Tag: Careers

Careers Week 2020

Posted on by jessica.camps

3rd – 7th February 2020 marked the first-ever Life Sciences Building Careers Week… five days of presentations, panel discussions and employer stands! Here’s what went on and some useful things you may have missed…

The low down…

The week kicked off with talks and stalls for those who wanted to explore postgraduate study options, from the new MSc bioinformatics degree to informal chats with current postgraduate students, this proved a valuable day to clarify the next steps for those who aren’t ready to leave university just yet! With most undergrads eligible for 10% off postgraduate tuition fees, there may not be a better time to continue your studies at Bristol and enhance your future prospects.

Tuesday marked a day of invaluable CV advice and application help, from a CV cafe in the LSB atrium to awareness of some of the great resources that the careers service website has! Be sure to check out CV360 on the career’s website, a simple tool in which you upload your CV and get instant feedback. This service uses similar parameters to recruitment companies, giving you the same feedback as hiring managers receive!

Did you know…

You can use the careers service for up to three years after graduating!

On the penultimate day of what proved to be a very informative week, the careers service ran a ‘Careers Options and Resource’ workshop. Designed to show students the many doors that a science degree can open, this session also notified us about some great resources available to find your perfect job.

And finally, Friday, the best day of the week for many reasons, with three excellent panel discussions from a range of speakers (lawyers to cameramen, teachers to data scientists), these sessions were a great way for students to gain an insight into a typical day in their life and ask questions. Many listeners left these talks feeling very inspired to go out and find a job they love!

Students listening to the ‘careers in the media’ panel, photo Dr Bex Pike

Panel sessions:

ALTERNATIVE CAREERS WITH A SCIENCE DEGREE

  • Speakers included: Kathryn (Lawyer, Friends of the Earth); Vilas (Director, IES Consulting Ltd); Vondy (Data Scientist, Talking Money); Naomi (Environmental Monitoring Officer, Environmental Agency); Helena (Head of Media Solutions, Merkle)
  • Top tips: (1) Research a company and find out what they do, who their competitors are etc. before an interview. (2) Use gaps in your time to teach yourself a skill.

CAREERS IN THE MEDIA

  • Speakers included: Mark (Producer, Director and Camera Operator), Pete (Documentary Cameraman), Theo (Wildlife Filmmaker), Louise (Sustainable Food Documenter), Ross (Zoologist and Entomologist).
  • Top tip: Find what exact part of wildlife filmmaking you like best e.g. cameraman, producer etc.

TEACHING AND SCIENCE COMMUNICATION

  • Speakers included: Maddy (Public Engagement Associate), Chris (Teaching Associate), Helena (Head of Science), Kyle (Teacher) and Sophie (Science Communicator).
  • Top tip: Volunteer at any events you can such as the Edinburgh Science Festival or British Science Festival.

Key messages from some of the speakers:

“Find what fascinates you then follow this to help you navigate a route through”

“Don’t ever think of a job as a forever job – do what makes you happy now”

“Wildlife filmmaking is a competitive industry but it’s undergoing a boom so there have never been more opportunities”

“Teaching is a very rewarding job, don’t be afraid to ask schools for some work experience or a shadow day, they’ll be more than happy to help”

Many thanks to all the organisers, LSB careers week was an excellent way to gain more clarity on navigating the world post-university. If you’re still unsure and want to know more visit the careers website online (http://www.bristol.ac.uk/careers) or in-person and check out the useful links above – GOOD LUCK!!

Written by Sophia Griffiths (Biology BSc)

Useful tools to check out: