GAIN City Challenge – kicking off a new year of the City Challenge programme!

Following a highly successful first year of City Challenges, Girls Are INvestors (GAIN) took part in hosting the first City Challenge of the new academic year.

GAIN City Challenge group

Students tackled the question of ‘How we can encourage women into finance and bust myths?’ in groups before presenting their ideas to GAIN, allowing the charity to use these ideas in their future work.

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So you want to work in social policy?

At our ‘How to get into social policy and other policy roles’ event on 25 January 2022, professionals working in this area shared insight into what it’s like and gave practical advice on how to get there.

Below are their eight top tips – scroll to the end to access the recording and more. (more…)

International Womens Day 2022 – 5 stories of women working hard to #breakthebias

“Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women’s equality. Collectively we can all #BreakTheBias. Celebrate women’s achievement. Raise awareness against bias. Take action for equality.” – tagline for International Women’s Day 2022

Happy International Women’s Day (IWD)! 

We LOVE hearing your stories, and get to hear so many of them through the various activities and programmes that we run here at the Careers Service; The Bristol PLUS Award, SME internship scheme, Bristol Mentors, New Enterprise Competition and much more.

Today, we are taking the opportunity to highlight and acknowledge a handful of brilliant female students and graduates who have helped to #breakthebias by exemplifying the missions of International Women’s Day through their various projects, start-ups, and volunteering activities. Prepare to be inspired!

IWD mission: To shine a spotlight on activity uplifting and inspiring women to pursue goals without bias or barrier

Arooba Hameed, Year 3 Cancer Biology and Immunology (BSc)

Picture of Arooba
Arooba

Arooba completely embodies this mission and recently won £1000 of funding in the Development Stage of the New Enterprise Competition for the non-profit community group she founded, Higher Education for Asylum Seekers & Refugees (HEAR). HEAR aims to support refugees and asylum seekers in accessing educational opportunities through guidance, training, mentoring & advocacy. (more…)

How to get into the emerging field of supply chain management and logistics: Top Tips

Supply chain and logistics is a key part of the UK economy.  With factors such as the use of cutting-edge technologies in many areas, & the importance organisations place on creating robust supply chains, it’s an increasingly popular career path open to all graduates. Read on to explore whether it’s a career path for you and pick up tips on how to get into the sector.

via GIPHY (more…)

Transform Case Studies: Teach First Leadership Development Programme

The Teach First Leadership Development Programme provided Nathan with the opportunity and support to build a career in teaching, whilst enabling him to unlock potential and build aspiration amongst his pupils.

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How to get into Fintech and Legal Tech: Top Tips

Photo by StartUpStockPhotos on Pixabay

The advice in this blog comes from the ‘How to get into fintech, legal tech and disruptive technologies’ careers panel event for Social Science and Law students in November 2021 and is focussed on advice for non-STEM specialists looking at careers in this area.

The event featured various guest speakers from across different sectors in various positions. These included a Legal Engineer, Legal Practitioner, a Marketing Director and Talent Acquisition Manager.

This blog includes some of the speakers’ key messages for what you can do to get involved with this ever-changing and rapidly expanding sector, top tips for accessing these industries and a note on what the future may look like. (more…)

Why Attend the Faculty of Arts Careers Series?

February is a special month for those studying in the Faculty of Arts, as the Careers Service and Faculty collaborate to host the annual Faculty of Arts Careers Series, spanning four weeks from 1 to 25 February 2022.

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Why I’m choosing teaching as a career

Ethan Osborn-Clarke is a final year Geography BSc student planning to teach Geography in secondary schools in London once he graduates, following the Teach First pathway.  Other options for getting into teaching exist too – see links further down for details.  We caught up with Ethan to discuss why he’s choosing this career path.

 

Teaching is a popular career choice for many graduates, for various reasons: job satisfaction, security, or to inspire the next generation.

There are many reasons I‘m going into teaching – all confirmed by my primary and secondary observation days and too numerous to go through individually. To try and summarise, I’ve put them into four main areas: fulfilment, differentiation, progression and challenge, giving a glimpse into my rationale for going into teaching.

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How to get into Government and Civil Service: Top Tips

On 19 October 2021, we held a ‘How to get into Government and the Civil Service’ careers panel event for Social Science and Law students. Speakers joined from organisations including the Office for National Statistics, the Government Security Group, and the Cabinet Office giving students a chance to find out about roles within the Government and Civil Service, what it’s like working in these fields and get practical advice on how to get there.

Ethan Osborn-Clark, a final year BSc Geography student and Career Peer Support Assistant, attended the event; here are his top takeaways from the session. (more…)

City Challenges: Students Provide Solutions to Real-life Problems

 

The City Challenges are an exclusive programme of events which provides you with the opportunity to engage with Bristol’s charity sector, gain informal work experience, and develop your skills through working on real life challenges posed by local community organisations. 

The first City Challenge involved piloting a problem-solving session focusing on reducing HIV stigma within the medical community, which was supported by the Brigstowe charity and the Careers Service Community Engagement team. 

A total of 10 students took part, developing their teamwork, communication, and decision-making skills to create presentations in which they gave details of how Brigstowe could approach raising awareness in the medical community of unfair and untrue beliefs around people living with HIV.  

This City Challenge allowed students to explore their interest in community outreach as well as learn about how they can be aware of and actively combat their own biases around their attitudes to people who are living with HIV. They explored issues such as how General Practitioners and students can destigmatise their work when dealing with people living with HIV. Brigstowe will now be able to use these ideas for possible future funding bids, marketing campaigns and training sessions. 

The next City Challenge will be based ask the question ‘How can we encourage male university students to talk about their mental health?’ and students will be working with Talk Club and the Community Engagement team. This challenge will be eligible for the Bristol PLUS Award and held on Wednesday 27 October from 11.30am to 5pm and you can sign up on myopportunities.