Your discipline focused Employability Newsletter Welcome to your Employability NewsletterWelcome to the College of Social Sciences and International Studies Employability newsletter: A look back at our careers in focus As we draw our employability events programme to a close, it’s worth highlighting the range of careers we have showcased this year. We have covered journalism, PR, careers in government (foreign office, cabinet office, DIT, civil service fast stream, digital services), charities, consultancy, law (judges, barrister and solicitor), NGOs, careers in academia and human rights. We have explored the sectors in detail with a social sciences degree perspective. We have wonderful relationships with alumni who support us with all these talks and activities, and we are very grateful to them for volunteering their time to help students. In 2018/19 we will have invited over 30 alumni to campus, across all our disciplines. If you have a suggestion of a career you would like to see in focus next year, let us know. Our next big event is Women in Leadership. We have some exceptional leaders coming to discuss some of the most pressing topics currently under scrutiny. The glass ceiling (and/or Cliff) - The gender pay gap - How women leaders are perceived - How women can support each other with career progression Each panelist will be asked to come up with three practical steps they would advise students, and in particular female students, to do now to prepare themselves for leadership roles and explain why they are making the recommendations. This is in collaboration with Women and Law SACA project, supported by the Annual Fund and our way of celebration International Women’s Day #BalanceForBetter We hope to see you there! Julia Paci Upcoming Careers Events in the CollegeDigital career opportunities within Government Date: Thurs 7th Mar Come along and listen to Kathryn Gardner, User Researcher Intern at the Home Office, and an Exeter University Anthropology with Study Abroad graduate. She will be discussing the Digital Internship Programme at the Home Office, a 12 month tailored, profession-specific programme that paves the wave to apply for a permanent position in a junior role. Check out the talk topics on My Career Zone! UNHCR Careers talk Date: Fri 22nd Mar Our speaker, Laura Padoan, who is an External Relations Officer at The UNHCR, will give an overview of developing a career within the UN and how to find opportunities as a new graduate. She will share details about the application process and what attributes and skills the organisation is looking for. Laura will also discuss their own career journey and the field of external relations, with some personal tips. The talk will be followed by a Q&A. Our colleagues in Humanities continue to present their 'Creative Careers' series. All students are welcome to attend. For more information and to book onto these events, please visit My Career Zone: Creative Careers: Working Museums and Curation - Wed 20 March, 3:00-5:00pm, Laver Building - LT3 They also have a very exciting event on EU careers, focussing on work as a translator but with information on the full range of career profiles in the EU institutions: Exploring work with the EU with Paul Kaye and Katarzyna Kluczkowska What's New in the Career Zone?Careers Forever Did you know, the University of Exeter’s Career Service supports students after they graduate for as long as they need? Thanks to the introduction of My Career Zone Digital we are now able to offer an enhanced level of digital support to both our current students and graduates, whether you are Deciding, Planning, Competing, or even if you have already Secured employment. The Careers Forever offer also includes a lot of the services that you will already be familiar with: My Career Zone job listings and resources, 1:1 appointments with Careers Consultants, CV, cover letter and application form checking, online webinars, and much more. For more information please visit our Information for Graduates webpage. Career Mentor Scheme The Career Mentor Scheme is open once again for applications until Monday 4th March 2019. We are celebrating our tenth birthday this year and are offering more mentoring opportunities than ever before! The Career Mentor Scheme is a popular employability scheme which matches a student or graduate with an experienced professional, for sector insight and one-to-one careers advice and guidance, for 6 months. It is open to all current students and University of Exeter graduates (who have graduated within the last three years). There are still over 100 opportunities available so don't miss out on this fantastic opportunity! Check out these live internships available now on My Career Zone!SCP 4643 Project Assistant (Places of Poetry) SCP 4623 Global Chums Co-Ordinator SCP 4650 Historic Newspaper Research Intern SCP 4657 Research Intern (Social Resilience, Wellbeing and Sustainability) SCP 4631 Trainee Data Analyst (Translating Women Project) SCP 4633 Project Assistant (Rethinking Sexology Project) SCP 4634 Festival Production Assistant (Africa Writes) SCP 4637 Academic Conferences Coordinator (Ancient Technology) Other newsOur 'Making the Exceptional Happen' Campaign has just passed £50 million in donations! The support of our alumni has funded critical research, enhanced the student experience and helped talented students from disadvantaged backgrounds to attend the University of Exeter. Every penny donated has gone to the areas of need and it makes a massive difference. We have already passed our target of 60,000 volunteering hours to just over 70,000 with less than two years to go! Are you a current second year who is thinking about the topic for their dissertation research? Dissertations for Good is a platform that partners students with organisations, to collaborate on exciting and meaningful research projects related to economic, social, or environmental sustainability. The University is a member of the scheme so students on any academic course can now partner with organisations to undertake impactful, real world research. Interested in enrolling in modules from other disciplines? Running from 11-29th March with online selection open from 18-29th March, The Online Module Fair offers you the chance to view all the modules available to you across the University. Whether you want to learn a language, gain workplace experience, or expand your subject knowledge and skills, the online module fair is here to help connect you to the modules that will diversify and enhance your University experience. For more info email: studyzone@exeter.ac.uk Essay competition - cash prize! ✍️ @LawSocDI LGBT+ Lawyers Division launches its inaugural essay competition: 'What remaining legal barriers exist for the LGBT+ community in terms of equality, including any issues with the application of the current law?' The essay should be no more than 2,000 words. The closing date for submissions is 31 March 2019. The winner will receive a cash prize of £750 and their essay will be published on the Law Society website. National Student Survey: Thank you so much to those of you who have completed it already. It is a really valuable tool in helping us to continually improve the student experience within the College and the wider University for current and future students.To those of you who have yet to respond, please do complete the survey and ensure that your voice is heard. The survey will remain open until 30 April. Don’t forget, we are also donating a £1 to RAG in Exeter or RAD in Cornwall for every survey completed. Campus Ambassador Role The Aspiring Solicitors Campus Ambassador position is open for applications! If you think that improving diversity in the legal profession is really important, then you can help make that change by working with Aspiring Solicitors – one of the leading legal diversity platforms in the UK. As a Campus Ambassador, you will be ‘the face’ of Aspiring Solicitors on campus at your university. You will receive a number of benefits. Find out more by clicking here. 13 March 13.30-15.30 in Amory A128 - Postgraduate Open Day about the LPC for Law graduates and GDL for non-Law graduates - sign up here. 20 March 18.00-20.00 in Amory A128 - Postgraduate Open Day about the LPC for Law graduates and GDL for non-Law graduates - sign up by emailing tracyann.tweedie@law.ac.uk Work Abroad: In today’s competitive jobs market, employers are increasingly looking for candidates with a global perspective. Having work experience abroad is an excellent way of demonstrating your global acumen to a potential employer. Find out if you are eligible to apply and read more by clicking here. Alternatively, if you would like further support, please email ssis-employability@exeter.ac.uk Alumni FocusSian Batra International Relations and French, 2014 Current Job Title: Assistant Manager, Cyber Security - KPMG Switzerland What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now? After graduating from Exeter, I completed a Masters degree from St. Andrews to build on the modules that I particularly enjoyed during my undergrad and related to the field of international relations and security. Once I had finished my Masters, I started working for KPMG in London in their Cyber Security department on their graduate programme. I worked here for two years before moving over to KPMG Switzerland to work continue working in Cyber Security and I am now an Assistant Manager here. Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work? I chose this career because I found the area of Cyber Security really interesting and it was vaguely related to my degrees in terms of looking at security and protection of critical assets. Although to be honest, I don't use that much of my academic knowledge in my career now I still use the transferable skills such as presentations, report writing and communication in every day life. What i love about my job is that I get to work with lots of different people as my work is project based. This means that no two days or clients are the same! It offers a huge learning curve at the beginning and this doesn't show signs of ending. I got lot of responsibility early on and this adds a deal of pressure which drives me to continually improve and develop. Our projects revolve around helping clients to solve difficult problems and I love having to think creatively for this as no two clients are the same! As an employer, KPMG has been great by helping me to get a handle on the technical aspects of Cyber Security. For example, they have supported additional training and certifications in this area as well as on the job training. The best thing about my job though has to be the people I get to interact with every day. I am surrounded in my team by passionate and smart people who challenge me and who I get to challenge. What did you enjoy most about studying here? I think the facilities at Exeter are great, when I first started the Forum wasn't around and when this was opened I thought it provided an amazing space to study and meet friends. As we all know, Exeter rains a lot and so the fact that this was all indoors was great in the winter. I'm sure it's changed a lot since I left, but the fact that Exeter is always developing and adding to their facilities is great. The tutors and professors were also incredible! It really motivated me to be around so many people who were clearly passionate about their topics. It really inspired me. Why did you choose to study at Exeter? Exeter has a great reputation, plus it's a lovely campus and that really appealed to me. I remember coming to Exeter for a campus tour, the sun was shining and I remember thinking that I could just see myself there. I don't regret my decision at all! What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career? University offers you so many chances to develop your skills and experience lots of different situations. I think the fact that at university you can meet people from all walks of life really helps you to make connections with people and this is so valuable in business when you then have to network and meet people who might have a completely different background to you. As my job is client facing, I have to be articulate in communications and often present information in a variety of ways that are easy to understand as not all of my clients have a deep technical understanding of Cyber issues. The presentations that I did as part of my course really helped prepare me for this. Part of my course involved a year abroad and I think the experience of moving to a new country and not knowing anyone helped me to take the plunge two years ago when I decided to move to Switzerland. Although slightly different as during my year abroad I spoke the language (I've moved to the German part of Switzerland instead of the French) and there was a set period of time I was away, I still think that this experience helped shape my desire to experience different cultures and live in a new country. What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career? I would say don't worry if you don't have a technical degree - one of the great things about the grad programmes at a lot of companies is that you don't need a technical degree to have a successful career. Of course, a technical degree does help, but I think it's the desire to learn, a passion for technology and the right attitude that make the difference. Most companies are willing to take graduates from all backgrounds as they recognise that it's through diversity they will also grow. So be bold and if a job looks interesting then just go for it! Also go to the careers fairs and talk to as many people as you can. This is the best way to get a feel for whether you would fit with the company. It has to go both ways. What are your plans for the future? My plans are to keep learning and developing with the field. You never know what's going to happen so I think it's best not to make too many plans - I didn't plan to move to Switzerland and yet here I am and I love it! Do you have any tips or advice for beginning a career or working in your industry/sector? Be curious and have the right attitude. Make the most of any industry events that there are - this is a great chance to network and meet others in the field. You will never know everything and that is OK, make sure you learn from those around you and at all levels. No one will expect you to come in knowing the answers and I firmly believe you will get more out of the first few years of work if you focus on learning what you can rather than proving how much you know. Make sure you ask lots of questions and remember there really are no stupid questions! Contact the Email Julia Paci (Employability & Outreach Manager) Becca Drew (Employability & Alumni Administrator)
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