You’ve just finished exams and you’ve got three months until you’re back in lectures. Now is the perfect time to work on your career journey.
Make the most of your summer break
Category: Skills development
My SME Internship: Ben – SatSense
Hi, I’m Ben. I’m a second year PhD student in the School of Earth Sciences, focusing on understanding ground deformation of volcanoes using satellite borne radar imagery.
In April 2024, I worked as an Earth Observation Intern with SatSense, a Leeds-based SME (Small/medium-sized Enterprise) that provides services assessing, monitoring, and alerting for changes in ground deformation for a wide range of clients using satellite-borne radar imagery.
Creative community engagement with Sparks Bristol!
City Challenges went off-campus with a trip to Sparks Bristol on Wednesday 8 May.
The event started with a tour of the different departments at Sparks and a talk about what Sparks does, why it was founded, and what they stand for.
Lucy, Volunteer Coordinator, said
“Sparks Bristol is a sustainability and creativity hub. It’s a community space in the centre of Bristol where we want people to explore what a fairer and greener future looks like. And they consider the climate crisis, the cost of living crisis, and what we can do with an empty, massive building right in the middle of the city.”
Hear from your peers who have achieved their PLUS Award!
With the Bristol PLUS Award deadline fast approaching in just over two weeks, noon Friday 7 June, we thought it a great opportunity to showcase the experiences of three PLUS Achievers from this year.
Yunfei, Katie, and Ana Lucia all spoke about their core experience of partaking in the PLUS Award at our Outstanding PLUS and PLUS Celebration event at the Bristol Beacon to a great reception from our audience. Not only was their skill development and pure passion for what they accomplished clear, but the authenticity in which they spoke speaks to their achievements.
(more…)Working for a scientific SME: advice from professionals
“Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) make up a large proportion of the UK’s economy and account for approximately 30% of graduate employment” (AGCAS, 2022),
Finding and applying for work experience, including internships, or graduate roles, in SMEs can be different to schemes with larger employers. In April 2024, the Careers Service invited three professionals, who work in scientific SMEs, to share their advice:
- Dr Mark Benizett, VetIMD – Pioneering isothermal molecular diagnostics solutions for the animal health sector
- Dr Clio Andreae, GenomeKey – Biotechnology using cutting edge machine learning and DNA sequencing to treat Sepsis
- Dr Ed Jones, Kelpi – World-leading sustainable materials innovation business – harnessing the properties of seaweed to create compostable, marine-safe, low-carbon bioplastic packaging
“It’s a seasonal thing”- the ultimate guide to finding holiday work
Here in the UK, we have a booming seasonal job market.
Part-time work not only allows you to earn cash around your studies, but it also allows you to gain skills and experience future employers will be looking for; teamwork, communication skills, the ability to organise your own time and confidence in the workplace, to name a few.
So, how do you start looking for part-time seasonal work to fill your time in the summer holidays? Here are some areas that you could look into:
Hospitality
Hotels, restaurants, bars, and catering companies often require extra staff during peak tourist seasons. Seasonal hospitality jobs may include roles such as servers, bartenders, kitchen staff, and hotel housekeepers.
Working in partnership: Tutor the Nation and the Careers Service
At the Careers Service we work in partnership with external organisations to bring a range of experiences to our students, and we like to think our brilliant students give a lot back too!
This year we have been working closely with Tutor the Nation, who have taken part in City Challenges and run mock interviews for our students as part of becoming an endorsing organisation for the Bristol PLUS Award.
(more…)Challenges of tomorrow – festivals and events
Events are a major element of the UK economy, with an estimated £3.3 billion revenue in 2023.
We ran the “Challenges of tomorrow – festivals & events” panel to give students an insight into how to get into this exciting sector, with expert input from Pauline Bourdon, Stevie Lee-Bennett and Charlie Wall.
Here is a quick introduction to our panellists, their backgrounds, and current roles:
Pauline Bourdon is a Director at Soliphilia (a green touring & sustainability consultancy), a lecturer in event sustainability at BIMM Bristol, a sustainability consultant with UNSW Cardiff, and the Head of Sustainability & Social Cohesion at Team Love – an event production company producing 6 festivals a year including Love Saves the Day in Bristol, Silver Hayes at Glastonbury Festival and Waterworks, London.
Mentoring matters – your chance to open doors and create opportunities
With just one week to go, Bristol Mentors is still open for applications for home UK students returning for study in 2024/25.
Bristol Mentors provides successful student applicants with an alumni mentor working in the sector/industry they are aiming to break into.
Mentorship can be an enriching experience and our student mentees are always happy to tell us more about the range of benefits they have gained whilst on the programme.
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Reflecting on the Universities Business Challenge
On 1 March this year, two teams consisting of members from the University of Bristol Business School and School of Economics, were delighted to attend the semi-finals of the Universities Business Challenge held in London.
One team of five students, and one of four, made the journey to London after their work in the first round of the competition was recognised as being worthy of a semi-final place.
