Tips to make the most of your winter break!

Posted on by Careers Service

With your winter vacation coming up, have you considered how you might spend the break from University?

Bristol harbourside in the snow

The Winter vacation, and the addition of Preparation Week this year between Monday 6 and Friday 10 January, present a valuable opportunity to invest in your future career before your studies restart.

Preparation Week is your chance, reflect on your skills, come to an event, or start making future career plans.

To kick things off, why not sign up for one our intro talks:

Make the most of the careers service during our opening hours which change slightly as we approach the Winter break. Live Chat and opening times for walks-ins are:

  • 9 to 13 December: 1.30 pm to 4.30 pm (Monday to Friday)
  • 21 December to 5 January: Closed
  • From 6 January: 10 am to 4.30 pm (Monday to Friday) – Back to normal!

Read on for our top tips on how to maximise your time during the break and preparation week. 

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Mental health and mushrooms: from intern to co-founder

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An interview with Chris Baker, the founder of No Ordinary Moments, on his experience of the SME Internship Scheme and why he made his intern a co-founder of his company.

How did No Ordinary Moments start? 

As a former college athlete in North Carolina, I’ve always been intrigued by sports performance and nutrition.

The idea for No Ordinary Moments first came to me when I was an intern working 15-hour days in Silicon Valley, drinking 5 plus coffees a day. 

I believed my coffee habit enhanced my energy, focus, and productivity. However, I didn’t understand why I often felt anxious, jittery, overwhelmed, and lacked energy.

My caffeine dependency was amplifying my internal struggles, so I embarked on a journey to create my own drink. 

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Hidden benefits of the Bristol PLUS Award: From Internships to preparing you for post-graduate life!

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The Bristol PLUS Award logo

Hear from 4th year MSc Chemistry student, Zahria, who achieved her Bristol PLUS Award in the 2023-24 Academic Year, whilst also securing a summer internship with telecommunications company BT! 

How has PLUS prepared you for your future once you leave university?

The Bristol PLUS Award has played a great role in preparing me for life beyond university by giving me a clearer understanding of navigating my career journey. It also opened my eyes to many career resources available at the university, that I would otherwise not have known about!

The activities required to achieve the PLUS Award helped me build and showcase key transferable skills that employers value such as teamwork, communication and time management.

Zahria smiling on a beach
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Five unexpected transferable skills a PhD can offer for your future career

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It is a common misconception that choosing to do a PhD narrows your career pathway to the world of academia. However, for many of our alumni, the skills and experiences they gained during their research degree have led to a range of diverse and exciting careers outside of academic research.  

A new series of postgraduate research alumni profiles, supported by Research England’s Enhancing Research Culture funding, showcases this diversity. Alumni stories from across Arts, Engineering, Science, Health, and Life Sciences reveal the breadth of skills and experiences a PhD can provide.

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Which employer is right for me?

Posted on by Careers Service

You’ve been working hard for years, and now, during your studies at university, you’re facing one of the biggest decisions of your life, choosing a career

Whether you’re looking for insight days, internships, placements, or a full-time role, the competition is fierce. When it feels like everyone is chasing the same opportunities, standing out comes down to your values.

Your principles and purpose can set you apart, even when many other candidates have similar qualifications.

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How Student Circus saves you time in your global job search

Posted on by Careers Service

We know there are lots of competing demands on international students’ time that can make your job search difficult.

The Careers Service has partnered with job portal Student Circus to help. Here’s how to make the best use of this platform, which is completely free to our students and alumni.  

Quickly find pre-filtered UK sponsored jobs 

Student Circus lists jobs across a range of sectors which employers are willing and able to sponsor under the Skilled Worker route. So rather than contacting HR to check if sponsorship is provided, you can focus your energy on writing high-quality applications.  

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Davitt Jones Bould Law: Undergraduate placements and assessment centre advice 

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Davitt Jones Bould, the largest specialist real estate law firm in the UK, have opened their Undergraduate Placement applications. They have written for us about their placement opportunities and provided some application advice too. 

Davitt Jones Bould logo.

The placement is truly like no other as we deliberately don’t put you through a structured programme. Instead, you will be working in line with the real-time demands of the business, giving you experience of what running a business is really like.

You will work directly with a talented team of Davitt Jones Bould people, including colleagues in the Business Services Centre, lawyers based all over the UK and Davitt Jones Bould’s leadership team. You will be given responsibility straightaway for a wide range of tasks – some will play to your strengths, and some will challenge you to learn new skills.

You will be provided with dedicated on the job mentoring and training, as well as access to Davitt Jones Bould’s wider training programmes and courses. 

Find out more about undergraduate placements and apply here.

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Graduate Stories: Working as a graduate hardware engineer at Ocado Technology

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Hi, I’m Louise, I graduated from the University of Bristol in 2022 and I now work at Ocado Technology as a Graduate Hardware Engineer.

A photo of Louise in her graduation robes.

My university experience

In 2018 I began studying for an integrated master’s degree in Mechanical and Electrical Engineering. The first three years of my degree were transformative in building my confidence and passion for engineering.

One of the best extra-curricular activities I did during my time at university was being a Course Representative as this helped me to get to know both my cohort and my lecturers. During my second year I also completed the Bristol PLUS Award, a programme organised by the Careers Service. The best thing I gained from this programme was learning how to articulate the value I had gained from my extra curricular experiences in my CV and in job interviews.

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A taste of our Bristol PLUS Award Endorsing Organisation activities!

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What are Skills Sessions?

The Bristol PLUS Award is proud to have a variety of Endorsing Organisations, who work directly with the PLUS Award team to organise bespoke events for our PLUS Award students!

These organisations all see the value of connecting directly with our engaged PLUS Award students, who demonstrate commitment to continuous development of their employability skills. This term, almost 50 students have attended interactive sessions with AlphaSights, Enterprise, and Tutor The Nation.

Each of the sessions allowed students to develop their core skills of working well as part of a team, communicating confidently and appropriately, and developing and maintaining healthy relationships. These are 3 of the 27 skills on My Skills, the University’s skills development profile.

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