Hospitality graduates return to inspire students

International Hospitality Management BA(Hons) students welcomed two guest speakers this week:

James Ullman, Head of Audit, JD Wetherspoon
James graduated with us in 1994 and talked about his career with JD Wetherspoons from pub manager, to area manager and then to his current post as Head of Audit.

He led a workshop with the second year students focussing on analysing financial business performance in order to maintain competitive advantage and progress the business.

A student said of the visit: “I really enjoyed having the guest speaker come in to talk to us. I liked finding out about the company and it was really motivating. It made me want to reach for the good jobs.

“Also while it may not be the exact same field of work I want to go into, it highlighted the importance of working with a business that is a good employer and how I can also benefit professionally and personally in a long term career.”

Cameron Leslie, co-founder, Fabric London
Cameron joined both first and second year students to take them through his career to date. He talked about his time studying at the University of Brighton and the exceptional experience he had during his work placement in Brussels.

He went on to discuss his time with Deloitte as a hospitality consultant and how he founded Fabric London, started the Fabric record label and opened a second nightclub in Paris. He highlighted the importance of personal presentation and employability and discussed what he looks for in an employee in the application and interview process.

Student Rosie said: “I just want to say first of all thank you so much for organising the lecture given by Cameron yesterday.

“I found it wonderfully inspiring due to the fact that he did the exact same course and his story about his career journey was fascinating too.”