Ravi Chudasama from Bexhill College graduated from the Career Ready programme in 2021, where he completed his internship at Citibank. Keep reading to find out more about his experience and how it transformed his future.
Ravi joined the Career Ready programme feeling unsure about what career he wanted to pursue and didn’t have any experience in the world of work.
“My ideas for my future were very wishy washy – I didn’t know what I wanted to do and was considering lots of different things. I hadn’t had the chance to develop my skills, especially hard skills like Excel.”
His experience of the Career Ready programme completely changed his perspective on his future, and helped him become more confident in his abilities and his potential.
“The programme changed me completely. I was kind of shy before but I became way more extroverted on the programme. The confidence I got from it, the value of networking and LinkedIn, all these things I got the chance to develop have significantly changed me.”
Insights into the working world
Ravi’s mentor, Tim Coleman, helped prepare him for the world of work – and his internship at Citibank – and instilled a sense of belief in him.
“My relationship with Tim really gave me direction. He taught me how the working world works and broke it down step by step – you can’t put a price on the guidance he gave me. It gave me the confidence to push myself to perform better and learn more.”
It’s this confidence that he took with him into his paid internship at Citibank as part of the Career Ready programme – an experience that helped him find his future career path.
“Before my internship, I didn’t know what the industry demanded. But my experience at Citibank taught me that I’ll need to be able to use programs like Teams, Office 365 and Excel if I want to work in a corporate environment.”
Ravi worked in Treasury and Trade Solutions at Citi, and although his internship was virtual during Covid, he found his time there incredibly valuable.
“I got to talk to people from all around the world – something I’m not sure if I would have been able to do had I been based in the office. The work I’d done with my mentor gave me the confidence to network and connect with people even though I knew nothing about them. I conducted market research, created SWOT analysis, prepared reports for my team and created a digital brochure too. This insight into marketing helped me realise that that’s an interest of mine, and I’m actually specialising in it now at university on my business course.”
A transformational experience
Looking back at his time on the Career Ready programme, Ravi sees the importance of challenging yourself to try new things.
“I joined the Career Ready programme because I wanted to throw myself in the deep end. And I’m so glad I did because it was the only way to grow the confidence that I have now – it was a really important lesson for me to learn.”
He highlights how significant the opportunity to complete an internship and build a network is for young people too.
“I gained career skills, knowledge about industries and practical experience through the Career Ready programme – you don’t get enough opportunities like this at school. And a lot of people our age don’t have work experience and don’t know where to start in getting it either. I think it’s because they’re lacking the confidence they need to get their foot in the door and don’t have a network to support them. That’s what Career Ready has given me – a network that I can leverage to build my future.”
Ravi is now studying business management at university, and is equipped with the confidence and self-belief he needs to pursue a career in consulting. In fact, he’s working part-time at technology company ProvenWorks, is the chairperson of the University of Reading Consulting Society and will be completing his placement year at BAE Systems.
“I’m more headstrong now and I have a lot of drive, and that’s come from the confidence I developed on the programme. I know what my strengths and abilities are, and I’ve come out knowing what I like and what I’m capable of. If you’re a young person considering joining the programme, don’t consider it – just do it. You can’t lose.”
