Your discipline focused Employability Newsletter Welcome to your Employability NewsletterWelcome to the College of Social Sciences and International Studies Employability newsletter: Following on from our fascinating networking events exploring what you can do with your Politics, International Relations and Arabic and Islamic studies degrees, we now have events coming up focusing on two popular professions that social scientists go in to: Law and Education. Our events will present an honest and new way of looking at these two career options and where they can take you. Julia Paci Upcoming Careers Events in the College'Is Teaching for Me?' Panel Date: Tuesday 16th October This panel event is a fantastic opportunity to speak with Exeter Alumni who have studied the PGCE here at Exeter. We have one Primary and one Secondary School Teacher joining us, so you can hear about the rewards and challenges from both perspectives. Come along and find out about their own experiences with teaching, studying the PGCE, and what it is really like to be a teacher! This is a great way to get tips on how you can follow a similar career path. The Judges are coming... Law Careers for Barrister and Solicitors: The Profession and Beyond Date: Tuesday 23rd October Gain an insight into modern-day legal careers, from getting started to judicial roles. The seminar will be chaired by Judge Mark Sutherland Williams LLB, with Judge Elizabeth Grant LLB. Each judge will discuss their own career journeys, cover a variety of legal topics and take questions from the audience. Refresh Your Maths is now live! Refresh Your Maths is an employability skills training session, led by Maths Students, to help brush up your Maths and prepare you for Numerical Reasoning tests. There are a number of workshops that are now live on My Career Zone. Go and check them out! Career Planning SupportAshurst CV and Cover Letter Training Workshop Date: Friday 26th Oct Ashurst, a leading international law firm for nearly 200 years, will be delivering a workshop on CV and cover letter training. This is a fantastic opportunity to take advantage of their legal expertise and industry knowledge to strengthen your CV and cover letter writing skills. How to prepare for the Law Fair Date: Tuesday 30th Oct Join us for a workshop and find out what you need to know on how to target the firms that interest you. Do not miss this opportunity that offers valuable advice on how to stand out, as well as making the most out of the fair. How to apply to Law Grad School Date: Thursday 1st Nov In this workshop, you will learn about the different types of post graduate study opportunities available to law students, including international opportunities. Please note: this is not about the LPC or BPTC but LLM programmes. What can I do with my Philosophy degree? Date: Wednesday 7th Nov Are you worried that you do not have any clear career ideas? This session will help you to reflect on your strengths and weaknesses, look at strategies to develop a career plan, identify what your priorities are in relation to work and start to create an action plan. Thinking about a Career in Teaching?Teaching Open Day Date: Saturday 3rd Nov Becoming a teacher will lead to an exciting and rewarding career. Quality teachers are highly sought after, and choosing the right teacher training programme is an important step in ensuring a successful career. At our open day you will learn about our Primary and Secondary PGCE, and School Direct programmes for 2019 entry, as well as about funding opportunities and how to apply. Book your place today: Secondary Teacher Taster Internship: Three days of paid internship in Secondary schools. You will receive training before you go. A great chance to spend time in school – and get paid for it. For more info click here. Applications close 28th Oct. Teacher Training Options Exhibition: Wed 7th Nov 1:00-5:00pm: The Forum Teaching providers will be exhibiting in the Forum, come along and see what they can offer you. No need to book, just turn up! Meet The Newly Qualified Teacher: Wed 7th Nov 5:00-6:30pm: Forum Seminar Room 1&2 Teachers who have recently finished their training will be coming onto campus to help you decide which is the best training route for you. A great opportunity to speak directly to people who have been in your position. What's New in the Career Zone?Careers and Placements Fair Date: Tuesday 23rd October The Careers and Placement Fair is open to Exeter students of all years and disciplines and provides a fantastic opportunity to meet over 80 graduate recruiters from a wide range of sectors. Companies attending include our sponsors Teach First, plus Accenture, ASOS, BMW Group UK, GSK, Savills Unilever, Royal Air Force and many more. There will also be postgraduate study providers and our Career Zone on hand to help. No need to book, just turn up! Working in Journalism with alumni Ben Stupples and Imogen Groome Come and find out about what it’s really like to work in journalism, from two former students: News Reporter (Wealth) at Bloomberg LP, Ben Stupples, and Associate Editor at Netmums, Imogen Groome. Careers Challenges: Facing your fears and promoting yourself Worried about what you're going to do after university? Do you want to hear from a Exeter graduate who's overcome challenges to become a successful entrepreneur? Come along to hear from Ali Golds and get some advice! Pathways to Data Analytics Applications are live until October 22nd for Q-Step's Pathways to Data Analytics ‘As all sectors rapidly generate more data, a demand for staff with the skills to analyse it and translate it into information that benefits these organisations, is growing fast.’ Are you interested in developing valuable skills in five training sessions? If you’re available for training on Wednesdays (AM for Python, PM for beginners) 14th November-12th December and are interested in developing your data analytics skills, this is for you! Alumni Focus: Interview FeatureMinh-Tri Le BSc Sociology and Criminology with Applied Data Analysis, 2016 Current Occupation: Strategy Advisor at NEST (National Employment Savings Trust), seconded from the Civil Service Fast Stream Can you tell us a little bit about the postings you have had prior to your current role? Sure, I began the Fast Stream in October 2017 where my first posting was in the Department for International Trade (DIT). I was posted in the Intellectual Property Trade Policy Team where I was developing UK-US Intellectual Property Trade Policy. My second posting was from April 2018 at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), posted into the Strategic Communications Directorate, working in the Workplace Pensions Campaigns Team where I was responsible for the evaluation and research of the workplace pension campaign adverts. As of October 2018, I am currently on my third posting at NEST. During your time at university, what skills did you develop that have helped you with your career goals? I had the pleasure of attending the Green Consultants Programme run by the Career Zone. The programme enhanced my Microsoft Excel skills because they taught environmental auditing as part of the curriculum which allowed me to gain a better understanding of how the professional world worked. Additionally, throughout my time at university I was a Student Ambassador, working for the Student Recruitment Office. I was there for two years and this helped me to build interpersonal skills, developing my communication skills that helped me to interact with prospective students, parents and teachers alike. Did the opportunities you had at university help you tailor your interests? I came to university with an open mind hence my degree spanning across multiple subjects; Sociology and Criminology with Applied Data Analysis. However, the organisations that are present on the university such as the College of Social Science and International Studies (SSIS) and Career Zone guided me to find a career which married my interests with a job. They did this by offering advice on how to navigate the careers fair to find the industries that had my interests in mind and organising excellent workshops on application techniques such as using the STAR approach in application forms and interviews. I thoroughly recommend the summer programmes that the Career Zone runs, such as Green Consultants and Pathways into International Trade. These programmes allow you to gain practical skills and develop new knowledge areas which puts you ahead in job applications and interviews. I had the opportunity to explore different sectors at the careers fair and happened to find a Civil Service representative among one of them and therefore I applied. Did you do any internships/ work experience as an undergraduate? In the summer of 2015, I was a data collector for a Q-Step research project led by Dr. Ekaterina Kolpinskaya in partnership with the Electoral Reform Society to produce an academic publication. During that time, I honed my Microsoft Excel and data analytical skills finding the correct data sets for the study which were the 2015 local elections results at the ward level across England. Additionally, in the summer of 2016 I a participated on the Fast Stream Summer Diversity Internship Programme (SDIP) where I was posted in the Department for Transport (DfT) for 13 weeks. Gaining first-hand experience working the Civil Service inspired me to apply and join the Civil Service Fast Stream. What advice would you give to other students who have a passion they would like to pursue? ‘Follow that passion and never let go!’ Continuously seek out opportunities, you can do this by reaching out to people and genuinely have an interest in them and their work, because when you do, they will in turn have an interest in you. Do your research. Find the sector you want to get in to, research the position, the organisation, the company’s ethos, its mission, its organisational structure, the executive team, what are the current issues, what are the solutions to these issues? When you come to the video, phone or face-to-face interviews, you can demonstrate to the recruiter that you are passionate to join the organisation. How important is it to make most of the opportunities at university and to stay engaged? Three or four years at university seems to be a long time, however it is limited when you compare it to the rest of your life. Therefore, it is important to build strong foundations at university. This is the place where you have the most support in terms of career and academic advice as well as networking opportunities. Engage with your university across different channels; students, colleagues, peers, teachers and professors. This will come back to help you put in the future and I recommend utilising these resources to its fullest but remember to give back when become successful. Please could you talk a little further about the events you are coming to the university to speak about? As part of the Fast Stream initiative to improve diversity in the Fast Stream and the Civil Service, the Exeter Fast Stream Outreach Team, who are all Exeter alumni, have planned various events at the university. At our first event on the 27th September I spoke about the diversity aspects of the scheme. For those of you who are interested in the Civil Service Fast Stream and who come from underrepresented backgrounds, the Civil Service is trying to reflect the society that we serve, therefore I strongly encourage those in their first year to look at the Early Diversity Internship Programme (EDIP), a week long insight into the Civil Service and to those in their penultimate years or in their final year of studies, I encourage you to apply for the SDIP and the Fast Stream itself. Our upcoming events are listed below: Careers In the Public Sector with NHS, Teach First, NGDP, Civil Service & Frontline Starts: 6:30pm - 16 Oct 18 Careers Fair Starts: 11:30am-3:30pm, 23rd Oct 18, The Great Hall and The Sanctuary. If you are particularly interested in the Civil Service Fast Stream, meet Genevieve and Toby at their stall to discuss your options. Contact the Email Julia Paci (Employability & Outreach Manager) Becca Drew (Employability & Alumni Administrator) |