Category: Ethical careers

Windō’s mission to connect you with LGBTQ+inclusive employers

Posted on by Careers Service

Researching potential future employers is important to ensure their values align with yours, but where do you start?

Collage of a man in grayscale, superimposed over a blue and pink triangle.

We recently chatted with Ken Janssens, Co-Founder & Head of Social Impact at Windō, who are on a mission to connect you with LGBTQIA+ employers.

Windō is a free platform for students to easily access, digest and compare the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) progress and plans that companies are making to drive positive change across diversity, equality and inclusion, sustainability, and employee wellbeing.

The screen of a laptop, showing various brand logos on the user interface of windo.

We talked to Ken about researching LGBTQIA+ friendly workplaces using Windō’s LGBTQ+ Transparent value filter, which tracks over 500 major employers based on their diversity and inclusion efforts.

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Want a career that makes a difference?

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Earlier this year we hosted an alumni panel event with Niranjali Amerasinghe, Jenny Cook and Nyika Suttie, whose jobs all focus on making a tangible difference.

Their role titles are:  

  • Niranjali Amerasinghe – Executive Director (Action Aid USA).
  • Jenny Cook – Technical Advisor for Strategic Partnerships and Gender Inclusion and Diversity (PIARC World Road Association).
  • Nyika Suttie – Student Culture and Inclusion Training Officer (University of Bath).
Photos of Niranjali, Jenny and Nyika.
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How sustainability is shaping the future of work

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“It’s everyone’s job to get sustainability right within a business.”

As sustainability is becoming increasingly important across the world, businesses are constantly evolving for the benefit of organisations and customers alike.

In January, four Bristol alumni joined the panel for the Bristol Connects Live: Sustainability in Business webinar.

A hand holding a plant

Hosted by Jack Middleton, Sustainability Champion for the Business School, the panel shared their insights into how their employers are addressing business sustainability as well how sustainability is shaping the future of work and gave tips on getting into the sector.

The panel:

  • Peter Ireson – (BSc 2015): Economist at Deloitte
  • Joanna Leigh – (MSci 2015): Sustainability Consultant at Think Beyond
  • Sean Polden – (MEng 2017): Sustainability Manager at Dyson
  • James Chow – (MSc 2013): Assistant Director at EY
Left to right: Peter, Joanna, Sean, James
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How to get into green jobs: the takeaways

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In November, the Careers Service hosted speakers from a variety of environmental career paths who are each tackling the biggest sustainability issues we currently face using their own unique skills and experiences.

Meet the panellists:

Ann Cousins, Associate, Resilience and Climate Change Advisory, ARUP

Ann is the lead in the resilience, energy and climate change advisory team at Arup which is a sustainability consultancy firm. The team is multidisciplinary including engineers, psychologists, and lawyers. Ann started as a receptionist with Arup after graduating with a French and Italian degree at the University of Bristol and worked her way up to their leading consultancy role.

Recently, Ann also assisted in setting up the Bristol One City environmental plan.

Pierce Griffith, Principal Economist (Chemical), the Environment Agency

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SME Internship Scheme: Finding an SME Internship at a careers fair – Windō

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Last academic year, final year Engineering Mathematics student Patrick approached Windō at the Get Hired careers fair, and as a result was able to secure an SME Internship with them. 

We caught up with Oli, founder and CEO of Windō, and Patrick to hear about how a chat at a careers fair led to a connection…and an internship!

Windō 

Windō is a free platform for students to easily access, digest and compare the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) progress and plans that companies are making to drive positive change across sustainability, diversity, equality and inclusion, and employee wellbeing.

A photo of Oli talking to a student at the Get Hired fair.

“Hi, I’m Oli, CEO at Windō.

We were invited as a Sustainability Partner to have a stall at Get Hired in the Spring. It’s always a great opportunity to demonstrate our platform to students and meet the very people we built Windō for.

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Founder’s keepers – advice from a working start-up

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The New Enterprise Competition 2023 has come to an end. We caught up with finalist Ben Wainwright who comes loaded with lived experience from the world of start up.

Tell us about yourself and what sparked your interest in entrepreneurship.

Remap founder Ben Wainwright.

My name is Ben Wainwright and I am a co-founder and CTO of Remap Mental Fitness.

At Remap, we teach working professionals and global brands how to train their mind to improve how they think, feel and perform.

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How a City Challenge helped Bristol Walk Fest make strides

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In April, Bristol Walk Fest partnered with the Careers Service to run a City Challenge, with the goal of getting input from student volunteers on ways to engage younger walkers with their events.

Bristol Walk Fest is an annual walking festival, with events taking place all over the city.  We chatted to Jennifer Graham, their 2023 Event Manager, about their experience.

Jen, can you tell us what Bristol Walk Fest is all about?  

Decolonising Bristol walk

Bristol Walk Fest began over a decade ago and is a celebration of all things walking. The free festival, which regularly attracts over 7,500 attendees year-on-year, showcases the best of Bristol for everyone to enjoy, either individually or with others. 

The festival takes place during May to coincide with Living Streets’ National Walking Month and offers a wide variety of walking activities, personal challenges, self-guided walking routes and discussion events. The (mostly free) walks and activities are for all backgrounds and levels of fitness.  

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My SME Internship: Emelia – Rubbish Ideas 

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It’s World Environment Day! We’re celebrating by recognising the great work that our SME Interns do with organisations that are making a difference. 

Emelia

“Hi, my name is Emelia. I am in my fourth year of my Maths MSci and last summer I completed an internship with Rubbish Ideas as part of the SME Internship Scheme.  

Rubbish Ideas provides products and services to their clients relating to improving the lifecycle of rubbish. This takes a few different forms, such as education, design ideas, and web applications. 

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My IKEEP project helping to protect children online 

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The IKEEP programme offers students free business training and industry experience through a paid team placement with a small enterprise.

Marketing undergraduate Nina tells us about her IKEEP project placement with non-profit Better Together and how it’s inspired her future career plans. 

Nina, can you tell us about your IKEEP project with Better Together?

Marketing student Nina Yang

Better Together offers workshops and resources on online safety, specifically targeting parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, and other professionals working with children and young people. They also provide workshops tailored to adult internet use.

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Five reasons why you should take part in a City Challenge

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For our latest City Challenge, we teamed up with local Bristol charity BristolHub, an organisation that supports University of Bristol students to tackle social challenges, learn about issues and connect with each other.

So what is a City Challenge? and why should you take part?

Table of students at the careers service working on the most recent City Challenge with BristolHub

We caught up with Hannah (BA Politics and International Relations) and Apoorva (MA Economics and Finance) who attended the most recent City Challenge, along with Will Westgarth of Bristol Hub, to hear all about the programme and why they recommend you take part in a future one. Here are their five top reasons : 

1. You can make a real difference to a local charity

During a City Challenge, you help a Bristol non-profit tackle an issue they are facing. You learn about a local cause, help improve them and have a positive impact on the local community. Our most recent challenge was with Bristol Hub. Hannah, who’s in her second year, said, “I aspire to work in the non-profit sector so insight into a small charity and the way it works was really helpful for me.” 

Will, from BristolHub, smiling

The charity gets a lot too.

Will of Bristol Hub said, “The Challenge helped Bristol Hub further understand students’ desires when it comes to opportunities and how we can best reach out and connect with students. They came up with incredibly detailed and well thought-out presentations, with suggestions which we will take on board for the next academic year.”  

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