In The Zone - Autumn 2020

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ISSUE 9 AUTUMN 2020

YOUR CAREER ZONE

HANDBOOK

The Essential Career Planning Guide

WELCOME p1-2 create your future p3 work placements p7 extra-curricular activities p9

IN THE ZONE

Welcome to In The Zone Welcome to your Career Zone Handbook. We hope that you use it to identify your career planning needs, and to ‘Create Your Future’. In this handbook, we have showcased the services that are available to you, and you will be introduced to the key aspects of your careers service, including the new ‘Create Your Future’ module which First Years undertake to begin their career planning journey with us. Enjoy this new and different Autumn Term as best you can, make the most of your opportunities. Get in touch with us any time that you need to.

Your career starts here – We look forward to meeting you all soon.

Oli Laity, Careers Information and Systems Manager

FOr the latest news, opportunities and stories, Follow us on social media, read the blog, and listen to the Career Zone podcast.

www.exeter.ac.uk/careers

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Hello from an Exeter Graduate Hi everyone, this is Hugo, fourth-year Management with Marketing student. As an International student, job-seeking seems to be a mission impossible. As an international it took time for me to settle down in the UK and understand the UK culture. In terms of job seeking in the UK, it would be way more difficult for me back then. Luckily, the Career Zone provides a wide range of “tutorial” and assistance in the job application and it helped me a lot!

1 to 1 appointments: I met with Stephanie from the Business School and her assistance was really helpful, especially on my Transport for London (TFL) graduate scheme application.

That was my first ever assessment centre in my life; I was panicking as I don’t know what would be the best approach to the group assessment. She advised that I take the lead on managing the time of group discussion, proactively ask everyone to introduce themselves, encourage the rest of the group to express their view if they didn’t. I have managed to exercise all the techniques she taught, and ultimately I secured an offer from TFL. I never thought I would be able to work in the UK after graduating from Exeter Uni. It was a dream to myself, given that it is super hard to get a job in the UK for international students, and now it has come true. I would be nowhere without your help.

IN THE ZONE

What stage are you at with planning your career?

At Registration, as a new or continuing student, you’ll have indicated your current level of career planning by picking one of ten statements. The Career Zone aims to equip you to ‘Decide’, ‘Plan’ and ‘Compete’ for opportunities to follow your chosen graduate career path. This ‘Career Registration’ helps us to define the support you need at your stage of career planning.

Identify your career stage DECIDE

I’m not ready to start thinking about my career yet have no career ideas yet but want to start thinking I have some ideas about my career and I am ready to start planning

PLAN

I am ready to apply for graduate level/professional opportunities I am ready to apply for further study I have been applying for opportunities and so far I have not been successful

COMPETE

I have a career in mind and intend to gain relevant work experience I know what I want to do but I’m not sure how to get there I want to spend a year gaining experience

If you’re undecided, that’s fine!

Hear from current students to get you

started:

Your time at university will pass by quickly and graduation is right around the corner. It is wise to take advantage of the opportunities provided by the Career Zone, but your time at university is also a marathon not a sprint. So don’t be too hard on yourself and try to approach these opportunities with the mindset of ‘little and often’, rather than trying to do too much all at once

You don’t need to have a clear idea of what sort of job you want at this point – it’s about building a variety of skills and experiences which will allow you to keep your options open, and will help you to work out what sort of work you enjoy doing.

By Katie Bennett

By Daisy Newbold-Harrop

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For a full list of activities by each career stage check out the back cover

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IN THE ZONE

Create Your Future:

Developing the knowledge, skills and nt resources to build the career you wa Create your Future is a day-long personal and professional development programme. It runs in your 1st year so you have time to explore options, make decisions, develop your skills and gain relevant experiences during the rest of your time at University.

You will expand your understanding of career options, and learn about key topics relevant to the modern workplace including entrepreneurial thinking, sustainability, commercial awareness, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Whether you haven’t started thinking about your future career plans and ideas yet, you have a clear idea in mind, or already have experience in a specific sector, the content of the day will be customised for you. You will finish the day with some practical next steps including bespoke signposting to the Career Zone support that is most relevant to you.

All students will attend Create Your Future during Year 1, look out for it in your iExeter timetable.

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IN THE ZONE

Introducing the Exeter Award After a few days as a University of Exeter student you’ll probably have already seen this logo on social media and in emails.

But what is The Exeter Award?

The Exeter Award is an employability award for all taught students – and is a great way of gaining recognition for developing your employability skills alongside your studies.

Here’s what students have said about The Exeter Award: The Exeter Award isn’t just an opportunity for personal development but a chance to meet a community of uplifting and go-getting students from all years and courses who will continue to support and encourage you. Isla I have met so many amazing individuals, who are all as passionate about bettering themselves and developing both their career knowledge and skills as I am! I have made some friends for life. Scarlett I was pleasantly surprised at the variation of sessions that can be used for the awards, and this allowed me to really target my own needs, rather than just generic sessions. Mark

It was my starting point in career and employability.

It provided many useful guidance, training and guided me to achieve my career goals. Haw Dong Ho

To find out more and sign up, go to The Exeter Award page on My Career Zone.

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Once you’ve completed the Exeter Award, you can start the Exeter Leadership Award

You can re for the gister Exeter Award via My Car your eer Zon e dashbo ard

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Tips for effective networking It’s often said “It’s not what you know, but who you know and who knows you that matters”.

The ability to use contacts for discovering opportunities and helping you to make decisions, (i.e. networking) is probably the single most important skill you can develop to be “successful in your career”. You don’t have to have influential friends to be able to network – you can learn to do this effectively even if you think you have no useful contacts at all.

Benefits of networking:

It enables you to see what a job is really like: Questioning someone about the job they do should give you a better idea of what is involved and whether you would enjoy this work and be successful. Your contact may also be able to organise some work shadowing (i.e. unpaid work observation) for you.

Networking can help you to prepare for work.

You can get your contacts to –

Outline the range of jobs within their field and the level of competition for them.

Look through improvements.

your

CV,

suggesting

How to do it?

Take part in the Career Mentor Scheme Talk to alumni via the Exepert Scheme

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It might help you to find a job: Your contacts may be able to tell you which websites, newspapers and agencies to use for vacancies.

However, when you first make contact; ask for information or advice – NOT for a job. Also, note that contacts alone rarely get you a job – you’ll need to prove you have the appropriate skills and experience and are able to demonstrate these clearly and effectively on a CV or Application Form. However, contacts can be of enormous use in helping you to understand just what a particular job requires and how best to demonstrate your suitability.

Attend employer talks on campus/online

Attend Virtual/In-person Career Fairs

DID YOU

Advise you on other skills or experience that you might need.

Create a strong LinkedIn account – This is a great platform to start building contacts from. It is a professional network which gives you access to thousands of contacts.

If you need any further help or advice with LinkedIn sign up to one of our LinkedIn skills sessions through My Career Zone

IN THE ZONE

Your guide to part time work At the University of Exeter we run a dedicated Part time Job Service to help you gain experience and earn money whilst you are studying. Part time jobs can be, and often are, the gateway for our students to reach advanced alternatives; leading to great things through further experience, connections and understanding of the opportunities available. View our latest Student Employee of the Year Awards to see where previous students have worked part time.

You may also find our Casual Entrepreneurial Ideas guide useful for tips on how to earn money on a part time basis.

For international students, our International Student Careers webpage gives advice on applying for a National Insurance Number, which is usually required when you get paid work in the UK. If you would like further help on any of these topics or a check on your application for any roles, you can book at 1:1 Casual Jobs appointment with our team.

Part time job interview experience I was being interviewed for a part-time bar assistant role in Beefeater. My interview experience was very relaxed and friendly, the manager and I discussed my work experience, why I wanted to work for Beefeater, and what other skill sets I could bring to the company in general (i.e. personability, organisation, communicative).

Halfway through the interview, I was served with a selection of their fries (from thin to sweet potato).

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The interview was far less daunting and scaring than I had first thought it would be, and although you may not always have a bowl of fries to go with your interview, it made me realise that employers aren’t there to catch you out on your weaknesses, but are there to appreciate what you can bring to their establishment.

By Thomas Gunning (3rd Year Undergraduate, Drama Student)

You can use ShortlistMe to practice your interview technique

Get ad on sear vice c part tim hing for casual@ e work at exeter. ac.uk

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IN THE ZONE

Work Placements – Is it too early to think about them?

Finding a job after you graduate can be a daunting thought, and some students put it to the back of their minds until they are in their final year, when suddenly that initial thought many years ago becomes a reality. It’s not easy finding a job, let alone one you want when there are so many other graduates applying for the same roles.

So let’s talk about how you can prepare yourself for the graduate market and put yourself in a better position to compete and secure a job. The key word is ‘’experience’’, experience of applying and competing for jobs and work experience in organisations. Here are the results from a few surveys that highlight how important ‘’experience’’ can be:

59%

of graduates that were hired by our Top Undergraduate Employers were former interns and placement students (ratemyplacement.co.uk, 2020)

44%

of placement students were hired into graduate jobs by their placement employer (ISE Survey 2019)

61%

of HR managers said relevant work experience was more important than the grades achieved by graduates

(www.personneltoday.com/hr/graduates lacking-key-skills-hr-managers-say/ 18.12.19)

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With such a competitive graduate jobs marketplace, one of the key ways to gain that ‘’experience’’ is to undertake a work placement as part of your degree.

There are lots of different work placement modules available ranging from a week’s work experience to a year in industry, so why don’t you talk to your tutor, or come and speak to the Placement Teams (Streatham and St Lukes – placements@exeter.ac.uk, Penryn – placements-penryn @exeter.ac.uk) who can give you advice on the placement module options available and the wide range of support on offer to you to help you find and secure a placement.

IN THE ZONE

Internships Internships are a great opportunity for you to gain relevant skills. They often include a degree of responsibility and the chance to apply and develop your skills, knowledge and experience. In addition to this, employers often use internships as a way of assessing a candidate’s capability and often recruit employees from their interns, rather than advertise their vacancies externally.

Whilst there are internships run by many different organisations and companies across the country; the University of Exeter also runs its own internship schemes. These include: the Student Campus Partnership (SCP), the Student Business Partnership (SBP), Access to Internships

(A2I), and Professional Pathways. The Career Zone regularly advertises and promotes these opportunities so it’s always best to keep a look out for them. To hear from students about their experience of completing a SCP internship, see the quotes below:

SCP Experiences Before coming to University, I assumed I would have to find a part-time job in a pub or a shop in Exeter to earn any extra money.

Little did I know that there are plenty of opportunities to work within the University through Student Campus Partnerships (SCPs). The application and interview process for my current role as a Careers Telephone Researcher was a great chance to go through this process in a professional, but not overly competitive environment. I genuinely really enjoy my work, as I get to do something I enjoy in a team full of people I really like working with!

By Ozz Wills (2nd Year Liberal Arts)

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In my 2nd and 3rd years as a Geography undergraduate at the University of Exeter’s Penryn campus, I was employed as a Career Zone Information Assistant. This position enabled me to develop my organisational and interpersonal skills, as well as expanding my careers knowledge and broadening my professional networks!

By Rachel Rees (3rd Year Geography) Student Campus Partnership internships are a great source of high-quality work experience whilst you are at University. A number of departments and services across the University offer SCP internships and the providers understand the varied demands of student life. They are a great talking point in interviews and really help you stand out, but more importantly they are fun and truly rewarding!

By Ed Bates (2nd Year History)

Book an a with an ppointment Employ ment and Pla c Adviser ements placem to discuss ents/in ternship You can work up to 15 hours per week during term time, s SN

and 36.5 hours per week during the vacation periods

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Do more with the Career Zone aecxttirvai-tcyurricular

The University offer lots of opportunities to take part in schemes and programmes outside of your course.

Green Consultants and Grand Challenges are just two of these schemes, but check out the back page for a full list of the activities available. Extra-curricular activities are an excellent way to expand your skill set and gain further experience.

Auditing the Isle of Wight Festival During my second year of University I completed the Green Consultants module as part of my Geography degree.

Green Consultants If you are interested in the environmental and sustainability sector, Green Consultants might be the right opportunity for you. Green Consultants is an award-winning extracurricular programme for students who wish to develop their skills in consulting.

Applications open in September and successful applications complete a training programme in the Autumn Term. This is followed by a group project on campus in the Spring Term which will allow you to directly influence the sustainability of the University of Exeter through work on live business projects, with real clients within the University.

Finally, in the summer you will have an internship with a local business, where you will audit their sustainability and help them to make improvements.

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The training was intense but gave me a solid grounding in auditing in the environment and sustainability sector. I then applied the skills by working on a live project on campus, the results going on to inform sustainable change in the ESI. Finally, and perhaps the most exciting part for me was the placement.

During my placement in June of 2019, I completed a comprehensive plastic audit at the Isle of Wight Festival, this involved data collection, through interviews, surveys and auditing.

Although it was only a few days, the experience gave me an insight into sustainability challenges in the entertainment and events management sector. The report was then sent back to Solo, the festival organisers to inform their future policy on plastic generation and consumption.

Green Consultants is for anyone interested in developing policy or working on live projects which exact real change.

By Jing Coulson, (3rd Year Undergraduate, Geography student)

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Interested in making real change at the University or around the globe?

Looking to develop your transferable skills? Want to meet like-minded people? Grand Challenges is a unique, high-energy week that gives you all of that and more.

Taking place in June, you will work in an interdisciplinary group on a topic you feel passionate about, and develop an innovative and creative project that tackles a real world challenge. You get to work closely with leading academics, hear inspiring talks from external speakers and form new friendships along the way. The Challenges will address some of the global issues such as climate emergency, planetary health, social inequality, mental health and wellbeing, global security, fake news and food sustainability.

In 2020, we successfully converted Grand Challenges to an online programme for 400 students, and the student satisfaction rate remained consistently high at 94%. Find out more on the Grand Challenges website.

Other extra-curricular activities: Professional Pathways – a suite of sector specific training courses and paid week-long internships.

Global Leader Experience – a week-long visit to a fascinating city where you will be faced with challenges you would not ordinarily face in the UK. Career Mentor Scheme – a popular scheme which matches a student or graduate with an experienced professional, for sector insight and one-to-one careers advice and guidance, over a 6 month period.

Find ou t mo about re Grand Ch on the w allenges ebsite

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Checklist of activities Now you know more about the Career Zone.

Here is a checklist of all the possible programmes and schemes available which can enhance your employability.

Decide

Plan

Compete

Create Your Future

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The Exeter Award

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The Exeter Leaders Award

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Careers Guidance Appointments

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Careers Advice Appointments Careers Fairs

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Career Research

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Grand Challenges

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Green Consultants

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Aspirational Educators

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Skills Events

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Professional Pathways

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Career Mentor Scheme

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eXepert Scheme

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Access to Internships (A2I)

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Employer and Alumni Events

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Internships & Volunteering

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Placement and Study Abroad

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Enterprise and Student Startups

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✔

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If you would like to talk through any of these schemes/programmes, or need help with your career planning. Get in touch with the Career Zone for advice and guidance.