Tom Barnes - Graduate Case Study
Tom Barnes graduated from LJMU with degree in Sociology and went on to do an MSc in Development Studies at SOAS (School of African and Oriental studies) in London before becoming the Director of Fundraising and Communications at War on Want.
What does your current job involve?
War on Want is an International Human Rights and Anti-poverty charity who work in the UK and with partners around the world to fight poverty and defend human rights, as part of the movement for global justice. We are an organisation of about 25 and I lead a team of seven on the public engagement side.
I have been in this role for nearly 2 years after several years of working for various charities and NGOs of different sizes in addition to doing freelance writing and activism. I am also the co-founder and trustee of a small organisation called Article 11 that works on police accountability and protest rights.
What does your job involve day-to-day?
All aspects of our public facing work so that might be looking at the stories and experiences of our partners in the global South and thinking how we can amplify these voices and experiences. This might involve getting placed media, writing blogs or often its writing petitions or other forms of digital online actions that we can push out to try to influence decision makers towards the change that we want in the world. I am also responsible for income generation for the charity so that ranges from sending out public appeals for support to working on large grant funded contracts for projects with particular aims and purposes.
What do you like about your role?
I really value that I’m working for a cause and a political purpose that I believe in. My interests in this developed during my time studying in Liverpool, a city with a rich political and cultural history. Alongside lecturers and staff who got us to think critically and think beyond just what needs to be done for the exams. But it wasn't necessarily smooth sailing getting to where I am today!
What were the challenges you faced? How did you overcome them?
It is tough to get going in your career of choice. After university, I went straight onto a Masters. I struggled to fund this and had to get a loan and a live in job in a pub in London. I worked most weekends and after my masters, I thought I would walk straight into a job. However, that didn’t happen. I worked for another year running a bar in West London whilst trying to work out what to do next. During that time however, it was doing activism and networking in my spare time and lots of unpaid work for charities and NGOs that led to paid freelance work and then ultimately these converted into permanent positions.
What would be your advice or tips for students looking to get into political activism?
Get yourself known and fill your time getting to know people who work in the organisations you want to work in. Go to open days, workshops, protests etc. You get to know the work they do, what is important and then this improves the quality of job applications you start to submit.
I recruit people into our organisation and shortlist applications. You need to write targeted focused applications, look at the person specification and systematically think carefully about how you match all the criteria. You need to be strategic about how you write your applications; it’s better to send off fewer high quality applications than lots of badly written ones.
Support from the Student Futures team
If you want to talk about potential careers options with your degree, need help finding opportunities or want support with your CV, application forms or preparing for an interview, you can get advice and guidance by booking a 30-minute 1-2-1 careers meeting with a Careers and Employability Adviser from the LJMU Student Futures Team. You can also come along to a Careers drop-in or CV Café which take place weekly at the Careers Zones for quick careers queries.
If you are thinking about starting a business, freelancing, pursuing a side-hustle or have an idea that you want to explore further, email the Start-up Hub and a member of the team will be back in touch. For more information about the Bathgate Boost Award, visit the Start-up Hub website.
For help finding part-time, temporary or casual you can fit around your studies, email the Unitemps team or visit their website.