Helping you get to where you want to be when you graduate
We caught up with Lucy Downer, Final Year English BA Undergraduate, about her experiences of having a mentor with the Bristol Mentors programme.
Starting out as a third-year student I felt incredibly daunted by the prospect of life post-graduation. Being part of the Bristol Mentors programme this year has given me invaluable experience within an industry I am considering entering after graduation. (more…)
Is this you? You graduated from the University of Bristol in 2018, but you feel that something is missing. Lots of people you know might be in graduate careers now, moving and shaking to shape their world, but you’re still wondering what you should do? What would make the difference?
(Photo from Pixabay)
Employers tell us consistently that work experience is the answer. Not that week you had to do back at school, where you sat and watched people doing something vaguely more interesting than your lessons.
We’re talking about getting stuck in and really experiencing what a graduate role is like and making a difference, showing what impact you can bring to an organisation. In fact, this year over a third of the Times Top 100 employers repeated their warnings from previous years – that graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are less to be successful during the selection process for their graduate programmes. (The Graduate Market in 2019 – High Fliers Research.)
Have you heard about our SME Internship Scheme? It’s a great opportunity for students to find quality, paid work experience opportunities with small and medium enterprises in the UK. Here’s one student’s experience:
My name’s Tom and I did a 3-month producing and marketing internship with MAYK, a theatre-producing organisation who host Mayfest, a Bristol-based international theatre festival.
The producing aspect of my internship was built around helping to organise Demostage, an event that provides a platform for people to share ideas for creative projects with an audience and ask for feedback. This involved contacting our sharers and the venue on the run-up to the event and also helping out on the day.
Holly Barrett, University of Bristol graduate, studied Chemistry and told us about her experience transitioning into a tech role with PwC.
Going into my final year, I was none the wiser about what I wanted to do after university – just that I didn’t want to continue with Chemistry, my degree subject. A different challenge in a new area seemed like a more exciting prospect to me. I started applying to graduate schemes more because I thought I should be applying for something rather than because I was interested in the things I was applying for. However, I quickly realised that this wasn’t sustainable. Trying to work out what I wanted to do with limited experience was challenging but ultimately, I decided I wanted to work in tech, because it’s an area that has always interested me and it’s a fast growing, intellectually stimulating industry.
Many of you may have ideas of how to solve problems, make money or change the world for the better – but knowing how to turn those ideas into action can be the biggest barrier for many students. Rest assured it is possible and we are here to support you along the way.
So how can the Careers Service help? (more…)
Manan Vaswani describes the opportunity he received to apply his computing knowledge in the real world. The role was part of the SME Internship Scheme run by the Careers Service, you can find out more about the scheme and how to get involved here. This is what he had to say about his experience:
The word ‘internship’ used to conjure visions of long monotonous days, working for large companies on projects to which my only contribution would be slogging out the most mundane of tasks. This perception, however, was flipped upside-down after Spin Up Science arranged for me to carry out an internship with the science start-up, QLM Technology. (more…)
It’s mid-February, and you may have noticed that the first daffodils are with us. You may not be aware however that alongside these early green shoots each year also comes our Careers Service Green Careers Week, from 18 to 24 February 2019.
This series of events is designed to help you find out about opportunities in “green” careers such as conservation and sustainability, get advice, and network with a number of different employers.
(more…)
It was recently announced that the UK’s top employers are planning on increasing their number of graduate jobs by 9.1% in 2019 – that’s over 1800 additional jobs compared to 2018.
Positive news for graduates? Absolutely. But do you ever find yourself wondering if your degree subject will hold you back against the competition, that you’d have been better off doing Medicine, or Computer Science?
Well, it’s time to challenge that thought. There’s mounting evidence that your Social Science degree stands you in good stead to make the most of the jobs of the future.
Here are three stand out reasons you should be feeling confident:
This post was accurate at the time of writing, please check online for the latest information.
We know that many of our international students would like to get a job in the UK when they graduate. However, it can be hard to find an employer willing to sponsor you for a Tier 2 visa.
The good news is, there’s an alternative visa route if you’re prepared to be flexible: the Tier 5 (Government Authorised Exchange). You are eligible if you are from outside of the EEA and Switzerland.
The run up to Christmas can be a whirlwind of activity – presents, parties, travel plans, revision for exams. After Christmas Day itself though, as the New Year approaches, our minds often turn to what we’d like to do differently in the year ahead. So often these resolutions can be about “fixing” something we’re not happy with: our fitness, terrible French, suboptimal study habits, excessive Netflix viewing….
This year why not think about building on the positive, instead of focusing on what’s not right. Leading management thinkers are now arguing that our greatest potential for development lies in enhancing our strengths, rather than following the traditional management approach of tackling our weaknesses.