What Do You Actually Do?
Episodes
Social Research in the Civil Service with Matt Smith
04 Mar 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Kate chats with Matt Smith, Senior Research Officer at HMRC, about his role in social research within the Civil Service. From intervi...
Finance in International Development with Adrian Poffley
26 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Kate speaks with Adrian Poffley, a Chief Administrative Officer at the World Bank, about the realities of working in finance within ...
What Do You Actually Do? Unearthing Careers in Heritage with Isabelle Diggle
05 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Finds Liaison Officer Isabelle Diggle explains her role in the Portable Antiquities Scheme, where she records archaeological objects ...
What Do You Actually Do? Indie Games and XR Design with Yasmina Fadel
21 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Kate chats to Yasmina Fadel, Co-director of XR studio Maximalist, about working in immersive tech and being an entrepreneur. She share...
Entrepreneurship and working in direct marketing with Tom Kelton
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Kate chats to Tom Kelton, CEO and Co-founder of Pentaro, a telemarketing and business development agency.Tom discusses how he co-found...
Working in Heritage and Education at The Rowntree Society
01 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week Kate chats with Nick Smith, Executive Director of The Rowntree Society.Nick talks about how The Rowntree Society shares it's history and...
Art appraisal with Leah Tharpe
30 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Kate is joined by Leah Tharpe, who works as an independent Art Appraiser with Tharpe and Fairchild LLC. As well as a fine art special...
Flora Palmer - Production & Operations at The Walt Disney Company
28 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Kate meets Flora Palmer. Flora is a current University of York student who is on placement year at the Walt Disney Company, working o...
Working in International Development with Juany Murphy
25 Mar 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Kate is joined by Juany Murphy, who is Director of International Relations at the Otra Cosa Network, an International Development charity and alongs...
Facilititating the recovery of lost and stolen art with the Art Loss Register
25 Feb 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Art Loss Register is the world's largest private database of stolen, missing and looted art, antiques and collectables. It currently lists over 70...
What do you actually do if you're graduating with a disability
20 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, Kate chats to George Young. George graduated in History and undertook the Change 100 internship programme which matches graduates wit...
A career in International Development with Laura Gravini-Rodriguez
06 Nov 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kate chats to Laura Gravini-Rodriguez who is a senior associate with DAI, a large employee owned International Development company. Laura gives us...
Working at the UK Space Agency with Faz Kazmi
23 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kate is joined today by Faz Kazmi. Faz graduated in Economics and Finance and now works as a Vertical Launch Grants Manager at the UK Space Agency. Li...
Engineering in the Nuclear Industry with Cezara Jalba
09 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Kate chats to York graduate Cezara Jalba about her role as a Control, Electrical & Instrumentation Design Engineer at the Sellafield site, which i...
Media and Communications with Molly Watson
01 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Listen as Kate chats to Molly Watson about her past life working as a BBC News Journalist and her recent career change. She currently works as a Media...
The Civil Service Science and Engineering Fast Stream with James Halpin
17 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
James Halpin is a York graduate who is currently on the science and engineering stream of the Civil Service Fast Stream programme. Listen as Kate gets...
Client Account Management in Advertising with Izi Hutchinson
20 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Izi Hutchinson is Senior Account Director at VCCP, an international integrated communications agency. Listen as Kate gets to the bottom of what Izi&#...
English grad to junior doctor: Graduate medicine and beyond, with Ian Henderson
06 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Ian is an Academic Clinical Fellow and junior doctor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. After graduating in English during the 2008 credit crunch, he pu...
Flirting with Algorithms with Harpal Sahota
21 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Harpal Sahota is a data scientist at MagicLab, who operate a number of dating apps, including Bumble & Lumen. He studied an MA in Computational B...
Human-centred design in the cultural sector
06 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Alyson Webb is a Director at Frankly Green + Webb, an agency specialising in human-centred design to improve digital experiences in the cultural secto...
Service Designer
22 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kate Every works as a Service Design Practice Lead for global digital transformation company Mastek. Service design is a really interesting area of wo...
Engineer at National Grid
08 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dan is a York graduate and works at National Grid where he completed a year in industry before becoming a Transmission Engineer. Dan tells us what his...
Consultant in the heritage industry: helping galleries, theatres and museums
18 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Elizabeth studied History of Art and thought she'd go into museum curation, until she discovered the amazing world of consultancy in the heritage ...
Placement year in recruitment 🧑💼
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Pretty much any student at York can do a placement year or year in industry! And right now second/middle year students can register for the programme....
Climate Communications Consultant
07 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Cass is a freelance climate communications consultant in Belgium, working with NGOs, charities and ethical organisations to help them improve their co...
Working in rail industry: life as an engineer at Network Rail
24 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Lots of people want to work in the rail industry and York graduate Laura has made it happen. She is Technical Head of System Safety at Network Rail, w...
Senior Estate Manager - English Heritage
10 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For grads interested in heritage, Rebecca Thompson might just have the dream job (she describes it as 'one of the best jobs in the world'): Se...
Investigative journalist
26 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
What does an investigative journalist actually do?? Sam Bright studied History at York while running a politics blog in his spare time. He's now t...
Speech and Language Therapist (SLT)
01 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
We get a lot of questions about Speech and Language Therapy careers. It's a hugely rewarding area of work where you support and care for people of all...
Executive producer in TV
15 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Want to work in the television industry? Tim Dean knows how to make it happen! He graduated from York with a degree in Social Policy and now has 20 ye...
Barrister
01 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Kate talks to York graduate Jack about training to be a barrister. Jack studied History and decided to train as a barrister after completing the Teach...
Imposter syndrome: how to deal with it in university, work and everyday life
18 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Something a bit different in this episode - Kate speaks to two Uni of York colleagues about imposter syndrome. What is it? Why does it happen? How can...
Digital archaeologist and entrepreneur
16 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Bethany is a York graduate and director of Experience Heritage, where she uses her expertise in archaeology and interest in digital storytelling to br...
Running a startup
02 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Interested in startups or working for yourself? That's what this episode is all about. Toby Cannon graduated from York in 2019 with a degree in Comput...
Placement Year in the NHS
19 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Vinusha is a York History student who completed a placement year in the NHS Cheshire Clinical Commissioning Group as a Quality and Safeguarding Suppor...
Journalism researcher at the BBC
05 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Want a job in research? Or interested in working in the media? This episode is for you. Today Kate talks to Lucy, York grad and current Journalism Res...
Life as a CEO: running Cafédirect
08 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Think you want to be a CEO? Interested in marketing, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) or the world of ethical business? This episode is for you. John...
Financial services
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Ben graduated from York with a degree in Philosophy and after a few years found himself working in the financial services sector for Deloitte. It wasn...
Working in international development
11 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This episode is for anyone interested in international development or the humanitarian sector. Rob Simmons works in Somalia for Committed to Good and ...
Student Internship Bureau special
27 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Did you know that each summer loads of York students do an internship through the Student Internship Bureau (SIB)? SIB advertises paid, project-based ...
What do you actually do if you're graduating in a global pandemic?!: 2022 edition
16 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The worst of the pandemic might (hopefully) be behind us but the world of work has permanently changed because of Covid-19. Remote working is here to ...
Environmental Consultant
02 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Kadi is an environmental consultant who coordinates and project manages the environmental inputs for big infrastructure projects. She's also a York En...
University widening participation officer
16 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Interested in a non-academic job in higher education? In this episode Kate talks to Victoria Brooks about her job as Widening Participation and Outrea...
Engineer - European Space Agency
02 Feb 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Neil studied Physics with Philosophy at York and has been working at the European Space Agency since 2002. His full job title is Parabolic Flight and ...
Prison Officer (Unlocked Graduate scheme)
19 Jan 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Kate talks to Dan, a York graduate working as a prison officer on the Unlocked grad scheme. Find related links and a transcript of thi...
Thanks for listening this autumn - here's what's coming up in Spring term
01 Dec 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks for listening this autumn. Here's a preview of what's coming up in Spring Term. If you haven't already, follow us on your chosen podcast platfo...
Management Consultant
17 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Management consultancy is always a popular job area with our students, but do you actually know what the job is like? Today Kate chats to Jo Auger abo...
Film composer
03 Nov 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Attention music students! In this episode Benji Merrison explains how he created a career for himself as a composer for film and television after grad...
Aldi Graduate Area Manager Programme
20 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Aldi grad scheme has a reputation for being challenging, giving its grads a lot of responsibility and having great benefits. After 15 weeks on the...
Civil Service Fast Stream
06 Oct 2021
Contributed by Lukas
The Civil Service Fast Stream is one of the most popular grad schemes in the country and the Times Top 100 number 1 graduate employer. In this episode...
Six key questions you need to know the answers to if you’re graduating in 2021
23 Aug 2021
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate graduation week here in York we have a special episode covering the key things you need to know about graduating in 2021 in the middle of...
That's it for another season - but stay tuned for a graduation special in August!
23 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Thanks for listening this term. We'll be back later in the summer with a special graduation episode for those of you leaving York this year. In the me...
Training to be a lawyer, with Alex Stewart-Moreno
09 Jun 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Alex graduated from York a couple of years ago. He studied Law and is now a trainee at Norton Rose Fulbright. He tells us about the reality of being a...
How to make a portfolio career work
26 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Our guest today is Dan Rutstein, whose career history is proof that you definitely don’t have to pick one job and stick to it. Dan graduated from Yo...
Changing careers: switching heritage for accounting, with Alice Yevko
12 May 2021
Contributed by Lukas
When you’re looking for your first job after graduation it can sometimes feel like you’re picking a career for life, but that’s far from true. I...
Working in heritage: In the archive in lockdown
28 Apr 2021
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back for a new season! In this episode Kate talks to Paul Backhouse, Head of the Historic England Archive. They cover tech skills in the herit...
Changing fast: working in agile project management, with Alison Critchley
17 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
After graduating from York in 2011, Alison started her working life in account management before taking a short career break to figure out what she ac...
English grad to junior doctor: Graduate medicine and beyond, with Ian Henderson
03 Mar 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Ian is an Academic Clinical Fellow and junior doctor in Obstetrics & Gynaecology. After graduating in English during the 2008 credit crunch, he pu...
Running an advertising firm, with Luke D'Arcy
17 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Luke is President at Momentum Worldwide, the most awarded global experiential agency in the world. With offices in over 30 countries the agency works ...
Exploring clinical science, with John Filby
03 Feb 2021
Contributed by Lukas
John is a clinical scientist at Congenica, a digital health company specialising in genomic medicine. Before that he worked in the genomics service in...
Talking census: a career in genealogy, with Christina Copland
20 Jan 2021
Contributed by Lukas
Christina works for the family history company Ancestry, where she researches client families in the U.S, Canada, U.K, Ireland and the Caribbean. She ...
Leading innovation in the legal sector, with Alexander Malt
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Alex is the Innovation Manager at Norton Rose Fulbright’s Newcastle Hub, where he works at the forefront of technological innovation in the legal se...
Making a splash, with Tom Pagett
02 Dec 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tom has worked at the Environment Agency for the last 10 years, in a range of roles from planning to environmental regulation, flood risk, and biodive...
From TV to tech, with Vivien Chung
04 Nov 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Vivien graduated from York with a degree in English and Education, and spent three years working in the TV industry at institutions like the BBC befor...
Life as a social worker, with Bethany Pease
21 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Bethany graduated from York three years ago with a degree in Social Work. She now works in the fostering team in a local authority, and previously wor...
A career in corporate social responsibility, with Daniel Arda
07 Oct 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel is Sustainability Assistant Manager at Grant Thornton UK LLP. During six years in professional services, he has inspired colleagues to get invo...
What do you actually do if you're graduating in a global pandemic?!, with Tom Banham
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today's episode of What Do You Actually Do!? is a bit different. Recorded during the lockdown, Kate and Tom, Director of Employability and Caree...
Making Medicine, with Tom Ronson
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Tom works as a process development chemist at the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. He is part of the Chemical Development department, which is resp...
Flirting with Algorithms, with Harpal Sahota
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Harpal Sahota is a data scientist at MagicLab, who operate a number of dating apps, including Bumble & Lumen. He studied an MA in Computation...
Starting a Startup, with Phil Daneshyar
06 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Phil Daneshyar is an entrepreneur and co-founder of Kanda (formerly TradeSmart), which is a payment system for tradespeople. He appeared on Drag...
Managing a University, with Charlie Jeffery
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Charlie Jeffery is Vice Chancellor and President of the University of York. He is a political scientist whose main work in the last years has been con...
Writing for a living, with Lewis Lansford
11 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
After getting a BA in English Lit at the University of Colorado, Lewis initially worked at a proofreader at the University of Arizona Press in Tucson,...
Pollution is in the air, with Aiden Heeley-Hill
26 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Aiden is a PhD candidate in atmospheric chemistry at the University of York, currently researching indoor air pollutants and, more widely, characteris...
A day in the life of a BBC journalist, with Lucy Vladev
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Lucy is a TV reporter, producer and presenter for the BBC. In this episode, we talked about the skills that are required to go into journalism and how...
On the beat, with Ross Gehnich
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ross has worked for Thames Valley Police since graduating in 2010, undertaking a variety of different and challenging roles. Currently, he works as&nb...
Placement year in a political think tank, with Andrew Gloag
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Andrew is a final year Politics student at York. He has just returned from a placement year with London based think tank Demos. As a research assistan...
Calling the Midwife, with Jessica Allason
04 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Jess Allason has been a midwife for six years and recently trained as a private hypnobirth teacher. She is passionate about informing and empowering w...
Making people's lives healthier, with Sam Thomas
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sam Thomas leads funding programmes for the Health Foundation, an independent charity committed to bringing about better health and healthcare for peo...
Marketing in the museum, with Tasha McNaught
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tasha has worked in marketing for five years, having started while studying at the University of York. For the past two years she has lead the develop...
Managing the economic growth of York, with Alex Dochery
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Alex currently manages the Economic Growth team at City of York Council, which focuses on making sure that the city continues to be a fantastic place ...
Get into book publishing, with Helen Barton
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Helen is a Commissioning Editor at Cambridge University Press, responsible for hundreds of upcoming books at any one time. In this episode, Helen and ...
How to train your teacher, with Sarah Dagnell
12 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Sarah is a Primary STEM Subject Expert, running training courses, predominantly in Science but also in Technology, Computing, and Maths, for primary s...
Getting on a top grad scheme, with Lewis McDowell
29 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lewis graduated from the University of York in 2018 with a Management degree. His journey into marketing and L’Oreal begun upon winning the Male Und...
Summer Internship: Make it yours! with Julia Hebron
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Julia is a third-year BA English Language and Linguistics student. In the summer she did a SIB internship with Make It York where she conducted market...
Historical consulting for video games, with Nicholas Gliserman
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Nicholas Gliserman is the Chief Academic Officer at Game Learning, where he oversees development of educational video games that get kids excited ...
Summer Internship: It's not easy being green, with Oscar Bentley
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Oscar is a third year BSc Film and Television Production student. Over the summer, he did a sustainability programme internship in the Departmen...
Being a project manager, with Laura Hallett
13 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Laura has worked as a professional manager in Higher Education for 10 years, focusing on strategic project management across a range of institutions. ...
All roads lead to film-making, with Richard Knight
06 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For many years Richard Knight worked in the film industry as a freelance location manager, sourcing and organising the locations for films such as the...
Pursuing your passions in the charity sector, with Cat Schroeter
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Cat graduated from Newcastle University with a Psychology and Linguistics degree in 2015. Whilst at university, she was on the committee for the Raisi...
Lecturing is the tip of the iceberg, with J.T. Welsch
20 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
JT Welsch is a Lecturer in English and Creative Industries at the University of York's Department of English and Related Literature. For more in...
I ❤ Compliance, with Kate Pyle
12 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Kate is the Compliance and Corporate Services Manager at St Leonard's Hospice. For more information on working in the healthcare sector and St Leonard...
Getting involved with theatre, with John Tomlinson
05 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
John is a producer at York Theatre Royal and company director at Stand and Be Counted. For more information on working in the Theatre sector see...
Within and without the laboratory, with Stefan Sipika
29 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Stefan holds a B.Sc. (Hons) in Biology from the University of York. He currently works for Aptamer Group as their Process and Production Manager, lead...
Bringing social media into The Economist, with Adam Smith
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Adam Smith is a writer, journalist, podcaster and social media editor. In his day job he's the audience engagement editor for The Economist, a global ...
From lecture theatres to film sets, with Hannah Greig
15 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Dr Hannah Greig is a Senior Lecturer in the History Department and member of the Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies. Her research interests lie in ...