Showing posts with label university. Show all posts
Showing posts with label university. Show all posts

LIFE UPDATE - FINISHING UNIVERSITY

Saturday

Bit of a chatty one - I just thought I'd update you all on my life as I have finished university!


A few years ago, I wrote posts on applying to uni and wrote updates on how my first year was going, but since then I haven't really spoken about it that much on here.


So after 4 years of being a Communication and Media student at Bournemouth University, I have finally finished and I got a 2:1 overall with a 1st in my dissertation! I am now working as a Social Media and Communications Coordinator for the same organisation I did my internship with between second and third year.


I am so glad I went to uni it was such a good experience, obviously there were some downs but I wouldn't change it. I won't get into all of my highlights and lowlights for the year because that would take forever. Maybe I will do that when I am really missing uni but for now I just wanted to update you all.


Bournemouth university students going to summer ball

Related: Top tips for starting university


What have I learnt?


To be honest, I feel like most of the stuff I learnt was about adult life and what kind of person I am rather than academic. Obviously I did learn a lot about media too, I feel like I can never watch a film or read a newspaper article properly again without analysing every word or every scene. But reflecting back, the experiences I had will mean more to me than that kind of stuff (sorry lecturers).


It was a shame that Covid kind of got in the way a little bit of my final year but I have still been able to do lots of fun things with my friends. 2021 is definitely the year of the bottomless brunch!


Luckily, because I live an hour away from Bournemouth I can go and visit whenever I want and I will still have friends living there.


I live in a very small town where I'm never really pushed out of my comfort zone so uni really helped push me to make friends and put myself out there (usually helped by a little Dutch courage too).


Where do we go from here?


As I mentioned before, I am starting my career in social media marketing and I am really enjoying it so far. I'm really looking forward to see how my career goes too. At the moment I am still learning about it while working.


I've had a few questions about university and applying to jobs so if you want to know anything, please feel free to ask me. 

Related: 7 ways to enhance your CV

To be honest, I just can't believe uni is over it's so weird how quickly it went. I still feel the same age as when I started too, I feel like everyone says that.


It definitely feels like the end of an era but also not in some ways because I am still planning to keep in touch with all my uni pals as much as possible.

7 WAYS TO ENHANCE YOUR CV

This post contains affiliate links, meaning if you purchase a product through my links I will receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.

I am graduating university this year, probably at the worst time for jobs with the pandemic so I may be freaking out a little bit. However, I am determined to get a job after I finish so I have been trying to find ways to enhance my CV and LinkedIn profiles to try to make me stand out a little more. I thought I'd share ways I try to enhance my CV with you as I know a lot of other students and graduates will probably be in the same boat as me. It's more competitive now for graduate jobs than ever before so we are going to need to find ways to boost our employability and experience (I say we because we are in this together).


So here are some tips on what I have done, plan to do or what I think would help you enhance your CV and make you more employable.


woman working on laptop
Image from picjumbo.com.


Top tips on enhancing your CV


1. Gain as much experience as you can


I know with the pandemic, this is a lot harder than it normally would be. In my degree, you could either do a 4 week work placement or a year placement. I chose to do the year placement and I worked for a year as a marketing intern. Now, I have a year's worth of marketing experience so when I come to apply to a job that requires a year's experience in marketing, I can apply knowing I have that experience - so if you are able to do a placement year, I say do it! This tip will be more difficult and I'm aware that it's much harder to gain experience which is why I have included the other tips too!

2. Volunteer


Again, it can be hard to be a volunteer but you can volunteer online. I've seen social media volunteering positions where you can post from home and you can still count this as volunteering on your CV and LinkedIn. There are lots of NHS volunteering positions available to.


3. Start a blog


OK I am biased with this one but I really believe it is a great way to gain an online presence. Whatever your are of expertise is or whatever area you want to go into, start a blog with that theme. Yes, it can be a little time consuming but is much easier than finding work experience at the moment and you can put as much time as you like into it. It shows you spend your time dedicated to something else other than just your studies.

Having a blog is also a good point of conversation at interviews and I have linked my blog in my CV and LinkedIn so companies can find out more about me and get more of a sense of my personal brand. I could go on for ages on how I think starting a blog would be beneficial to any career, maybe I will write an entirely separate post on this in the future.

4. Attend Webinars


There are lots of free webinars out there that can help you be more knowledgeable on a subject area. For example, I joined one last year all about Instagram engagement and I found that really helpful for me. I do a media degree so this was helpful for me but there are lots of different ones you can sign up to for a variety of areas. 

5. Complete online courses


Again, with it being harder to go out and get some experience, the best thing to do is see what you can do online. When I was doing my marketing internship I completed the Digital Marketing course on Google Digital Garage. This gave me a certificate that I could put on my LinkedIn so if a company see it, it will show I am willing to put time in to learn more about my area. On Google Digital Garage, there are even short courses on being better on public speaking and productivity which can be used for any job.

6. Enhance the layout of your CV


The first thing that an employer will notice about your CV is the layout. A smart looking, well designed CV will look far more interesting than a plain word document. Don't be worried about this, there are loads of free templates on Canva that look really good.


7. Use LinkedIn


I know this isn't technically enhancing your CV but it's important to utilise LinkedIn. If you apply for a job, it's likely that they could look you up on there so if you are on there actively showing off all the other things you are doing to be employable like your online courses it will look more impressive than if they don't find you - or if there's nothing on there. It's just another good way to show off in basic terms.

In short, just try and do as many things as you can to set you apart from other people like you who may be applying to similar roles.
Do you have any career tips? I'd love to hear them.

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WHAT NOW? A LIFE AFTER GRADUATION - GUEST POST

This is a guest post from Alisha at Inside the Voyage.

Hi everyone! I’m Alisha a travel and lifestyle blogger over at Inside The Voyage. I graduated with a BA Hons degree in English and Media in 2019, and have since been discovering myself and my passions.


Travel flatlay

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash.


What Now?


I am positive that every University student fears unemployment after graduation. Who wouldn’t? I most certainly did, and to an extent, nearly two years later I still do.  I graduated in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Media. Though I celebrated the end of my degree with overflowing prosecco glasses and listening to the constant ‘Well done, you did it!’ felicitations from family, and friends. I could not help but hear that deep-rooted fear within my gut that consistently questioned ‘What now?’.

 

I did not know what I wanted in a career, never mind actually apply for a job. So, rather than rack my head around career topics, I decided to take time away from educational studies and future career prospects. I needed to gain clarity for my future. I believed I was only causing myself anxiety, forcing myself to follow fellow graduates into new exciting careers. I hadn’t found my calling yet, and though it sickeningly worried me, I comfortably settled into the unknown.


Travelling


I then decided to travel, I love the world and want to see as much of it as possible. I booked onto a two-month tour around South East Asia, though my mum was worried out of her mind due to my travelling solo, I was ecstatic. I finally had one goal set to reach that I needed money. Soon after moving back home, I landed a part-time job in a local bar and began working as many shifts as possible to save for my next adventure. A career was not even a thought in my mind, because in the present I had much more exciting plans. I finally believed that I had structured my life into forming a pathway that I should be on.

 

April 2020: Travel around South East Asia

September 2020: Start an MA Course (at this point, I was still undecided on what I wanted to do)


Being a Graduate in the pandemic


Unfortunately, this devastating pandemic hit and my plans, like many others, were indefinitely put on hold. I was now back at square one. Not sure where my life was going, or even what I wanted to do. Luckily, I managed to run from the graduate blues, hiding behind my excitement to travel. However, forced into a lockdown that feared question soon arose, ‘What now?’.

 

I now had all the time in the world to figure out what I wanted out of life. And my gosh, I experimented with plenty of things during 2020. I first started a “marketing” job, and what a mistake that was. It was not what was advertised, but I earned next to nothing, and quit on the first day.

 

Next, I started an MLM scheme, purely out of boredom at this point. That lasted a week or so before I put time into researching what an MLM scheme actually was and realised, again, I was barely making any money. Don’t get me wrong, some people do earn a lot working for an MLM scheme, but I found it a pretty exhausting way to make money.


Starting my own business


My next adventure and my most favoured was starting my small wax melt business Inside The Fragrance. Starting this venture has kept occupied and busy when I felt lost and demotivated. This is one hundred per cent a small side business for me, and in no means is it my future career, but it is absolutely perfect for the time being.

 

Now, like many others, I’m currently on furlough from my bar job. Thus, this free time has allowed me to focus on my side business and my future career. I have spent months looking at various job prospects and MA courses. Ultimately, this slightly freaked me out as I wondered virtually from one course to another, desperately seeking somewhere I could call home.

 

Finally, after nearly two years since my graduation, I gained some clarity on the path I am about to embark on. From one graduate to another, please don’t stress if you graduate University without a job. It is, and I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH; it is not the end of the world. If you’re like me, it will merely take you slightly longer to reach realisation, but once you get there, you will feel like you’re on the path you’re meant to be on.

 

My advice to you:

 

1.     Don’t panic apply for jobs. When we’re panicking, we often make rash decisions and uninformed decisions.

2.     Figure out what you enjoy, identify your skills, and discover the right career path for you.

3.      Don’t be discouraged if your job application is rejected. That one job was not meant for you, and there are always more opportunities.

4.   Use your free time to build on your CV. Attend online classes to enhance or learn to skills.

5.      Find your passion! It might be easier said than done, but once you realise your passions, you will feel much more confident in applying to that MA course OR job.

 

Follow me on social media:


Instagram: Instagram.com/alishabrisco

Twitter: Twitter.com/alishabrisco

Blog: www.insidethevoyage.co.uk


Related read: Top Tips for Starting University 


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TOP TIPS FOR STARTING UNIVERSITY

It's almost time for university to start again, and a lot of you may be starting for the first time. I am going into my final year this month and I wanted to share with you some of my the things you should know before starting university. Everyone has different experiences with uni, but I will be basing my advice off of the experiences I've had.

Graduates throwing caps

Tip 1: Before moving into your new place, see if there are any groups or group chats you can join beforehand for your halls or course or just uni in general. You might be able to get to know some people before meeting them and this can take so much pressure off if you have already kind of spoken to them online.

I joined chats when I was about to be a fresher and I actually met up with some of the people from the chat before starting uni. I wasn't going to live with them but this was so helpful because if I didn't make friends with my flatmates, I knew I had other friends to do stuff with. Ultimately, I got on so well with the majority of my flat.

Tip 2: Don't panic buy - Before starting uni, I did the classic Ikea trip and bought all sorts of stuff that I have never used, like a potato peeler. Have I ever peeled potatoes? No. That's just an example, you may well use a potato peeler but just think carefully about what you will actually use so you don't waste money. 

If you don't have something, you can always go and buy it. If you do have the opportunity to talk to your flatmates before moving in, it might be worth seeing what people can bring so you can share stuff. You will need to save all the money you can!

Tip 3: Buy some sliders! I tweet this one a lot because I wish I knew it before uni. Your kitchen floor probably will get messy quite quickly due to the amount of people living in your flat if you're in halls. The last thing you want to do is go into the kitchen barefoot or in socks and get something gross stuck to your foot. 

Also, fire alarms tend to go off pretty regularly so it's easier to just slip a pair of sliders on instead of spending ages putting shoes on. You will not regret investing in a pair for uni, and they have plenty in Primark to choose from if you're on a budget.

Tip 4: Forget about college - College is a pretty stressful time and uni can be stressful too, but it's so different to college so try not to compare the two. Use uni as a fresh start for yourself and just try to have the best time while you're there.

Tip 5: Try and be as organised as possible - There is a lot of stuff to do at uni and if you're moving away from home, there may be lots of things you want to get out of your new city. Just make sure you plan out your time for everything so you can work hard and play hard. Yes, you are there to get a degree but you may as well make the most out of where you're living and make the most out of uni life. Read more here about staying organised at university.

Are you starting university this year, or do you have any more tips for uni students? As I said, I am going into third year so if you have any tips for that, I will need all the help I can get.

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Wool of the King

MOVING AWAY FROM HOME - AN INTERVIEW

Friday

This post is an interview with Robyn Moss, third year Psychology student at the University of Lincoln. Before her degree, Robyn was living in Salisbury, Wiltshire, but decided to move 3 and half hours away to Lincoln for university. Read on to learn about her experience of moving away from home.

1. Why did you want to move far from home?


Originally, I wanted to move far from home for university to have a fresh start and push myself to be independent, not having the option to easily escape my problems and go back home. Of course, I also wanted to reinvent myself and explore a totally new place.


Old building in Lincoln


Lincoln, however, was a very unexpected choice of mine as I only picked it to fill in my last choice for university.  I couldn’t think of anything else and I’d never actually heard of it before, but when I went to visit all of my uni choices, much to my surprise Lincoln happened to be the only uni that really felt like it was for me. If you have never visited, read all about how to spend 48 hours in Lincoln.


2. Were you worried about moving and why/why not?


I wasn’t really worried, I was more excited. The only thing in the back of my mind was, if there was an emergency, I wouldn’t be able to get home easily. Other than that, I didn’t really have any worries. I already knew I vibed with the city and any doubts I had were overruled by excitement. 


3. How long did it take you to settle into your new place?


I was pretty much settled the moment I moved in. Of course, it was hard for the first five minutes of watching my parents walk away, and not knowing when I'd see them again. However, you snap out of that pretty quickly due to not having time to dwell on it. You have to unpack, decorate your room and get to know your new housemates, so there’s no time to think about anything else. 


Bridge in Lincoln


You and your housemates are all on the same boat and it’s exciting for all of you and you support each other. I got on really well with most of my housemates to begin with which helped my feel settled initially but after a few days living with them, I realised they weren’t for me which was a struggle and did lead to me needing to change apartments. However, as soon as I found my group and created my own uni family, I felt settled again. 


I believe that the people you surround yourself with at uni are the key to settling and you won’t always be lucky at first, but there’s no harm in moving apartments if you don’t vibe with your initial flatmates. Most people manage to get on just fine though, it’s unlikely that you won’t get on with at least one person in your apartment.


4. Is there anything you would have done differently?


Not really. I’m grateful for the lessons I have learned, and any issues I had were out of my control. I do wish I’d been to more parties and gone to freshers events, but that wasn’t possible due to my job. I feel that I would have benefited a lot more if I’d have socialised more during freshers week as it took me a while to find my group of friends. Once I’d found them, my uni experience became 100x better.


Where to find Robyn

Instagram: @robynmossx


Thank you so much to Robyn for sharing her story. Have you ever moved far away from home? Let us know your experiences!


Join my mailing list for exclusive content and resources here.


Related Read: Top Tips for Starting University


Wool of the King

5 STEPS TO BECOMING MORE ORGANISED AT UNIVERSITY

Tuesday

This post is a collaboration with Planning with Em. This post also contains affiliate links so I will earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Please  see my disclaimer for more information.
As we approach the new academic year, it's time to get into the habit of preparing university life, or for another year of it if you are already a student. Em will be showing you how to work on productivity at university so make sure to read her post. Read on for tips on how to be an organised uni student!



1. Plan your time. 

While living at university, it can be hard to find the time to do everything you need to do. This is why planning ahead is a must. You should set yourself allocated time slots for all of the things you have to do - whether it's uni work, seeing friends, cleaning or cooking. 

Sometimes your dinner takes longer to cook than you first anticipated, then you start chatting to your flatmates in the time you should be doing an assignment. It's great to socialise but it's important to set time for projects too.

2. Use a diary or planner.

This follows on from planning ahead. In order to plan ahead it might be worth writing a to do list and keeping all of your deadlines in a diary. In my first year of uni, I had a notice board so I wrote a list of all my assignment deadlines in chronological order and pinned it to my wall so that I could see it every day.

You could also use a planner to split up how much time you will use for each project. For example, one hour of essay writing then one hour of Netflix watching for a break. If you need watch list inspiration for your chill time then I've got you.


3. Meal Plan.

As well as planning your time, planning meals is also a good thing to do to stay organised. This is some advice I need to listen to as well, because I am always unorganised with my dinners and just eat what I fancy that day. I am going to try and write a menu for the week though so I know what I'm eating each day and if I make evening plans, I will know how long my food takes to cook.






4. Budgeting. 

As we all know, student life can be expensive and sometimes leave you without a lot of money. That's why it's important to budget your money properly so you have enough, especially if you are like me and still like to live your best life at uni. 

If you have an income at uni, then limit yourself to a certain amount of spending per week. Once you have been at uni a while, you will work out how much you spend on shopping, nights out and anything else you need to buy. I would say try not to have no money at university and have a part time job where possible. Just because, if you are living in a completely new city then it's great to go and see all the things that city has to offer, as well as studying. I know sometimes this isn't possible but it's nice to be able to enjoy yourself too.


5. Keeping lecture notes organised.

You will have lectures with lots of different lecturers about different units, so it's helpful to keep these notes separate and organise them. When it comes to looking back at your notes, they will be so much easier to understand if they are neatly organised.

I tend to write the date and unit title at the top of my lectures and write the number of the lecture, e.g. Lecture 4 | Media and Society | 03/09/2020. This is probably obvious but it really helps me to remember what I learnt and when. Another good thing to do is to colour code the notes. You will spot the colour a lot more quickly if you are flicking through your note book to find something.

Are there any tips and tricks you have for keeping organised at university? Let me know as I am always looking for ways to stay organised. Be sure to check out Em's post on increasing productivity at university!

You can find Em over at:

Twitter - @planningwithem
Pinterest - planningwithem

Join my mailing list for exclusive content and resources here.


Wool of the King
*Image 1 from Pixabay.
*Image 2 from Engin Akyurt on Pexels.

FIRST YEAR AT UNI: COMPLETE

Sunday

Summer ball at Bournemouth University

Most of you will know that I started a degree in Communication and Media in September, and now my first year of university has come to an end. It's safe to say, it was nothing like I expected to be. I'm not sure what exactly I was expecting but it was just an indescribable experience. From moving in university halls, to the last event which was the summer ball, everything just happened at a hundred miles per hour.

As soon as I'd moved in, there was a party at our flat for my flatmate Kitty, who has become one of my best friends, for her birthday. Straight away we were meeting so many new people and then after that we went clubbing as you do in fresher's week. My first year of university started as it meant to go on which was full on.

I have made so many new friends at university from all over the country, some from other countries and some friends that I didn't even expect to have. It's so different from being at home because I've lived in basically the same place my whole life where there isn't that many chances to make new friends as you kind of know everyone already. Obviously, I love my friends from home but it's nice to have made new ones as well.

Also, I got on with pretty much all of my flatmates in halls which was lucky and I know some people aren't that lucky, but no flat is perfect. There was sometimes fall outs about noise, the kitchen being messy, and food stealing but I think most flats have that. 90% of the time living there was such a laugh and I'll miss it but I'm looking forward to moving into a house with different people in September too because it will just be a different experience.

Living in university halls wasn't always easy, especially when you have to cook for yourself and are clueless in the kitchen like me. Even though a pasta sauce I made turned solid, I never got food poisoning so I see that as a success. All you need to know is how to cook noodles and pasta that is the ultimate student cuisine. My advice would just be to buy an already made pasta sauce that you just have to heat up or stir in.

Like any year, it has had lots of ups and downs. So many good things have happened like mainly getting the grades I want in my course. However, one very difficult thing to go through was one of my closest friends at university passing away. I have to say though, being surrounded by such good friends all the time made it a lot easier.

Overall, I would describe my experience of university so far as zero to a hundred. Not so much with coursework because I mainly did it before it was due and felt like I had all of my deadlines under control. However, with uni life, everything was just so full on which was a good thing for me because there was always something going on and something to do. That's probably why I didn't post on my blog as much.

I'd be interested to know about anyone else's experiences of university and I'm very happy with what I'm doing and can't wait for second year.

Bournemouth university students at Summer Ball



HELLO, FROM UNIVERSITY.

Monday

Last Saturday was the day that I moved from my home in Wiltshire to University. Since last Saturday, a lot of weird, crazy and exciting things have happened. Obviously moving to uni came with the "delight" of fresher's week which included excessive drinking, meeting new people and for some reason, lots of drum and bass. University hadn't properly started for a lot of people until today so fresher's week was the opportunity to get all of the partying out of the system (although fresher's is still continuing this week unofficially and I'm heading out tonight). During the last week, I have made some amazing friends, especially the people in my flat. I am in a flat with 5 different people in halls of residence and we have all looked out for each other since day one.

university student in fancy dress

For me, fresher's week was all fun and games until I got fresher's flu. THIS IS NOT A MYTH. I am still suffering from fresher's flu and I could not move from my bed on Friday. The days where I could go out of my flat, I had drunk people running up to me with lines like "why aren't you coming out tonight?" and "come to my pres" as if no one is allowed a day off of drinking. What's worse is I didn't even know these people. I did have fun nights out but even when I didn't go out because I was feeling rough, I'd still have fun nights in with my flatmates. One night we played a girls board game (boys played too) where you answer questions to find out whether you are a bitch, a tart, or an angel; I will leave you and your imagination to work out which one I was.

Even though it has only been 9 days since I've got here I feel like I've learnt so much. I've learnt how to make noodles and pasta, AKA student necessities. I've also learnt how to find the best deals and spend around a tenner on food shopping, my grandma would be so proud. As expected, I do still have a lot more to learn but I'm having fun while I'm learning about student life and that's the main thing.

Thank you so much for reading :)