With the Bristol PLUS Award deadline fast approaching in just over two weeks, noon Friday 7 June, we thought it a great opportunity to showcase the experiences of three PLUS Achievers from this year.
Yunfei, Katie, and Ana Lucia all spoke about their core experience of partaking in the PLUS Award at our Outstanding PLUS and PLUS Celebration event at the Bristol Beacon to a great reception from our audience. Not only was their skill development and pure passion for what they accomplished clear, but the authenticity in which they spoke speaks to their achievements.
Yunfei Wang, Finance and Investment (MSc)
Yunfei highlighted how the structure of the PLUS Award was helpful in “developing a clear career plan for my future by participating in the Employer Showcase” whilst the “Virtual Assessment helped me acquire job search skills, improve communication, and enabled me to gain a better understanding of companies”.
Attending the AlphaSights and Enterprise CarClub challenge events gave her first hand experience negotiating and problem solving with employers, whilst Yunfei developed her organisation skills and teamwork through becoming Vice Chair of the Students’ Union BAME Network and completing the Deloitte Cybersecurity Competition.
“I gained a lot from each event, and the PLUS Award not only improved my practical skills, but also showed me that I can face any challenge. In addition, completing the PLUS Award gave me a sense of achievement and growth”.
Katie Mabberley, Psychology (BSc)
Katie kicked off confidently stating “I have learnt to believe in myself more, as I now know that I am capable of multi-tasking and maintaining good grades whilst still having time to rest”.
Her determination to manage multiple streams of work and use the PLUS Award to enrich her experience at University contributed to the development of “a positive mindset which will help me for the foreseeable future.”
“I am grateful to have built the tools needed to build my social media presence in a professional manner, through attending careers fairs and getting professional headshot taken.” Katie explained this has helped enhance her employability professional development. In addition to this the Award enabled her to reflect on and appreciate the skills she had developed and the new skills she has acquired.
“I felt more a part of the University community and this in turn boosted my self-confidence”
Beyond this, Katie “found the Bristol Futures courses incredibly insightful”, and ended up doing two courses to broaden her understanding and learning, which she took into her day to day life beyond academia.
“Overall, I really enjoyed completing the Bristol PLUS Award as it allowed me to reflect on my time here at the University and of how much I have actually accomplished, both personally and professionally.”
Ana Lucia Castrejon Herrera, Global Wildlife Health and Conservation (MSc)
Ana Lucia found that completing the PLUS Award helped her engage more with the careers service, where she could find support, get the tools needed to understand more about the employment system in the UK, and build a sense of community “by networking with people who attended the same workshops”.
“Completing the Bristol Plus Award prompted me to reflect on my past activities and realise the effort I put into them. This reflection helped me see the bigger picture and understand the value of my experiences, making it easier to explain them to employers.”
Ana Lucia undertook the Entrepreneur course, which taught her how to develop her ideas and bring them to life in projects of her own.
“It has been very inspiring to learn the steps as it motivated my creativity, and I started giving myself more credit for the ideas I have.”
Inspired by these students to achieve?
You still have time, go to your Bristol PLUS Award evidence log and unlock your reflective report!
Book onto one of our final PLUS Award Guidance Appointments, and speak to a friendly member of the PLUS Award team for any last minute queries you may have about completing your award.