varied selection of modules to study, which has given me a strong and marketable position in the job market".
David Wright, Trainee Chartered Accountant, GoodmanJones
"During my final year at Sheffield I was offered a job by Goodman Jones, a medium sized chartered accountancy firm in the centre of London. After graduating I started work as a trainee chartered accountant, whilst also studying for the professional qualifications required for career progression. My main role is that of an auditor, where I am part of a team that audits a variety of companies. More recently I have become more involved with the consultancy side of the business, offering clients advice on how to manage their information systems more efficiently and effectively. I have found my experiences and knowledge from the BSc in Information Management degree at Sheffield are particularly beneficial in this area, as advice given to clients is often based on how they can utilise their information resources to the fullest."