Working as an International Engineering Ambassador - By Haseeb Iqbal

With the year coming to an end, I felt like it was only fair to let the world know about one of the best experiences I’ve had as a student in Sheffield, which was working as an International Engineering Ambassador. Being a person who is always on the lookout for opportunities to get involved, I was quite excited when I applied for the role and then got short-listed for an interview which finally ended up with me successfully landing the role. Ever since then, I’ve had amazing opportunities to develop a wide range of skills, meet amazing people and most importantly, get loads of free food!

Our team of International Engineering Ambassadors is a large group of current engineering students. Our aim is to work together to use various means to reach out to prospective students, and giving them a taste of Sheffield’s life as an international engineering student. As an IEA, I got involved with the film team who are responsible for making short films which are then used for marketing and promotional purposes. I got to be in charge of the video editing, and even though I was a newbie, I was offered lots and lots of support from my team, which motivated me to work harder and also gave me an opportunity to polish my teamwork skills. The IEAs are in charge of the blogs you are reading right now, we also get to help out and organize University Open Days and course presentations for prospective students. Events like these enable you to engage in conversation with new people which is an excellent way of increasing your communication skills. Apart from that, I got to experience the sense of satisfaction with every prospective student I was able to help out while working at these events. To me, it feels like I’m giving back to the University for the support I received as a prospective and a current student.

Before you get bored of all the work I’ve had to do, let me tell you the fun bits. We do quite a few socials over the year where our awesome supervisor makes sure we are treated to delicious desserts and fun games! We get the chance to meet all the ambassadors from various departments of Engineering, talk about our personal experiences and also share insights about our courses and departments. Working as an IEA has been a wonderful and gifting experience for me. It is something I proudly highlight on my CV and continue to look forward to more opportunities as I go forward in my journey as an IEA at Sheffield University.