3 ways to make the most of your summer!

The summer vacation is the ideal time for some well-deserved rest and relaxation.

But if you’re anything like me, guilt-free relaxation time is near impossible without the nagging feeling that you should be doing something to improve your career prospects.

Here are our three stress-free ways to make the most of your summer:  

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How a City Challenge helped Bristol Walk Fest make strides

In April, Bristol Walk Fest partnered with the Careers Service to run a City Challenge, with the goal of getting input from student volunteers on ways to engage younger walkers with their events.

Bristol Walk Fest is an annual walking festival, with events taking place all over the city.  We chatted to Jennifer Graham, their 2023 Event Manager, about their experience.

Jen, can you tell us what Bristol Walk Fest is all about?  

Decolonising Bristol walk

Bristol Walk Fest began over a decade ago and is a celebration of all things walking. The free festival, which regularly attracts over 7,500 attendees year-on-year, showcases the best of Bristol for everyone to enjoy, either individually or with others. 

The festival takes place during May to coincide with Living Streets’ National Walking Month and offers a wide variety of walking activities, personal challenges, self-guided walking routes and discussion events. The (mostly free) walks and activities are for all backgrounds and levels of fitness.  

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Work with us next year!

Each year we recruit a team of current students to come and work with us at the Careers Service. They are an integral part of our team and work on a wide range of exciting tasks.

From working face-to-face with fellow students to creating content for blogs and our social media channels, supporting the Bristol PLUS Award and getting involved in employer events, and even helping students develop their entrepreneurial skills – we don’t know where we would be without them!

We are excited to say that applications are now open for next year’s team.

All of these roles are part-time and designed to fit around your studies.

You’ll receive full training and will gain valuable, transferable skills through working in a professional environment, such as teamwork, time management, and communication skills. We have also been told, it’s a lot of fun to work with us!

We are currently recruiting for the following roles:

(NB: All roles will begin in September, so you must be a current student as of September to apply.)

Follow the links to mycareer to find out more and apply. Applications are open until Sunday 18 June 2023.

We caught up with some of this year’s team to hear a little more about their roles and why they think you should apply:

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When it comes to your career, what’s right for you? Find your anchor!

Career anchors can help you to figure out what’s most important to you in a career.

Rather than focusing on a particular sector or industry, career anchors encourage you to think about what you value in a job or workplace and where your skills lie.

The concept of career anchors was developed by psychologist Edgar Schein who laid out eight distinct career anchors …

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My IKEEP project helping to protect children online 

The IKEEP programme offers students free business training and industry experience through a paid team placement with a small enterprise.

Marketing undergraduate Nina tells us about her IKEEP project placement with non-profit Better Together and how it’s inspired her future career plans. 


Nina, can you tell us about your IKEEP project with Better Together?

Marketing student Nina Yang

Better Together offers workshops and resources on online safety, specifically targeting parents, guardians, caregivers, teachers, and other professionals working with children and young people. They also provide workshops tailored to adult internet use.

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Outstanding PLUS Awards: meet the judges!

Meet the distinguished panel of judges who selected the winners of this year’s Outstanding PLUS Awards.

The OPA celebrates Bristol PLUS Award students who have made a significant change or impact in their PLUS Award activity. There are eight award categories, with just one winner per category.

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Make your SU award nomination count for your career

Being at university is not just about getting a degree. It’s also about the opportunities alongside your degree to explore interests and develop yourself.

It can be about pushing outside your comfort zone or proving to yourself that you can do something. You may want to make a difference in a community or make your mark. Or you may want to dedicate time to an interest or a cause that intrigues or inspires you.

Many find these fulfilling experiences through Bristol Students’ Union (SU), by:

As well as making university memorable, SU experiences can enhance your employability.

Employers frequently state the value they place on extracurricular experiences.

A group of students accepting an SU Award. There are balloons in the background and the students are all smiling widely.

The SU celebrates students’ achievements each year in the SU Awards.

Being nominated and achieving one of these coveted awards can help you stand out to employers.

So how can you make the most of this?

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Jumpstart: land a role in a top start-up.

Get Hired, our flagship spring career fair is taking place on Wednesday 3 May, from 12:30 pm to 4 pm at Bristol Beacon, Trenchard Street (near Bristol Hippodrome).

On the run-up to Get Hired, we will be hosting a series of employer-led sessions to help you prepare for, and make the most out of, the fair. So if you are unsure what to do at a careers fair, or want some tips on how to research the attending employers, and what questions to ask; head to mycareer to explore our Prepare to Get Hired sessions.

Jumpstart, whose mission is to make startups a valuable career path for everyone, are one of the organisations presenting a Prepare to Get Hired skill session. We recently caught up with Jumpstart’s co-founder Kabir, to hear about his experience as an entrepreneur. 

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Five reasons why you should take part in a City Challenge

For our latest City Challenge, we teamed up with local Bristol charity BristolHub, an organisation that supports University of Bristol students to tackle social challenges, learn about issues and connect with each other.

So what is a City Challenge? and why should you take part?

Table of students at the careers service working on the most recent City Challenge with BristolHub

We caught up with Hannah (BA Politics and International Relations) and Apoorva (MA Economics and Finance) who attended the most recent City Challenge, along with Will Westgarth of Bristol Hub, to hear all about the programme and why they recommend you take part in a future one. Here are their five top reasons : 

1. You can make a real difference to a local charity

During a City Challenge, you help a Bristol non-profit tackle an issue they are facing. You learn about a local cause, help improve them and have a positive impact on the local community. Our most recent challenge was with Bristol Hub. Hannah, who’s in her second year, said, “I aspire to work in the non-profit sector so insight into a small charity and the way it works was really helpful for me.” 

Will, from BristolHub, smiling

The charity gets a lot too.

Will of Bristol Hub said, “The Challenge helped Bristol Hub further understand students’ desires when it comes to opportunities and how we can best reach out and connect with students. They came up with incredibly detailed and well thought-out presentations, with suggestions which we will take on board for the next academic year.”  

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How to get into Social Policy

Last month the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law hosted a panel event on How to get into Social Policy, as part of the ‘How to get into’ event series. 

Here we bring you an overview of the sector and the panellists’ top tips for getting into social policy.

What is social policy?

Social policy is all about addressing human needs for security, social justice and welfare, and it considers how states and societies deal with such issues.

There are many different routes into policy work and a wide range of roles to pursue if you’re interested in this area – both in the private and public spheres.

A common entry route into the sector is as a research associate for independent think tanks. You could also work in project delivery or as a policy adviser in a government department. If you’re interested in more local issues, you might consider applying for the National Graduate Development Programme which is run through local governments.

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