Category: Skills development

Sport and employability: the perfect team

Posted on by Careers Service

Are you a Student Leader, volunteer or coach in one of Bristol SU’s Sporting groups and societies? 

According to Public Health England, students “with better health and wellbeing are likely to achieve better academically.” So not only does being part of a sporting group or society increase those endorphins, connect you with people and develop valuable skills, it can help you succeed! This topic is brilliantly explored in the recent Wonkhe blog: “Demonstrating the link between sports and student success” 

via GIPHY

(more…)

Ways to develop your skills and employability from home

Posted on by Careers Service

In recent weeks the situation in the UK has been changing almost daily with the most recent advice being that we stay at home. Many of you would have been due to start internships and work experience opportunities over the Easter and summer breaks, which now might have been cancelled as a result of COVID-19. While this is really disappointing for you, the good news is, there are loads of online opportunities to get involved with and develop your skills!

The Engagement Opportunities Team have pulled together some remote and online-based opportunities that you can still get involved with. (more…)

Help! What are my strengths?

Posted on by Careers Service

Ask someone what their strengths are and it’s likely they’ll give you a fair imitation of a rabbit caught in headlights. Although we know ourselves better than anyone, it’s not always easy to identify exactly what makes us special.  Employers will often ask you about your strengths at interview. To avoid responding with a glassy-eyed stare, you need to first get clear about what yours are, and then understand how best to articulate them.

So, what ARE my strengths?
A common interview question is, “how would a good friend describe you in three words?” Prepare for this by asking a friend ahead of time! (You can always return the favour). We ran an exercise a bit like this recently at the Careers Service. We all drew a representation of ourselves on a piece of A4 paper (it quickly emerged that most of us couldn’t list artistic talent amongst our finer qualities). Then we moved around adding words to the pictures. Where we agreed with a word someone had already written, we put a big tick against it.

(more…)

It’s the start of Student Volunteering Week today!

Posted on by Careers Service

Student Volunteering Week is a national event, with Higher and Further Education Institutions across the country using the week to celebrate existing student volunteers and to encourage more students to start volunteering.

This is the 19th year that Student Volunteering Week is taking place, but student volunteering has a long and rich history dating back to university missions in the 19th century and support for the unemployed in the interwar period.  If you’re interested in finding out more about the history of student volunteering, check out this video

Student Volunteering – a short history from adifferentdrumproductions on Vimeo.

(more…)

Volunteering and the Bristol PLUS Award proves a powerful combination

Posted on by Careers Service

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.

(more…)

Broaden your horizons with the Bristol Futures Open Online Courses

Posted on by Careers Service

The next run of the Open Online Courses starts on Monday 10 February, and don’t worry – there’s still time to sign up!  

The three courses: Global Citizenship, Innovation and Enterprise, and Sustainable Futures are hosted on the online platform FutureLearn and are a fantastic way to expand your learning, develop your skills and share your knowledge with learners across the world. 

To help you make the most of the courses, the University of Bristol employs students to work as online mentors. Lots of these mentors have been with us since the courses launched, so we’ve asked a couple of them about what is that they enjoy about the Bristol Futures Open Online Courses.  

Issy – Global Citizenship course mentor 

What has been the most enjoyable element of working as a Bristol Futures Open Online Course Mentor? 

I have worked as a Bristol Futures online mentor for three runs now on the ‘Global Citizenship’ course. I really enjoy the flexibility of this course, you can join in whenever you like during the week, talk to other learners or just read and soak it all in. The course is free so is very little pressure and you work at your own pace. The course content is also really interesting, presented in a user-friendly way with short informative videos, interactive quizzes and a comments section where you can input answers to some open questions that each module provides.  (more…)

#10YearsOfPLUS: Your UG Education Officer shares her Award experience.

Posted on by Careers Service

More than 5000 students past and present have achieved the PLUS Award in the last decade. One of which is your currently elected UG Education Officer Hillary Gyebi-Ababio who used work experience as a Telethon Fundraiser and a society committee position, among other things, to gain the Award alongside her Social Policy degree. This is what she says about her experience.

“Taking part in the Bristol PLUS Award made me a stronger candidate for my career. I honed my skills in organisation, communication and most importantly for myself, leadership. It enabled me to feel confident in realising my potential in the future career I hope to have.

(more…)

Equality and Diversity Careers Week is coming!

Posted on by Careers Service

Equality and Diversity Careers Week 27-31 January

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. 

(more…)

Four skills employers are looking for

Posted on by Careers Service

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…)