Bristol Mentors pairs successful student candidates with an alumni mentor who will provide careers support and guidance throughout the academic year. The programme is now open for applications for our 2020/21 cohort.
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Category: Careers thinking
Is freelancing for you?
If you don’t think of freelancing as a graduate job, you may be missing a trick.
Being self-employed can be hugely rewarding and graduates shouldn’t dismiss it as either a short-term or more permanent option. To some it may sound like a precarious path with no certainty and little direction, whilst others see it as an exciting world of possibilities. It all depends on your mindset and skills. (more…)
Why would an SME hire me for an internship?
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…)
Volunteering and the Bristol PLUS Award proves a powerful combination
There are so many reasons for volunteering and when you pair it with the Bristol PLUS Award the value gained can really pack a punch!
To help us prepare for Student Volunteering Week we caught up with Bristol PLUS Award completer, Joshua Ang, to hear more about how he paired his volunteering and the Bristol PLUS Award.
Equality and Diversity Careers Week is coming!
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.
Four skills employers are looking for
The top skills employers in the south west are looking for and how you can develop these over the festive season.
What skills are local employers looking for? In the recent Local Sector Skills Statements 2019 produced by Skills West, communication skills featured in the top three most desirable skills listed by employers across eight separate sectors in the south west. (more…)
Calling all final years and recent graduates! An internship opportunity for you!
The Santander SME Internship Scheme provides quality, 
paid work experience opportunities for final year students and graduates who completed their degree in the last 18 months.
The internships are 280 hours long and can be completed on a part-time or full-time basis. (more…)
6 tips for getting a job in an SME
An SME is a small or medium sized enterprise. Over 99% of businesses in the UK are SMEs employing between 0 and 249 people (House of Commons briefing paper, May 2019).
There are many benefits to working for a small organisation, find out more in our online guide ‘What is an SME? Why work for one?’
Here are our tips for securing an opportunity with an SME.
Using the Careers Service as a PhD researcher, pt. 1
This blog is the first of two exploring how using the Careers Service can benefit you as a PhD researcher, each of which consists of an interview conducted via email. This first part was conducted with a History PhD who recently graduated from Bristol and secured a role in Professional Services at the University of Bristol.
Remember that all of our services are available to our PhD researchers, both whilst you are registered here and for up to 3 years after you graduate.
My graduate internship experience
I started with The Air Agents in June as part of the University of Bristol’s internship scheme. 
It seemed like a great opportunity to get some work experience in a field I was actually interested in – a welcome change from the plethora of ads for graduate schemes in recruitment or finance.
I’d always wanted to stay in Bristol after I graduated, having grown up locally, and had trawled through Indeed for hours, searching for a job which would be rewarding. The internship was a bit of a gamble, but I figured I would end up with experience that could only aid my job hunt. (more…)