Award win “overwhelms” Unitemps Branch Manager Sonam

A University of Northampton (UON) graduate who has been in and around UON for nearly 20 years received the surprise of her life in September with a national award.

Sonam Sherpa – Branch Manager of UON’s Unitemps agency – took home the Outstanding Contribution Award from their annual ceremony, held early last month.

Sonam won the Award for consistently going above and beyond for her candidates and clients, for caring deeply about the quality of customer service provided to everyone she comes across with and exceptional dedication and leadership.

Unitemps is a recruitment service which helps thousands of people – mostly university students, although they support members of the public – every year to find work. Through their national network of 19 universities, they provide work opportunities with leading organisations.

Sonam has been UON’s Unitemps manager since early this year and is no stranger to the University. She explains: “I have quite a lot of history with University of Northampton as I first came here in 2008 as an international student – from Nepal – to study Marketing and Journalism.

“I had lots of jobs here during that time – I was a Student Ambassador – that immersed in lots of aspects of the world of higher education. To me UON has always felt like home, right from that first day enroling to now; everyone was genuinely friendly and wanted to help and that ethos is still here.”

After working her way up at Unitemps, Sonam was promoted to Branch Manager in January but 2024 is a doubly important year for her. She continues: “I loved my course and learned invaluable knowledge and skills from the degree, but I saw that my future would continue within the HE sector and, after briefly leaving for another job, I came back.

“As Branch Manager my duties mainly involve the general running of the office, making sure the team is supported and that we are on course to continue adhering to our policies and strategy. Gaining the role came at just the right time as I celebrate 10 years with Unitemps since this year.

“Coincidentally, the award ceremony was held just three weeks before the exact date I started. I feel very fortunate and so grateful to receive the award. To be honest, I was a bit overwhelmed hearing my name being read out and then going up on the stage to collect it.”

Martin Perfect, Director of Student Futures, adds: ‘Sonam is a lynchpin of the Unitemps team and is loved and respected by so many people across the University. Unitemps at UON achieves so much with a small team and always with a smile on their faces and Sonam epitomises this approach. Her receiving this award was huge achievement and was thoroughly deserved.”