Cardiff University alumni shaping future careers through work experience

As students, Hin Fung (Tony) Tsang (MSc 2025) and Wajiya Jawaid (MSc 2025) joined development and construction consultancy Lee Wakemans on Digital Transformation internships. Following completion of the programme they were both offered permanent positions, jump-starting their careers and enabling them to support the next intake of students on work experience.

Charlotte Evans is a Business Development Manager at Lee Wakemans and has previously studied at Cardiff University herself. She initially met with the Work Experience team at Cardiff University to discuss the company’s requirements for internships.

Charlotte explained: “My motivation for offering placements came from a practical business need to get more work completed in-house, without always relying on costly external support. It made sense to give capable students, including master’s students, the opportunity to contribute, learn and gain confidence while supporting live projects.”

The 12-week internship helped Tony and Wajiya grow their professional skills, confidence and develop in areas such as problem solving and team building. They took ownership over their projects and created new systems and initiatives for Lee Wakemans.

Tony reflected on his time as an intern: “The highlight for me was building a bespoke application including a database from scratch to streamline processes, solving real business problems with what I’d learnt on my course. The system is still up and running today and still expanding.”

Wajiya highlighted the added value of gaining professional experience during her course: “I got valuable experience before completing my master’s, which matters a lot as an international student. Having the opportunity to join Lee Wakemans while still studying gave me something I will always be grateful for — the chance to apply everything I was learning in a real, supportive professional environment.”

By welcoming students into the workplace, Lee Wakemans gained fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and additional capacity to support key projects. New to hiring students through work experience, the team embraced the recent additions and the advantages that fresh insight and key skills can bring to meet business needs.

Director of the company, Mike Hughes shared his thoughts on the programme: “Offering placements has allowed us to bring fresh thinking into the business while giving students meaningful, practical experience on real projects. It’s not been a tick-box exercise; the students have contributed to areas that genuinely matter to us, including systems development, data management and improving internal processes. Their input has helped us move projects forward that may otherwise have taken much longer or required external support.

“I believe work experience placements are hugely beneficial for both employers and students. Students gain exposure to a professional working environment, understand business expectations and develop confidence, while employers benefit from enthusiasm, new ideas and additional capability. It also allows businesses to support future talent and give something back in a practical and worthwhile way.”

The clear success of the internships initiated further investment into their early careers, when Tony and Wajiya were offered permanent contracts.

Tony, now an IT Systems Developer, has come full circle, now supporting the next generation of Cardiff students on work experience.

Tony and Wajiya’s stories are not unique, with a growing number of organisations recognising the value of recruiting talented students they have supported through work experience.

Arwen McCarthy, Director and Co-founder of Connect Meet Educate (CME) hired graduates Hana Hutton (BSc 2025) and Natalia Trunks (BSc 2024) following their work experience as event assistants.

Since then, both alumni have gone on to support further work experience students as part of their professional roles. She explained: “Our experience at CME has been a positive one – we have had four students on placement with us over the last couple of years, three of which have gone on to have permanent roles with us. Work experience for a small company gives access to talented young people who can enhance your business through their understanding of trends and willingness to embrace new systems and technology.”

The cycle of engagement between alumni and students highlights the mutual benefits of work experience: students gain meaningful industry exposure, while organisations develop a pipeline of talented graduates who already understand their business and culture.

Now established in their careers, Tony, Hana, Natalia and other alumni are well placed to help future students with their professional development and ensure the opportunity to gain work experience is maintained in their organisation.

For any local organisations interested in offering an internship, contact the Work Experience team on [email protected].