STRIVE festival 2023 programme

TAKE PART AND WIN WITH STRIVE BINGO ON PAGE 15!

PROGRAMME OF EVENTS

MONDAY 20 – FRIDAY 24 MARCH

TIMETABLE

MONDAY 20

CV Writing - BNU Careers Service

10 –11am, N2.03

Interview Skills - BNU Careers Service

1– 2pm, N2.03

Time Management - Jessica Hughes

2– 4pm, N3.04

TUESDAY 21

Domiciliary Care Sector Seminar

Greg Renk (Walfinch)

1– 2pm, N2.15

Mental Health Awareness - TutorCare

2.30 – 5.30pm, N3.05

STRIVE FOR A FULL HOUSE AND WIN!

Fill in a circle by attending a session and receiving the sticker for that session.

Fill in all the stickers in the programme to get a full house and win a STRIVE 2023 goody bag to take your employability further.

Contact sutraining@bnu.ac.uk to claim your prize or for any questions.

TAKE PART IN SESSIONS AND WIN WITH STRIVE BINGO

TIMETABLE

WEDNESDAY 22

Interview Skills - BNU Careers Service

10 –11am, N3.05

Professional Headshots

Pre-Booking Required

For more info, refer to What’s On event on bucksstudentsunion.org/whatson

11am –2pm

Networking & LinkedIn

BNU Careers Service

1– 2pm, N3.05

Resilience & Self Care in the Workplace

BMR Health & Wellbeing

2 – 5pm, N2.06

THURSDAY 23

Personal Branding - Sarah Williams

11am – noon, N2.06

FRIDAY 24

Employer Showcase & Networking Event

noon – 4pm, The Venue

EXHIBITORS

ACTIVE IN THE COMMUNITY

Active in the Community CIC is a not-for-profit project management organisation that provides community activities, projects and services on behalf of Local Authorities and other professional bodies.

Our aim is to provide accessible and affordable activities across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. Our sessions are designed to get you moving in a welcoming and social setting.

ACTION FOR CHILDREN

We protect and support children and young people. We do this by providing practical and emotional care and support. We make sure their voices are heard. And we campaign to bring lasting improvements to their lives.

BRIGHT STARS NURSERIES

Welcome to Bright Stars Nursery, where quality childcare and education are provided in well-resourced settings; offering plenty of space, natural light and fresh air combined with large attractively presented outdoor areas. Regulated by OFSTED, we pride ourselves in offering a high quality service to all our nursery children in environments where children have the encouragement they need to grow and learn.

EXHIBITORS

WALFINCH

Walfinch provides bespoke, high-quality care at home to individuals and families across the UK. We’re different: we aim not just to help you maintain your lifestyle but to enhance your independence and help you live comfortably in your own home.

We are small enough to provide the high-quality bespoke care that everyone would want, and big enough to provide it in a reliable, professional way. Walfinch works from local offices with local Managing Directors and carers, so we are local to you.

24/7 RECRUITMENT

For many years 24:7 recruitment solutions have been making introductions with jobseekers and employers in and around the Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Oxfordshire & Thames Valley region. Recruiting for a broad range of industries supplying candidates for permanent and temporary roles in the catering & hospitality, Industrial & Technical markets. 24:7 recruitment solutions has continued to grow due to our client and candidate retention, we are always looking for ways to improve the service we provide our clients and innovative ways to reduce paperwork and increase the efficiency of our processes.

EXHIBITORS

SABETI WAIN

What is now Sabeti Wain Aerospace began as a small clothing manufacturer in Iran, a country born of revolution and torn by religious differences. The Sabeti family saw its business, its home, its capital and assets all seized by the revolutionary guard before fleeing religious persecution and escaping to neighbouring Pakistan.

This was just the first step in a journey that would eventually see them reunited with their son and daughter in the UK. Here they were able to start their business again, and after years of hard work and sheer determination, build into the success it is today.

Now Sabeti Wain is not only the worlds leading designer and manufacturer of aircraft seat covers, with production facilities in the UK, Dubai and America, it also represents the highest quality benchmark - effectively the standard that other manufacturers seek to emulate, and by which they are judged

SPIRE HEALTHCARE

Spire Healthcare is a leading independent healthcare group in the United Kingdom and the largest in terms of revenue. Our Purpose is to make a positive difference to people’s lives through outstanding personalised care. Everyone at Spire is aligned to this Purpose, which makes a positive difference to all our colleagues instilling a culture of respect, inclusion and collaboration across the business.

EXHIBITORS

SOFTCAT

Our goal as a business is simple, to be the leading voice in the IT infrastructure, product and services industry – maintaining, and exceeding, levels of customer and employee satisfaction.

RAPE & SEXUAL ASSAULT SUPPORT SERVICE

Rape & Sexual Abuse Support Service (South Bucks), previously known as Rape Crisis (Wycombe Chiltern & South Bucks) is a non-profit making organisation that began in 1996. We support all genders aged 16 years old plus in Wycombe, South Buckinghamshire and surrounding areas. We aim to provide a free and confidential support and information service for survivors of rape, sexual assault, domestic abuse and sexual abuse whether in the past or recently.

LITTLE KICKERS

We give your children a positive introduction to sport by teaching high quality football skills in a friendly, pressurefree environment. With a network of 2,250 coaches and over 300 franchises in 32 countries, we’re now the world’s biggest and most successful pre-school football academy and there’s plenty more to come. We’re constantly enhancing our classes with the help of our experts and we’re always happy to hear from people who want to become a franchisee and experience a better work/life balance while running a successful business.

WORKSHOPS

TIME MANAGEMENT - JESSICA HUGHES

Monday 20, 2 – 4pm, N3.04

Jessica is the Training and Development Coordinator at Bucks Students’ Union and has a professional background in Learning and Development and Coaching. With Jessica’s experience as an engaged student, small business owner, and 9 to 5 employee she shares her top tips for time management. Finding there aren’t enough hours in the day? Or days in the week? With a few helpful tricks and taking inventory of your schedule and responsibilities this time management workshop can provide you with some tools to effectively manage your time and prioritise tasks.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS - TUTOR CARE

Tuesday 21, 2.30 – 5.30pm, N3.05

TutorCare is a UK-based training provider that has been trading for 12+ years. We operate at 300+ centres nationwide, with 1000+ training instructors ready to deliver courses in-house at your premises, even during the evenings or over the weekend.

The course covers the notion of mental health, identifying mental health disorders, understanding the steps to take after indentifying a condition, and treating mental health disorders and side effects of medications.

• What is mental health?

• Identifying a mental health disorder.

• What to do if you recognise a mental health disorder.

• Making a referral.

• Supporting those with mental health disorders.

• Discrimination and stigma.

• Mental health disorders & side effects of medication.

SELF-CARE AND RESILIENCE - ANN ROBINSON

Wednesday 22, 2 – 5pm, N2.06

Ann Robinson is a Mental Health First Aid Instructor, a qualified Hypnotherapist and is currently undertaking her psychotherapy training. She is the co-founder of BMR Health and Wellbeing. A workplace wellbeing consultancy and services provider based in Milton Keynes.

In this session we will look at the importance of self-care and resilience at work.

For anyone in the caring profession, self-compassion and detachment are two key factors that can help you better manage workplace stressors and look after your mental well-being .

Self-compassion is the ‘ability to respond to ourselves in times of stress and / or distress with kindness and understanding and has been found to lead to lower rates of burnout and increased effectiveness with stress management.

Detachment is a coping strategy that focuses on your ability to detach mentally from the workplace, when not at work. A healthy level of detachment has been shown to improve emotional regulation among nurses and positively contribute to overall well-being.

We need to ensure that we are in a good place before we can effectively support others. We will explore so of the basics around resilience and self-care making sure that you understand the triggers and signs in both you and others and know how and where to access support.

WORKSHOPS

PERSONAL BRANDING - SARAH WILLIAMS

Thursday 23, 2 – 4pm, N2.06

Sarah Williams is head of the school of business and law at BNU and has a background in public relations, communication and marketing. Her career in PR and marketing spans 30 years and she has managed communications for brands such as Magnet, Stanley, Sainsbury’s, Drayton Manor Theme Park and Disney. In this session, she draws on her experience of managing corporate reputations to make recommendations for managing your own personal reputation and brand.

A guide to personal branding

How do you build an effective online personal brand? One that inspires confidence and showcases your skills and values? At this session, we will explore the ways and means of building a personal brand. We will explore the importance of authenticity and how you bring your personality to life online, as well as looking some of the pitfalls.

DOMICILARY CARE SECTOR TALK - GREG RENK

Tuesday 21, 1 – 2pm, N2.15

Greg worked in design, advertising and marketing running his own London-based agency for 24 years working across the business and commercial sectors. During this time he gained the knowledge required to run a successful business spanning Business Development, Client & Project Management, HR, IT, Planning & Finance.

He moved into the care sector as a marketing consultant in 2014 working with different profile care companies, and the techniques he brought with him from his previous role quickly proved successful.

After this ‘apprenticeship’, Greg started his own care company Walfinch in 2020 which has grown widely and successfully across High Wycombe and the surrounding areas, supporting and improving the lives of many vulnerable and elderly-frail people and providing piece of mind to families.

Walfinch Buckinghamshire - Domiciliary Care

• what is domiciliary care

• how does it work in the Community

• the role of a domiciliary carer

• what attributes does a care worker need

• training and recruitment

• career opportunities in homecare

• CQC

EMPLOYABILITY TIPS

SOCIAL MEDIA PROFILE MANAGEMENT

• Having no profile at all may not be beneficial

• Keep your profile professional, updated and relevant

• Some people have two accounts on platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter - one social, one professional

• Monitor what people share with you or tag you in –stay in control of your profile

• When you post, think whether that post could impact you in the future

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

• Actively listen to the other person and take time to give a calm and measured response

• Avoid using judgemental, defensive or attacking comments and display positive body language

• Maintain eye contact in conversations

• Think before you speak, be confident in what you are saying and don’t interrupt the other person speaking

• Keep correspondence professional, concise and to the point and remember to proof read before sending

EMPLOYABILITY TIPS

INTERVIEW TIPS

• Research the organisation before your interview and be clear on the responsibilities of the role.

• Dress appropriately and arrive in plenty of time!

• Don’t be afraid to ask for a minute if you need to consider your response and don’t lie!

• Prepare some answers to expected questions and some questions for you to ask at the end of the interview.

• How is your experience relevant to the tasks of the role?

• Go to as many interviews as you can and always ask for feedback even if unsuccessful

CV/APPLICATION TIPS

• Make it all about you and be concise yet descriptive

• Stick to the facts – if you get to interview you’ll need to be able to talk about your experiences

• Highlight your key skills and employment first and keep it relevant, not all experience may be interesting for the role you are applying for

• Detail most recent experiences first and work backwards, remember volunteering is work experience

• Check the Person Specification and make sure your statement or cover letter addresses each skill with a specific example.

THERE’S MORE!

INTERESTED IN MORE EMPLOYABILITY ADVICE?

Make sure you check out MyBNUFuture with heaps of advice on CV building, interview skills, jobhunting and assessment centres.

You can also make individual appointments with the Student Opportunities and Career Success department by emailing careers@bnu.ac.uk

Or why not drop down to the Students’ Union for a Bucks Award session? Everything you do with the Students’ Union is recorded centrally and we can produce your Bucks Award as a record of this for you and talk you through how these skills can be transferrable into the workplace, to give you confidence writing your applications and in your interviews!

Make sure you keep an eye on our What’s On page for extra curricular activities and training sessions all designed to boost your employability!

If you are a first or second year, you will want to find out more about the Leadership Academy – Leadership Academy applications for 2023/24 open in May

Want to be a part of STRIVE 24? Apply to be an Employability Ambassador! Applications opening in May

Visit bucksstudentsunion.org for more information

STRIVE FOR A FULL HOUSE AND WIN!

Fill in a circle by attending a session and receiving the sticker for that session.

Fill in all the stickers to get a full house and win a STRIVE 2023 goody bag to take your employability further. Contact sutraining@ bnu.ac.uk to claim your prize or for any questions.

STRIVE BINGO

TIME MAN AGEMENT

SELF-CARE & RESILIENCE

MENTALHEALTH AWARENESS

INTERVIE W SKILLS CV W R ITING

PERSONAL BRANDING

NETWORKING & LINKEDIN

THANKS FOR COMING ALWAYS STRIVE FOR MORE