Middlesex students take part in Work Experience Week to prepare for world of employment

Students worked on a live business brief around reducing waste in retail with feedback from industry figures

Middlesex students and graduates gained an insight into workplace problem solving as they tackled a real-life scenario during Work Experience Week.

Students worked in teams in a professional environment to solve the issue around reducing waste in grocery retail. The brief was created by Middlesex graduate by Middlesex graduate Ziyaad Ben Eydatoula, who is now a Lead Product Manager for Tesco.

At the end of the week, the students presented their solutions to a panel of employers, alumni and university staff receiving feedback and follow up opportunities including masterclasses in Artificial Intelligence (AI), content creation and marketing.

The five-day event on Hendon campus was designed to give students practical skills they can use in the workplace, as well as training and experience to include on their CV, LinkedIn and job applications.

The students looked at how they could use AI, better decision making and pricing to identify stock that could be sold before its expiry date.

Adedoyin Ashogbon, an MSc Information Systems & Data Management for Business student, said: “Working with a team of people from different backgrounds and strengths pushed me to communicate technical ideas more clearly, explain concepts without assuming prior knowledge, and stay composed when discussions started to drift.

"What I gained from this programme was a better understanding of my strengths and weaknesses in teamwork, communication, and resilience. It reminded me that technical knowledge matters, but so does the ability to translate it, work with others through uncertainty, and keep going when the process gets messy.”

Vladyslav Kozak, who is studying Business Computing and Data Analytics BSc, said: “It was an intense but incredibly rewarding experience that gave me a glimpse into the pace, collaboration and problem-solving expected in professional environments. Experiences like this remind me that university is about much more than lectures and assignments. It’s about stepping outside your comfort zone, meeting inspiring people, as well as growing both professionally and personally.”

Leana Elmadih, who is studying BA Business Administration and Management, said: “This experience pushed me outside my comfort zone and taught me a lot about teamwork, communication, adaptability, and resilience in fast-paced environments. Working with different people showed me how important it is to listen, observe, and understand different personalities and ways of working.”

In his role at Tesco, Middlesex graduate Ziyaad is responsible for protecting the data of more than 45 million customers across the UK, Ireland and Central Europe.

"Coming back to MDX over a decade after graduating felt like closing a loop - except the students made me realise the loop is actually a spiral.

“Watching 16 teams wrestle with a real commercial problem in five days, mentoring them on Slack and seeing the quality of thinking they produced, reminded me why I got into Product Management in the first place. The energy in that room on Day five was incredible. I look forward to keep building on this and bridging the university-industry gap for students."

Ziyaad Ben Eydatoula

Professor Shân Wareing, who presented the students with certificates of completion at the end of the week, said:  “I was so impressed by our students’ engagement with this industry brief, which required them to deploy skills, knowledge and competencies from their different degrees to solve a real work problem, using AI, in multidisciplinary teams, and in a regulated, competitive commercial industry context (food retail).  

“The brief was developed and evaluated by a Middlesex alum, drawing on his own career experience, and it was inspiring to see one of our graduates supporting current students in this very practical way, and to see our students rise to the challenge. Congratulation to all participating students and thank you to all our staff who made this project possible.“

During the week, the student had a special 45-minute workshop from Rizwan Ahmed, a Master Facilitator Coach, who is the director of Glass Swan Ltd, a leadership and development consultancy. He taught the students practical skills to help them build rapport and communicate with impact.  

“What impressed me most was the willingness of students to engage, collaborate and challenge themselves throughout the week,” said Rizwan. 
“One of the most rewarding pieces of feedback I received was that several students had actively used the communication and presentation techniques from our sessions before delivering their final presentations and found them genuinely helpful. Seeing students immediately apply what they had learned and experience the benefits first-hand was incredibly encouraging.”

There were also four senior industry figures providing feedback during Work Experience Week, namely John Simons, the president of a global manufacturing company, Hal Kimber, host of the Marketing and AI podcast, David Offen, a former Chief Risk Officer and Seth Caldwell, Head of Data Science at NESTA.