The second company we visited was Synechron, which I have to say was one of my favourites. They are a financial services consultancy who works with some of the worlds leading financial institutions. Their design team specifically look at Research and Analysis, Service Design and Product design.

Something I really liked about Synechron is how welcomed I felt and the amount of different people from their company they had organised to come and speak to us. We got to hear from the Head of Digital Design and Lead Designers to one of their recruiters. For me, hearing from Rose their recruiter was really interesting as it allowed me to gain a better understanding of what a company looks for in their hiring process and how important a good portfolio is.

Some key points I took away for when developing my CV for placement is to make sure it is:

• Well Structured
• Clear & Concise
• Outline what I have done in detail
• Be able to show little bits of experience and personal project work as it shows enthusiasm.

As for my portfolio, they recommended:

• Grid structure with clear and to the point work I have completed
• Case studies that outline a broken down process and what I liked about them.

They also asked us to do a Crazy Eight exercises, something we had actually done before with Kyle in class so it was really cool to see how something we had done in Uni was actually also being used in industry. Our first round was things that represent or remind us of Ulster University. After the 8 minutes we all had some things which clearly represent Ulster University such a drawings of the buildings, our studio and the Ulster University logo however we also had lots of random funny things that we associated with it such as the Tesco where we buy our meal deals for lunch, the curry chips and the lifts that take forever to come.

Our second round was coincidentally was to generate ideas for a banking app which linked in great with what we had been working on in our Exploring Identities module. It was really nice to be able to link what we were doing within our university modules with the work in the industry and how the work really is not tat much different. This task also helped give me that final wave of ideas to add to my banking brand when I returned back home.

I really loved Synechron and I really hoped to cross paths with them in the future whether that is through one of the placement opportunities they offer in either London, Belfast or perhaps one of their other offices or after I graduate. The type of work they do really appeals to me as well as the beautiful workspace they have and of course the opportunities to being able to work with others.