Helping you get to where you want to be when you graduate
Commercial awareness is all about having an understanding of the market a certain organisation operates in.
It is a sought after skill by employers, and having good commercial awareness when applying for a job might help you stand out from the crowd.
How can you improve your commercial awareness? We’ve done a round-up of some of the top resources about commercial awareness from mycareer.
Are you finishing your degree this summer?
While it might not have been what you expected from your last year at University, everyone at the Careers Service wishes you huge congratulations for reaching the end of your studies. It’s a fantastic achievement and we hope you are proud of that.
Careers Support for Graduates
Don’t forget that as a graduate of the University of Bristol you can make use of all our careers support for up to three years after the end of your studies.
The graduate job market, much like the wider economy, has taken a big hit this year due to the effects of COVID-19, but many employers are still looking to recruit graduates. Whether you’re planning on work or further study as your next step, the Careers Service is here to help you find and apply to opportunities. (more…)
Many disabled students and graduates ask the Careers Service for help making the transition from study to work. We support students with a variety of physical, mental health, and neurodiverse conditions such as dyslexia, autism and ADHD when thinking about their career. In this blog post we’ll go over some of the common questions we get asked around the recruitment process, what we can do to help, and where you can get extra support.
Work experience is any opportunity which gives you experience of work, or the non-academic skills that will prepare you for work. It can be paid or unpaid experience and is not necessarily related to your degree or your future career plans. This can include internships, summer vacation jobs, volunteering, insight events and shadowing as well as self-driven projects.
Good quality work experience should:
We know that many of you have had your summer internships and work experience cancelled or are struggling to find opportunities.
Here are some ways we’d suggest you look for new opportunities for this summer.
We have launched a new internship fund to provide paid work experience of 4 weeks within Bristol-based small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs).
What are Chambers of Commerce?
Chambers of Commerce are membership organisations which businesses can join to access services to help them grow and play a part in their local business community. They exist around the world at the local, regional and national level. Bristol Chamber of Commerce is run by Business West. You can easily find Chambers for your nearest home town or city, or home country, by searching online. For example, “[name of city] Chamber of Commerce.”
If you’re looking for an internship, sourcing your own can be a great way to find an opportunity with an organisation that you’re really interested in. 
For our SME Internship Scheme, we can offer funding to a small and medium enterprise (SME) to help them take you on for a paid internship.
When you’re approaching SMEs to ask for an internship opportunity, it can feel like you’re asking for something which only you benefit from. However, it’s important to remember that an internship can be mutually beneficial, and SMEs in particular can reap big rewards from taking on a University of Bristol intern.
Here’s four reasons why recruiting an intern can be good for a small business: (more…)
Basecamp caught up with University of Bristol alumni Adam Chambers, who has start-up business; Applichat. Adam won the Development Stage of the New Enterprise Competition and has shared some of his experiences below.
Applichat source, automatically pre-screen, then assign job candidates from Facebook and Instagram to recruiters’ workflows.
Employers are waking up to the importance of equality and diversity in their graduate recruitment. According to the Institute of Student Employers, 76% of employers now consider social mobility to be a priority.
But what does equality and diversity in careers really mean? And how do these values affect you?
For the week of 27-31 January, the Careers Service and Bristol Students’ Union are putting on fifteen events to explore and celebrate diversity as a workplace strength.
It’s an exciting time for the Basecamp Enterprise Team as we reopen the New Enterprise Competition this September! But why should you apply?
1.) It caters for all stages of your start-up journey
The competition caters for all levels of start-up stages: ‘Ideas,’ ‘Development’ and ‘Growth.’ Funding is available at all stages, and there is pro bono support available from our sponsors in the Growth stage of the competition. You can apply to any and all stages of the competition and do not need to complete them in order (more information below). To read about some of our start-up stories from previous winners of the competition, click here.
