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Third year business student lands a job at CEME in London
Third year Business Management & Leadership student Andor Farkas (centre)
Student news
Wednesday 11 December 2019
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An overseas CU London student who arrived in the UK with nothing but the clothes on his back and no English has secured a post-graduate job - a year early.
Andor Farkas – who is studying for a Business Management & Leadership degree at CU London, part of the Coventry University Group – has landed himself a job as a Marketing and Sales Executive at the CEME Conference Centre in East London.
It comes four years after Andor, 25, left his native Hungary for the UK in search of a career in business after completing higher education at home.
“I felt like I had to leave Hungary to find a job that would help me to have a better life, so I took the plunge and moved to the UK with very little English – it was a scary prospect but one I felt I had to do,” said Andor.
“I arrived in London and through a Facebook group I managed to find some accommodation in Canning Town, and worked in hospitality in backroom roles due to my limited English.
“I then moved on to bar work, which is where I really grasped the English language, and after 18 months I was confident enough to apply for a course at CU London.”
Andor has now called time as a barman, and has swapped pulling pints for selling event space at the CEME Conference Centre part time while he completes his studies at CU London’s Barking and Dagenham campus.
It was thanks to my first year at CU London that opened the door for me at CEME.
While the first year was all about building a foundation of knowledge about business, I was also able to visit various different companies to gain industry knowledge.
I knew that if I was going to be successful that I needed to go looking for opportunities, so I left my CV at CEME in case any vacancies became available, and it wasn’t long after that I had a call inviting me for an interview.
I think it was my passion that saw me through because what I lacked for in industry experience, I made up for in the enthusiasm and the theory that I had learned with regards to sales and marketing strategies at CU London.
I’m in the perfect position now where I am getting paid industry experience whilst being able to progress with my degree – which will be invaluable as my long-term ambition is to eventually own and run my own business.
If all goes to plan then I will be the only one in my family to have a university degree, which fills me with great pride.
If I had one piece of advice to other students, it would be to really put yourself out there – ask for work experience, hand out your CV, be persistent, and be prepared for change!
Andor Farkas, CU London student
