Last Friday NHEHS Sixth Form enjoyed an inspiring talk from alumna Emily McParland as part of our Career Spotlight Series.

Emily left NHEHS in 2011 and went on to study Environmental Sciences at the University of East Anglia, before doing an MSc in Conservation and Biodiversity at the University of Exeter. Emily is passionate about nature conservation, having volunteered across the globe, including taking part in the NHEHS Botswana Expedition during her time at school, also rescuing penguins and sea lions in Peru and enthusing children to start birdwatching in the UK. In 2017 she joined the conservation charity Essex Wildlife Trust and is now the Communications Manager, overseeing a growing team that covers media and broadcast, digital communications, campaigns, brand and an in-house design studio. Emily is currently based in north Essex, where she lives on a nature reserve along the estuary.

Emily spoke to the students about how putting together all your interests (however disparate and unconnected they seem) can lead to finding your perfect job, realising that sometimes failures and things not going according to your ‘plan’ can lead you to where you are actually meant to be. She highlighted the importance of making sure you put yourself forward for positions even if you don’t tick all the boxes on the application form and being resilient when applying for jobs in tough sectors. 

Looking back, Emily shared things she wished she had known when she was in Sixth Form, including not worrying about always needing to know what the next step in your life is going to be. She also spoke about the importance of keeping up your hobbies and interests once you start work, as it gives a better work/life balance and makes you a more interesting job applicant. Emily encouraged the audience to have confidence in their abilities even if they were not top of the class academically and to try to follow their passions. 

In the longer term, Emily’s goal is to become either Chief Executive Officer or Chief Marketing Officer of a national or international conservation charity and we wish her all the best in the future. A huge thank you to Emily for her time and sharing her passion for her career.