Rachel Lingard

I originally wished to study Marine Biology and chose Liverpool based on the quality of the teaching, my impressions of the department, and to be honest, the night life. I then diversified my course and became interested in the terrestrial side of ecology.

I really enjoyed the last year of my degree in general, particularly my honors project. I loved the freedom to choose exactly what you want to study and manage your own time. Everything fell in to place in the final year, you become really good friends with fellow ecologist and marine biologist which makes group projects really fun.

I currently work for a wetstock management company. The company monitors the transportation and storage of petrol and oil products globally.  My job involves preventing leaks and ensuring the correct procedures are followed if leaks occur, this is using best practice procedures and contract specifics. I am assigned to the BP dealer contract which involves talking to independent dealers who operate under BP branding. I have to liaise with dealers, BP, engineers and gauge technicians. It is often difficult to find the problem or resolve it while trying to satisfy everyone. Problems on tank performance can be caused not just by leaks but terminal changes, temperature of fuel, probe problems, technical issues so it is like a giant game of ‘guess who’ before actually sorting the problem.

 My undergraduate degree developed every single skill I use in work today. The statistics modules in particular were invaluable. They gave me a real advantage when I entered the company, and I think it is part of the reason I got the job. I write reports on a regular basis to clients and to BP. Every essay and project from university has helped to build up the skills needed to write a professional report, this has been really useful as often I will be asked to create them quickly