Careers – Alumni and Employers

Coming from a state school in Blackpool, I never expected to get to where I am today. While at Millfield, I never viewed myself as anything special or particularly clever. After finishing my GCSEs and doing well, I went on to Blackpool Sixth Form where I studied History, Economics and Psychology. I really enjoyed my time there, especially the freedom to choose my own subjects and working largely independently. It was at Blackpool Sixth that a tutor suggested applying to the University of Oxford. I did this on a whim, never expecting to actually get in. The process was daunting, including interviews and an entrance exam, but in reality, was not as scary as you might think. I really recommend giving it a go to anyone who considers applying. At Oxford, I studied History and Politics and graduated with first class honours. To be perfectly honest, Oxford was tough. It was an intense experience which required a lot of hard work, resilience and self-discipline. However, the skills I developed, the connections I made and the doors it has opened up for me have made it completely worth it. After graduating last year, I have received a brilliant opportunity working as an organiser for the Labour Party, personally running the general election campaign in Bury North.

As Head of Student Services at Blackpool Sixth I lead on the coordination of key support services for all of our students. This includes pastoral support, careers advice and guidance, financial support and wellbeing support. The aim of my role, and that of the teams I lead, is to support students and break down barriers with their studies, and personal development, promoting responsibility, independence and resilience to build for success at college and in their future. Day to day tasks in my role include delivering and developing the college’s pastoral curriculum which covers personal development, health and wellbeing and careers advice and guidance. I also work closely with other members of the college leadership team to establish strategy and vision for student support at the college, whilst providing operational line management to the Progress Mentor, Student Finance and Wellbeing Team. I also fulfil the role of the Deputy Designated Safeguarding Lead, responding to any student concerns and providing guidance to the wider safeguarding team at the college.

My job is an Instrument Technician, where I work on control systems and electrical instruments in the chemical industry. These are instruments that measure process variables such as pressure, temperature, flow, level and weight, amongst other things. Day to day tasks consist of calibration checks, safety procedure tests and maintenance & repairs. I am currently in my last year of my apprenticeship and aim to qualify in 2025. I work for Victrex, which makes specialised high-performance polymers known as PEEK. These are used in aerospace, automotive industries and medical industries, to name but a few

I currently work as an IT People Capability Manager in BAE Systems. My role involves supporting IT specialists with their learning and development, managing the department training requirements, overseeing the training plan and budget, helping the team achieve their career aspirations and managing talent. I am also responsible for developing our IT Early Careers programmes. This involves supporting our T-Level students when on placement, supporting and developing our advanced and degree apprentices and our graduates. My role is to ensure that all staff are suitably qualified and experienced to do their roles to the best of their abilities and prepare for future skills and role requirements. I've had a varied and interesting career path, starting as a Secondary Art Teacher then joining the Police and specialising in a vast range of specialist roles including firearms, operations planning, the Head of Special Branch and Head of Learning and Development to name a few. I joined BAE Systems as a Security Training and Awareness Lead before taking on my current role.

After finishing college after covid, I really wanted a new journey, so I’ve ventured down the apprenticeship route. I moved 4 hours away from home and relocated to Reading where I started my apprenticeship journey. I have been living here for 3 years now and I’m on my last year of my apprenticeship in order to achieve my level 3 NVQ as a Land Based Engineering Technician in construction and plant. My day-to-day job consists of servicing, preventative maintenance and the repairs of small tools and heavy machinery. I work full time from the Reading depot and I have to do 10 weeks of college work in order to complete my training for my apprenticeship. The training provider is Myerscough college, so it’s located quite close to home which wasn’t planned but worked out well for me. I deal with some large-scale customers repairing and servicing equipment and some of these companies are Network Rail, the NHS and large-scale building projects. Since starting my apprenticeship, I have won 2 Apprentice of the Year awards from my company. I received one nomination last year for the overall hire association apprentice of the year. My professional development through this company has been very successful and taking the apprenticeship was probably one of the best decisions I made. After my apprenticeship I am planning to do a degree apprenticeship to further improve my qualifications and make my future better, however I’m now at a point in my career where I’ll never be stuck looking for a job due to doing this experience.

My name is Ben Loveland, I was a student at Millfield up until 2012. Having really enjoyed studying music, I went on to study A-Level Music, Music Tech and Electronics at Blackpool Sixth Form before earning a place on the Sound Technology course at LIPA (The Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts). In this time I got to develop both creatively and technically, which lead me on to my job in industry as a recording studio engineer. Since then, I have worked in music studios across London, recording music and voice overs for artists/brands including Gregory Porter, Leigh-Anne Pinnock (Little Mix), The Premier League and Amazon’s Audible. For one of my most recent projects, I recorded Florence + the Machine’s vocal on the Taylor Swift album “The Tortured Poets Department”. In order to work on these kinds of projects, it’s crucial that I can make sure the technical components in a studio are working seamlessly, whilst being able to engage with artists on a creative level to help them perform at their best. I find it incredibly satisfying to bring these two skillsets together to fulfil my role.