Hannah Nicholls
What subject did you study during your time at NTU?
BA Hons Fashion Knitwear and Knitted Textiles.
What is your current job?
Senior Accessories Designer, Anglo Accessories. I work on soft accessories products across multiple accounts including ASOS, Topshop and Oliver Bonas.
What was your most memorable moment during your time at NTU, that helped you with your career development?
Live projects - working with industry. In my year we worked with Stoll producing swatches for their tradeshows and I also took on a project for American Eagle, receiving feedback from their designers.
This is such a good element to the course at NTU as it prepares you for industry, giving you an understanding of how to design for a particular customer and be commercial.
My top tip for the Class of 2020 in one sentence:
Perseverance is key, don't lose faith in your skills and talent if you do receive a setback.
What did you find most challenging about graduating in 2008 (e.g. effects of recession on career plans)?
Dealing with disappointment. When I graduated I was so excited to start my first job but I kept going for interviews then finding out the job role had been cancelled or the person that interviewed me no longer worked at the company as people were making so many cuts because of the recession.
I decided to intern to gain more experience for a small brand called Lowie, which then turned into a full-time role! You never know where you will find an opportunity.
Do you have any advice for current students or new graduates to improve their employability prospects?
Experience. Whether your course offers a placement year or not, I would say take up internships where you can. Experience is what will set your CV apart from the rest.
When interviewing, do dedicated projects for that brand/company - it's great when a candidate shows initiative to go the extra mile.