Tag: PLUS Award

The University’s employability award

Bristol PLUS Award Achievers! Could you win an Outstanding PLUS Award?

Posted on by Careers Service

Calling all Bristol PLUS Award achievers: have you gone above and beyond in your PLUS Award? Did you make a significant change or impact in a PLUS activity or role? If so, you can nominate yourself to receive extra recognition with an Outstanding PLUS Award.

The Outstanding PLUS Awards, from the University of Bristol Careers Service

Select one of your Bristol PLUS Award Experience activities where you were able to shine and use it to nominate yourself for an Outstanding PLUS Award! With 8 categories to choose from, the Outstanding PLUS Awards celebrate a broad range of achievements.

Did you make a difference to the people in your community? Maybe you helped create a positive change that would not have happened without your efforts? Did you consistently go the extra mile in your role?  

For your Bristol PLUS, you reflected on the skills you developed and how you can articulate these to employers. For the Outstanding PLUS, we ask you to put that into action by telling us how your activity meets the brief of your chosen category and why you deserve to win! 

The Outstanding PLUS Award is open to students who achieved the Bristol PLUS Award this academic year, so if you have not yet completed your Bristol PLUS, this is a great incentive to do so!  

What if I completed the Bristol PLUS Award in a previous year? 

The Outstanding PLUS Award is intended to be completed in the same year as your Bristol PLUS. The Outstanding PLUS Awards are open to students completing their Bristol PLUS Award in the current academic year only.

Applications are open now until 26 March 2022, and winners will be announced in April 2022.  

For the full details on how to apply, including all the categories and briefs, head over to the Outstanding PLUS Awards guide.

MOB Football: The inter-cultural football league tackling racism and integrating student communities

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Each year, the Bristol PLUS Award recognises students for their hard work and personal development outside of their studies. Obafemi Alabi, Bristol SU’s Sports and Student Development Officer, is a PLUS Alumni whose inspiring work alongside his studies earnt him both the Bristol PLUS Award and an Outstanding Award.

A photo of Obafemi, smiling
Obafemi Alabi, Bristol SU’s Sports and Student Development Officer, and MOB Football founder

Obafemi achieved both Awards after he completed a sustainable energy internship, worked as the sports representative of the ACS (African and Caribbean Society) and co-founded MOB Football, a new inter-cultural football league, tackling racism and integrating student communities.

 

‘The mission of MOB Football is to assist in creating awareness and tackling the problem of racism and representation within football through collaboration with university teams and societies.

‘MOB Football ran a year-long inter-cultural football league tournament which featured different BAME societies such as the African Caribbean Society, among others. Through this, I was able to provide an innovative opportunity for students from diverse backgrounds to understand different cultures by socialising with one another through football, thereby breaking down cultural barriers.’ (more…)

City Challenges: Students Provide Solutions to Real-life Problems

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The City Challenges are an exclusive programme of events which provides you with the opportunity to engage with Bristol’s charity sector, gain informal work experience, and develop your skills through working on real life challenges posed by local community organisations. 

The first City Challenge involved piloting a problem-solving session focusing on reducing HIV stigma within the medical community, which was supported by the Brigstowe charity and the Careers Service Community Engagement team. 

A total of 10 students took part, developing their teamwork, communication, and decision-making skills to create presentations in which they gave details of how Brigstowe could approach raising awareness in the medical community of unfair and untrue beliefs around people living with HIV.  

This City Challenge allowed students to explore their interest in community outreach as well as learn about how they can be aware of and actively combat their own biases around their attitudes to people who are living with HIV. They explored issues such as how General Practitioners and students can destigmatise their work when dealing with people living with HIV. Brigstowe will now be able to use these ideas for possible future funding bids, marketing campaigns and training sessions. 

The next City Challenge will be based ask the question ‘How can we encourage male university students to talk about their mental health?’ and students will be working with Talk Club and the Community Engagement team. This challenge will be eligible for the Bristol PLUS Award and held on Wednesday 27 October from 11.30am to 5pm and you can sign up on myopportunities. 

6 Top Reasons to do the Bristol PLUS Award…according to PLUS achievers!

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1. Get involved with extra-curricular opportunities 

Maximise your time at university by gaining skills and experience alongside your studies. The Bristol PLUS Award recognises your commitment and personal development in extra-curricular activities such as part time work, internships, student leadership roles and society committees. 

‘At the start of my postgraduate degree in Bristol, I was keen on engaging in as many extracurricular activities as possible and honing my employability skills. The Bristol Plus Award provided just the right motivation for me to do that.’  – Babatunde Osho, Climate Change Science and Policy MSc 

2.  Stand out to employers  

You’ll make your CV stand out from crowd with the Bristol PLUS Award. Less than 5% of the student population achieve the award each year and it is endorsed by employers, who you can read about on our website! 

3. Make progress with planning your future 

The Bristol PLUS Award can help you kick-start your future plans. Evidence shows that PLUS achievers are more likely to make positive progress in their career planning than students who do not take part: 37% of PLUS achievers record a positive change in their career planning progress compared to 27% of non-award students. 

‘It has been a fulfilling and positive experience, which has given me a much deeper awareness of my future.’ – Katie Ingram King, Sociology BSc 

 

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Bristol PLUS Award – Get rewarded for your extra-curricular activities

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The Bristol PLUS Award

 

The Bristol PLUS Award rewards you for going above and beyond alongside your studies

Maybe you have a part-time job, are running your own small business, or are thinking of doing some volunteering or an internship. If so, you could already be partway there to achieving the Award! As long as your experience takes place during your time as a student, you could get recognition for it.

 

Third-year Music student Honey Wyatt achieved the Bristol PLUS Award after working in a café during the holidays, and also set up and ran her own podcast.

A photo of Honey smiling
Honey Wyatt, Music Student and Bristol PLUS Award Achiever                                                                                      

‘Through working as front of house at a restaurant and café, I developed my communication, teamwork, and resilience. You need to be able to handle high pressure situations, such as if there is a rude or impatient customer or you have to manage several tasks at once (and we were understaffed, so this happened often).

Along with that I learnt an element of independence, as I had to figure out how to deal with a situation if there is nobody there to ask for help.

Running my podcast has been a completely different experience, although I have also developed my teamwork, independence and communication skills, as well as my reliability and how to run a business. There are two aspects of the podcast: the creative side, and the business side, both of which I have had to develop different skills for.’

Honey used both of these experiences to achieve the Award, as well as completing a variety of workshops in employability skills:

‘I have learnt the importance of developing a variety of different skills no matter what I am doing, as these could be useful in applying for jobs in future.’

To get started with the Bristol PLUS Award, sign up now for an introductory talk. Enterprise, entrepreneurship and start-up support can be found at the Basecamp Enterprise Team .

 

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“I am thankful that I started thinking about careers in first year. It gave me more time to explore different options”

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 It can be tempting to put off thinking about what you want to do when you graduate, especially when you are busy with university work. Chloe Henshaw, (BA English), shares how she started thinking about careers in her first year, and went from having no idea what she wanted to do to securing a place on the Civil Service Fast Stream.  (more…)

TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards – Hello Finalists!

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We are excited to announce that this year, six University of Bristol students have been chosen as finalists for the TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards!   

The TARGETjobs Undergraduate of the Year Awards is an annual competition to celebrate the best undergraduates in the UK. Each award is partnered with a graduate recruiter who offers an amazing prize for the winner, including a paid internship, trips abroad, and other exclusive opportunities.  

via GIPHY

To become finalists, students first had to complete an application, including essay-style questions and online tests. Once passing that stage, students were either invited to a telephone interview or to take part in an assessment centre.

We caught up with our six nominees to hear more about their journeys to becoming finalists. (more…)

Will volunteering really make me stand out to employers?

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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. Your Careers Service is using the week (8-14 February 2021) to celebrate your achievements in volunteering over the past year. However, we are also keen to remind you of the employability benefits to be gained!

Will volunteering really make me stand out to employers?

Absolutely! But don’t take our word for it – in this blog some of our Bristol PLUS Award endorsing employers explain exactly how they perceive volunteer work from their applicants, and just why volunteering is so beneficial for both you and the organisation you go on to work for.

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The New Enterprise Competition- Development stage

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The world of employment has changed significantly over the last 12 months due to the pandemic. What has felt like months of uncertainty over what the future holds, the prospect of diving into the deep– end and starting your own business might seem daunting.  

However, working for yourself and launching a start-up in 2021 can be a great opportunity. Particularly if your enterprise fills a gap in the market, is well researched and it is something you’re passionate about. 

The New Enterprise Competition – Development stage is now open for applications.  This stage of the competition awards up to £1,000 to 10 start-ups. Funds can be used towards developing student and graduate start-ups. Historically winners have ranged between social enterprises combating food waste, to sustainable clothing businesses and much more. 

We spoke to one of last year’s winners, Fix My Crack- which some of you may know by their previous name Brisfix, to find out what winning this stage in the competition meant to them and how they found the process.  (more…)

3 reasons to make the most of the Faculty of Arts Careers Series this February

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The pandemic has impacted so much, including the world of work. The ongoing uncertainty can feel de-motivating; it may feel easier to avoid thinking about careers right now and to put it off until later. However, it could be an ideal time for career thinking and looking at what the Faculty of Arts Careers Series has to offer, (more…)