Category: Student stories

My SME Internship: Nathan – Purplefish

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Nathan is a Politics and International Relations graduate who worked as a Social Media intern at Purplefish as part of the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) Internship Scheme.

A photo of Nathan, smiling.

“Hi, I’m Nathan and I was recently given the opportunity to spend a month as a PR and Social Media Intern at Purplefish, an award-winning, Bristol-based PR and communications firm. Admittedly, I held preconceived notions that an internship would be a relatively uninspired experience that would be undertaken solely for the CV boosting prospects. However, in reality, I couldn’t be further from the truth. 

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Madeleine Pengelly: from Bristol graduate to Delaware

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The  Employer Showcase, is just under two weeks away!

A busy bristol beacon at leats years careers fair. up front, purple and orange balloons

Taking place on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October, it is a great opportunity to build connections with employers from a variety of sectors, and see what opportunities are available from graduate roles and internships to work experience.

Our employers range from international organisations to small and medium enterprises and there will be different employers attending each day. Check out mycareer to book your place and start planning who you want to meet.

Our sponsors this year are OC&C Strategy Consultants, Frazer Nash, AlphaSights, Datamine, Delaware and Baker Hughes.

Madeleine Pengelly from Delaware (one of this year’s fair sponsors) tells us about her time at university and life in her current role.

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Getting to know the Outstanding PLUS Awards: Resilience & Wellbeing Champion

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The Bristol PLUS Award rewards students for participating in extracurricular activities alongside their studies, and provides a framework to articulate their skills and experiences to employers.  

Last year we launched the Outstanding PLUS Awards (OPA), to reward students who went the extra mile in their PLUS Award activity. In this final edition of our four-part OPA blog series, we will be breaking down the Resilience and Wellbeing Champion categories to show the spectrum of activities that can be used towards both categories.  

Resilience  

This category is all about demonstrating how you persevered or adapted to challenges whilst in pursuit of your PLUS Award.  

A personal challenge is a broad concept and can encompass many situations. The highest scoring nominations reflected on how they responded to challenges, and how those challenges impacted their PLUS Award journey:  (more…)

Graduate stories: from Bristol graduate to AlphaSights Capital Marketing Manager

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The  Employer Showcase is our biggest employer event of the year.

A picture of the Alphasights stand at last years careers fair. A man in a suit talks to two students
AlphaSights, one of this years sponsors,  at Get Hired, our 2021-22 in-person careers fair

Across two days you will have the chance to meet a wide variety of employers and talk to them about available opportunities from graduate roles and internships to work experience.

Join us on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October, from 12:30 pm to 4 pm, at Bristol Beacon.

Head to mycareer to book your place and start planning who you want to meet.

 

Huge thanks to our sponsors this year: OC&C Strategy Consultants, Frazer Nash, AlphaSights, Datamine, Delaware and Baker Hughes.

Lucy Dean, Bristol graduate and current AlphaSight Capital Marketing manager, talked to us about her time at Bristol, and life in her current role.

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Graduate stories: From Bristol graduate to OC&C Strategy Consultant

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Are you ready to meet some employers? Our 2-day careers fair, the  Employer Showcase, is taking place on Wednesday 19 and Thursday 20 October, from 12:30 pm to 4 pm, at Bristol Beacon.

A photograph of a busy Bristol Beacon
A busy Bristol Beacon at our last careers fair, Get Hired

 

This is a great opportunity to network with employers from a variety of sectors, and see what opportunities are available from graduate roles and internships to work experience.

Our employers range from international organisations to small and medium enterprises and there will be different employers attending each day. Check out mycareer to book your place and start planning who you want to meet.

Our sponsors this year are OC&C Strategy Consultants, Frazer Nash, AlphaSights, Datamine, Delaware and Baker Hughes. (more…)

My Motability Operations internship: Anna

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“I am incredibly grateful that I took this chance.”

Anna smiling with cameras, microphone, and general filming set props in the background

This summer, I’ve been working at Motability Operations (MO) as part of my place on their scholarship programme. I’ve been placed on the Connected Vehicles team, which is centred around data science. Day-to-day, my role has involved researching model inputs and preparing and analysing data stored on the cloud.

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Teach First case study

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Tim, graduated in 2020

I applied to Teach First in my second year at Bristol. I applied because I am passionate about creating an education system which works for everyone. This encouraged me to teach science, because science teachers are in such short supply.

Graduating during a lockdown was a strange experience. Training to teach during that lockdown was even more surreal.

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Lizzie: My Bristol PLUS Award experience

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Wondering how to reach your 70 hours of experience for your Bristol PLUS Award? There is a huge range of activities you could get involved in to develop your skills and build those hours! 

A photo of Lizzie playing netball, poised to throw the ballWe caught up with Lizzie McGechie (Applied Anatomy BSc) who achieved her Bristol PLUS Award in December 2021. Lizzie also took part in the Outstanding PLUS Awards, receiving an Honourable Mention last year for her nomination in the Everyday Hero category. 

For her PLUS experience, Lizzie used her role as a netball coach for UoB squads. Sports leadership roles can be a great way to achieve your 70 hours PLUS experience, and there are many roles that can count, including coaching, refereeing, kit management, or organising intramural teams. 

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6 tips for getting a job in an SME 

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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 Business Statistics, December 2021).  

There are many benefits to working for a small organisation. You can often develop a broad range of skills and knowledge as being part of a small team often involves taking on a variety of tasks, adding interest to your role. Small organisations can grow quickly and you may be given greater responsibility sooner than working at a large organisation. SMEs are often based in shared office spaces which allows you to network with employees from other organisations and grow your professional network quickly.

Here are our tips for securing an opportunity with an SME:  (more…)

Getting to know the Outstanding PLUS Awards: Everyday Hero & Innovation

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,The Bristol PLUS Award gives you the chance to get rewarded for your extra-curricular activities and learn to articulate your skills to employers. Last year, we also launched the Outstanding PLUS Awards (OPA), to recognise PLUS achievers who went above and beyond in one of 8 categories.

In this post, we’re taking a closer look at the Everyday Hero and Innovation categories.

Everyday Hero

This category is all about showing evidence of you being reliable and consistent in your work and inspiring others with your energy and enthusiasm.

Photo of Elizabeth playing netball, jumping to shoot the ball
Elizabeth McGechie, Year 3 Applied Anatomy BSc, Netball Coach

The qualities of an outstanding Everyday Hero can come across in any PLUS Award activity. Here’s what some of last year’s nominees did:

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