There’s something incredibly inspiring about seeing someone who was in your exact position just a year ago now standing at the front of the room.
That’s exactly what happened at the Solirius Reply workshop on 8 October, when Lucy, a BSc Economics and Management graduate now working as a Digital Consultant at Solirius Reply, returned to Bristol. Not as a final year student frantically navigating applications, but as an employee of the very company whose workshop she attended last year.
Why in-person workshops matter
As Lucy put it in our interview after the event, final year can feel like an endless cycle of applications that “gets very draining.” When you’re reading company website after company website, everything starts to blur together. “Actually having a workshop in person, I thought was so, so useful,” Lucy told me. The chance to meet people from Solirius Reply and hear real stories made all the difference.
What we learnt
The workshop started with a practical exercise: what skills do tech and digital consultants have? We brainstormed together what these roles look like day-to-day, moving beyond the usual “problem-solving” buzzwords.
Then came Exercise 2, where we reflected on our own experiences and identified skills we’d already developed. It’s so easy to think “I haven’t done anything impressive,” but this exercise forced us to realise we’ve been building relevant skills all along, we just hadn’t framed them properly.
Exercise 3 was probably the most valuable part. The team showed us real CVs and interview answers, asking us to guess which candidates progressed. What made applications stand out wasn’t the most impressive experience, it was how well candidates tailored their application and communicated their skills. They walked us through how they assess applications, breaking down behavioural versus competency-based questions.
What really matters
Simon, Senior Business Consultant at Solirius Reply, had a refreshing message: you don’t need fancy corporate internships. He’d worked in a bar and played sports before getting into consulting. What matters is relating your experiences, whatever they are, to the role. “So many skills you can draw from everything you’ve done,” he emphasised.
He also shared how his recruiting perspective has evolved. It used to be about whether he’d want to grab a drink with a candidate, but now it’s: would he put this person in front of a client? Do they fit the company’s ethos?
Eva, Operations & Talent Acquisition Specialist at Solirius Reply, drove home the importance of communication skills, especially for consulting where you’re constantly client-facing. Lucy echoed this: “Communication is key, being able to talk to people, being able to work in groups.” Hearing this from someone who was literally in the audience last year made it feel more achievable.
Lucy’s journey: making the most of Bristol’s Careers Service
After the workshop, I sat down with Lucy to hear more about her journey. One thing became clear: she’d been strategic about using Bristol’s resources. “I tried to really make the most of the Careers Service, especially after speaking to people who’d graduated saying that they wished they’d used it more,” she explained. She attended sessions on career options and CV workshops, which were game-changers. “I think I’d never fully learnt how to actually make a good CV and learn what was important, what to include, what words you should be including,” Lucy said. She realised her CV had been cluttered with unnecessary information, and she’d never properly understood how to structure a cover letter.
She also pointed me towards the AI CV evaluator on mycareer. “I found that so useful because you can put your CV in and you can see what bits are good and what to improve on.” What really struck me was Lucy’s enthusiasm about Bristol’s Careers Service specifically. “I’ve talked to people at other unis and it’s not the same,” she said. “I think the Bristol one in particular is very good.”
What now?
Watching Lucy help run the session she’d attended as a student just a year ago made the path from graduation to employment feel less intimidating. Here’s what I’m taking away:
- Use the Careers Service – book those appointments and attend the workshops
- Every experience counts – your part-time job, society involvement, and group projects all demonstrate valuable skills
- Communication is everything – especially in consulting
- Tailor your applications – generic applications don’t cut it
- Attend in-person events – reading a website isn’t the same as meeting the people
I’d really recommend attending these employer workshops. And if you haven’t explored Bristol’s Careers Service yet, maybe now’s the time. According to Lucy, we’re lucky to have the resources we do. We might as well use them!
This blog was written by Youssef Haddouch, Business School Careers Student Ambassador and final year BSC International Business Management student