Yevgeni Zajecs is wearing a graduation gown and hat outside.
Yevgeni Zajecs is wearing a graduation gown and hat outside.

Alumni Spotlight: Yevgeni Zajecs

Any number of things might inspire you to start studying at UWL. Maybe it was attending an Open Day. Maybe you joined us through Clearing. For Yevgeni Zajecs, it was the inspiring example of his housemates.

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Yevgeni first moved to the UK from Latvia to work for an online casino, but he found himself living with a group of people studying at the University of West London. Hearing all their stories inspired him to chase his own academic dreams by applying for a degree in psychology

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Yevgeni Zajecs is wearing a white shirt outside, surrounded by trees.

I always wanted a degree, just so it would be there. I didn’t have any big career aspirations, but I wanted to prove to myself that I could do that. Whilst I was here, I picked up a lot of critical thinking skills, and English wasn’t my first language so studying here really helped with that. I even found out that my writing skills are pretty good, which helped a lot with my self-esteem."

Yevgeni Zajecs is wearing casual clothes outside with christmas lights emanating around him

While at UWL, Yevgeni threw himself into life at the university. Taking part in the movie society, and the psychology society, making friends and even meeting his partner.

The people at UWL really make the atmosphere. I’ve made friends I’ll have for life, and I can only remember good times. Initially, I was shocked by how approachable and informal the lecturers were. Everyone was extremely helpful, and I didn’t feel overly pressured. I’d started a course a while ago in Latvia and left after one semester because the lecturers didn’t give you any support whatsoever. Here, they actually wanted to assist me and they wanted me to pass."

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But when Yevgeni completed his course, the Covid-19 pandemic had essentially shut down the job market, and coming in and out of lockdown meant Yevgeni was sending out lots of applications. For a while, he was working as a Special Educational Needs teaching assistant but he always wanted to move into something different.

Thankfully, Yevgeni earned himself a place on the Graduate Internship Scheme, which offers workplace experience to any recent UWL graduate struggling to find work.

I looked at the stuff I was interested in, and applied for two. One of them was the Young Ealing Foundation as a research intern."

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The Young Ealing Foundation is a charity organisation that support their member organisations with fundraising, training, and networking, and making sure that the members' policies are all in place. It's all about making sure that young people have access to various opportunities in Ealing and ensuring that their voices are heard across the borough.

I really got to see how the charity sector works, and I was enjoying it a lot. Then, around November they offered me a permanent position. Now I’ve been there for a year and a half. What surprised me about working in the charity sector is that everyone is super nice. I’ve never experienced that in a working environment before. I love the fact that I actually feel like I’m doing something good, especially when members tell us how much we’ve helped them. Here, I can see the fruits of my labour, and I definitely love that part of it all.”

A male working with lots of books laid out around him

For all of his experiences, Yevgeni is grateful that he applied for the UWL Graduate Internship Scheme.

For anyone like me who has no idea what to do with their lives, or doesn’t have a dream career I would say don’t be afraid to try something you’ve never tried before. You might like it, you might hate it but at least then you’ll know. And the internship is only six months so it’s a great chance to try."

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