Bablake Careers Newsletter - Issue 17 (18-19)

CAREERS NEWSLETTER 2018-19

We asked a few universities if they would identify 18 reasons why a student might wish to study with them. A super contribution from Coventry University featured in a previous issue and Falmouth University will appear in Issue 18. Harper Adams University and the University of Law designed purpose-built poster pages for this issue which will also now feature in their national advertising.

ISSUE 17 – Friday 28 June 2019

IT IS WHAT IT IS… IN THE HIGH STREET Every sports player knows that, if you stand still, competitors will close you down and overwhelm you. Similarly it is what it is in the modern high street when you assess which brands look best to succeed and which may fail.

While rivals falter, Primark and Boots are two well-known high street names currently receiving reward for reacting positively to customers’ new habits.

With the advance of online sales, you would expect Primark to be behind its rivals since the internet is almost an afterthought for the company, yet Birmingham has just opened the largest clothing store in the world – a 5 storey one-stop experience, complete with Disney café, nail bar, hair and beauty salon, and barber’s – while Manchester’s rebranded store has added a Central Perk ‘Friends’ café, celebrating a show at its peak over 20 years ago. Tim Kelly, director of new business development for Primark, said: “We want people to walk in and say ‘I didn’t realise Primark did that.’ Service is becoming a greater part of retail, but our focus is on the right product at the right price.” If you count the number of Primark bags in any high street, the high volume low price sales policy is working.

Similarly, with the rapid growth of stores offering essential health, hygiene and beauty products at low cost, if Boots had kept its old store mentality, it would have collapsed. Instead a huge Covent Garden flagship store opens this week, reinventing Boots for the future with new names among over 300 brands, Instagram points, express Pharmacy lanes, extra consultation space, hydration stations, and more access to expert advice. Sebastian James, Managing Director, said: “We will learn what people love and want from this shop & this will help us shape a blueprint for our whole 2,500 store estate.”

The current trend for independent bookshops and record stores would make a fascinating follow-up article. In the meantime, to read more on how Boots and Primark have adapted to modern demands, see: • •

www.boots-uk.com/our-stories/boots-opens-its-doors-to-a-brand-new-store-of-the-future-in-covent-garden/ www.theguardian.com/business/2019/apr/11/world-biggest-primark-store-opens-in-birmingham

ZERO TALENT We’ve doubled our #18Before18 theme to identify 36 qualities every student can offer any employer without ‘talent’ being one of them: 1.

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Calmness Confidence Courtesy Effort Empathy Energy Enjoyment of Challenge Enthusiasm and Eagerness Flexibility Going Above and Beyond Duty Good ‘Chat’ Happiness Hardworking/ Strong Work Ethic Honesty Humility Humour Informed/ Aware/ Current Initiative Integrity Open Mind Optimism Organisation Passion Perseverance Positive Attitude Preparation Professional Approach Punctuality Receptive to New Ideas/ Learning Reliability Resilience Respectful Strength under Pressure Team Player Time Management Trustworthiness

Now imagine how far you can go with the vast array of talents you all have!

@BablakeCareers

Thank you to Kimberley Chadwick and Harper Adams for designing and supplying the ‘18 Reasons Why’ poster. For more information on the university, please see www.harper-adams.ac.uk.

#18REASONSWHY …

STUDYING AN ENGLISH DEGREE WORKS

English and Media Centre team members, author and education consultant Barbara Bleiman, Professor Bob Eaglestone (RHUL) and Professor Gail Marshall (University of Reading) combined forces to write a series of tweets (via @EngMediaCentre) presenting some of the reasons for studying English at university. This thread was then available for sharing with teachers, students and others.

1. It’s about Creativity – not just in the texts you read, but how you respond, think and change in relation to them. What does it mean to you?

2. Read a Rich Range of wonderful novels, poems, plays and texts that can’t easily be categorised… plus works of history, philosophy, theory and more.

3. We’re Shaped by Language, so studying its use and significance is both important and exciting.

4. English isn't always English - texts in English come from across the globe and bear witness to the diverse cultures that produced them.

5. English doesn't always start out in the UK: texts in translation help us read across national borders and to think about communication between cultures.

6. The Medium is the Message - whether it's a medieval manuscript, a hand-printed book, or an e-reader. Literature has always shaped and responded to technological change.

7. Be taught by Enthusiastic and Committed Experts who are reading, thinking, researching and writing too!

8. Literature is a Part of Our Living Cultural Ecosystem: it’s still growing, developing and changing.

9. Employers LOVE English Graduates: research shows companies value communication, collaboration, critical thinking, independence and adaptability. English teaches these. So become an effective researcher, great communicator and active, lifelong learner.

10. The Discipline of English is about Dissensus as well as Consensus. The disagreements are as fascinating and intellectually engaging as the agreements!

11. What You Read for Pleasure is also Part of What You Study – it will fuel you as a reader and as a person for the rest of your life.

12. Join the Greatest, Longest Conversation of Humanity. Be part of it!

13. It’s Sociable! English degrees rely on talking, arguing and communicating with others.

14. It’s Assessed in All Kinds of Different Ways: creative work, reviews, presentations, coursework, discussions, essays and/ or portfolios – traditional exams are rarely used in many degree courses.

15. There are Many Different Strands and Combinations to Choose from – English Literature, English Language, Creative Writing, Linguistics, Cultural studies, and Liberal Arts. Comparative Literature and English is a great combined or joint honours subject too.

16. Often labelled as a ‘Humanities’ subject, Some English Degrees Cross Boundaries e.g. corpus analysis in stylistics.

17. Other subjects may study ‘what’ you are: English is about ‘Who’ You Are. 18. You are Learning from the Past, in the Present, for the Future: a phrase coined by Professor Katy Shaw.

For more information on the English and Media Centre, please see: https://www.englishandmedia.co.uk/.

#18BEFORE18

A YEAR ON…

KRINA MISTRY’s INSIGHT INTO SPECSAVERS

Krina, who joined Specsavers Progression Pathway programme after A levels last summer and has just passed her Cert 4 in Optical Dispensing kindly returned to Bablake to lead an Optometry session earlier this week. We asked her to describe her journey with Specsavers, explaining how she found her original part-time job and how the post A level training had progressed:

As soon as I finished my GCSEs in summer 2016, I started thinking about what I wanted to do in the future for A levels and which career path I wanted to go along. I wanted to find some work experience in some aspect of science, as this area was one of my most favoured.

I applied for quite a lot of jobs – all part-time, weekend work – but the responses I received were negative as employers wanted qualifications. Then one day, whilst on my way to CSV (Community Service Volunteering), I popped into Specsavers and handed my CV to someone I later found out would actually be my manager! When I returned home the same night, I received a phone call from Specsavers to say I was invited for an interview.

So that week, after school, I went for my interview, which consisted of questions relating to school and my A level subjects. After having a look at my CV, they asked me to come in for a trial day the following week – our October half term break – which I agreed to and the manager asked me to bring all my exam certificates etc on that day. So, from the interview, I had secured my part-time job.

On my trial day, I shadowed someone dispensing glasses for half a day, and then spent the rest of the time in the contact lens department where I remained, as it just happened they were looking for a person to work part-time on Sundays and that person turned out to be me! At this point, I was not interested in optics at all.

They gave me training on contact lens, which included aspects like general administrative work for contact lens, booking appointments, ordering lenses, how to teach someone to insert a contact lens into the eye and remove it, and training in delivering excellent customer service.

The more training I received, I started to learn more about eyes, which began to fascinate me. Over summer 2017, I started to think optics might the best career for me and so I applied for optometry at university, and after four tough interviews, had four offers. When, however, I just missed my A level grades for an optometry course, Specsavers stepped in as, if you have worked in the company for more than two years, it can train you further to qualify in optics.

I have now finished a one year course - cert 4 in optical dispensing, which is a B Tech in optics – and move onto the Career Progression Pathway run by Specsavers. Everyone on this course works for the company; it is not promoted outside as an apprenticeship, as it is in-store training.

My normal day consists of advising and frame-styling people who need glasses. Once they have chosen a frame, I dispense them, so I need to fit the glasses to the person and take all the necessary optical measurements. I also work on contact lenses, so I can teach people how to insert and remove their lenses, as well completing all the related admin work.

My aim of being an optometrist will take a little longer than a direct university course, as it will at least take me 7-8 years, but I am very happy to have already secured a job at the end, and, of course, I am earning money and gaining store experience alongside this path.

For more information on working with Specsavers, see https://jobs.specsavers.co.uk/explore-careers/.

#BABLAKEPUPILSEVERYWHERE

ROB PREPARES FOR A JCB APPRENTICESHIP We congratulate Upper Sixth student Rob Tyas on gaining an apprenticeship with JCB, which he will embark upon later this summer. We asked him to reflect on his application and list advice he would pass onto younger pupils considering the same route Post 18. Here are his 10 top tips!

1. Apply for a few apprenticeships, taking time to personalise/ target your application with each, as they are very competitive. However, only apply to companies or schemes that you are prepared to accept!

2. Be prepared for the application process to take a long time and involve a lot more work than completing a UCAS application. The process is more like a graduate application for many of the companies, but keep a database of answers and adapt these to the questions.

3. What you do outside the classroom is usually valued more highly than your academic work – most employers will ask their apprentices to have 3 C grades.

4. Something different will help you stand out – e.g. if everyone is a team sports player, doing some coaching, mentoring, volunteering or a referee course will make you different. Working on sound and lighting for our plays over so many years really helped Rob, as it was something others had not done.

5. It is worth the effort as apprenticeships are like gold dust, especially if a degree apprenticeship, since you receive training, qualifications, experience and earn a very good wage, all of which should put you way ahead of your peers and future graduates.

6. You must be open and flexible, as the application process will most usually take longer than UCAS. 7. Be prepared to know a company inside out, when applying. Some will expect you to know not just their values, but specific information about their products and sector. LinkedIn, Twitter, company websites and Instagram are invaluable here.

8. Be brave! You may receive more than 1 offer, but not necessarily at the same time, so may need to turn down one opportunity while you wait for your preferred apprenticeship. This is unlike UCAS, where you choose a Firm and Insurance offer only when you have all your offers.

9. Consider a gap year to take time to apply for a programme you are really keen on or miss in the Upper Sixth, as you can pick up related experience in the meantime to make your application stronger. If you are uncertain of a sector to apply for, a gap year will give you a chance to find out where you fit best.

10. PERSEVERANCE (Top Tip!) Keep going! The rewards are huge, but it is not easy to maintain your applications and also keep on top of A level work.

There is no harm submitting a UCAS application as a back up for next academic year or deferred for the year after. You can withdraw once you are happy with your alternative option. Ask @BablakeCareers for Assessment Centre advice.

Photo from Bablake v KHVIII 2019

#STUDENT NEWS #18BEFORE18

For more information about The University of Law, see www.law.ac.uk.

TALKING POINTS MOOC OF THE FORTNIGHT (17)

SHE WRITES IDEAS FOR THE MONEY

CAREERS FORA – REVIEWS

After an excellent adviser day at Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts – see #18ReasonsWhy in Examining her story and what she Issue 18 - we caught up with means to a global audience today. former pupil Clare Barry, who now https://www.futurelearn.com/cours works as a freelance copywriter.

‘Jane Austen: Myth, Reality and • Global Celebrity ’

es/jane-austen

3-week course developed by the University of Southampton. Free to study, if you ‘screen shot’ the final certificate.

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BOOK OF THE FORTNIGHT

Clare won our 2007 5th year CV competition and, after graduating, worked as a journalist and public relations and social media manager before falling into copywriting for a Liverpool agency.

Clare counts Bablake’s first female pupil Karen Fraser MBE as one of her mentors and is very swiftly becoming a go-to guru in her industry, on the back of a brilliant article she wrote for Medium.

POST 18 AND BEYOND WITH IBM Lower Sixth students gained invaluable advice for post 18 and university intern opportunities with IBM from Futures intern Aaron Biddle and Cardiff University business management undergraduate Harry Collinge.

DOING THINGS DIFFERENTLY Jonah Ogbuneke, co-founder of social enterprise Love for The Streets spoke to an audience of 4th and L6th students about where his passion for Art, Maths and Psychology had taken him. His time at John Hopkins in America studying medicine and then chemical engineering at the University of Manchester gave great examples of where he had taken brave decisions to follow his real passion. His description of his long-term vision and goals was very inspiring. We follow his journey with pride and excitement.

OPTOMETRY Krina Mistry, from Specsavers, led an excellent discussion about her training and UCAS experience.

(See page 6 for Krina’s journey.)

See www.copyclare.com for more.

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THOUGHT OF THE FORTNIGHT

CONTACT BABLAKE CAREERS

Mr Mark Woodward

“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.”

JANE HOWARD Journalist, author and editor .

Email: mgw@bablake.coventry.sch.uk Twitter: @bablakecareers FB: www.facebook.com/bablakecareers Website: www.2morrow-2day.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin/markwoodward Blog: http://bablakecareers.tumblr.com/ Spotify: http://www.spotify.com/18before18 Instagram: @bablakecareers Careers Circulars: http://issuu.com/bablake/stacks