October 6, 2022, by mzyhe3

Why I’ll Be Attending Careers Talks on Offer This Autumn

By Hannah Evans, Cancer Sciences student blogger

As someone who is currently looking for a biotech placement for next year, I am trying to find out as much as possible about what makes a good application. So, I’ll be going to one of the ‘Ask an Expert: CVs and Application Forms’ talks coming up. When I was booking onto this, I noticed just how many talks are on offer this year through the Careers and Employability Service. I thought I’d share a few of my favourites coming up throughout the Autumn term that I think would be really useful to attend if, like me, you’re currently applying for placements.

Explore Your Strengths – Monday 24 October

This workshop is for people who have recently done work experience and want to reflect on how it went. The experience could be anything from a year-long internship to a part-time summer job. It’s all to do with looking back on what you feel you excelled at, and helping you to identify your strengths in the workplace.

I’m in the process of trying to explain in applications how my job as a waitress links to why I’d be a good cancer research scientist – funnily enough I can’t see many overlaps there, so I think I’ll be going to this one.

Think Like a Recruiter: Applications – Thursday 17 November

This is an in-person workshop that lets you feel like a recruiter. By putting you in their shoes, this event aims to help you understand what makes a good candidate from the employer’s perspective. From my experience of going to one of these before, its super interactive! So, if you’re not into talking to strangers or in front of groups then maybe this isn’t for you. Then again, it would help build confidence and communication skills, so maybe try it anyway. I’d heavily recommend this for anyone looking to apply to a company like GSK, as their application forms could make or break your chances of getting a place there.

Think Like a Recruiter: Tackling Interviews – Tuesday 29 November

This is another in-person workshop that puts you in the shoes of the employer, to consider why certain questions are asked in interviews and to figure out what sorts of answers they actually want to hear. If like me your mind goes blank the second you get asked a question then this session would be super useful to attend.

Ask an Expert: Effective Application Forms and CVs – Monday 5 December

If an interactive face-to-face session isn’t your style, then this online event will be for you. This session allows you to ask questions about applications to a panel from the Careers and Employability Service. Even if you don’t have any burning questions yourself, by going you’ll have the chance to hear what other people are asking. You never know, maybe someone will say something that you end up finding super useful.

Virtual Assessment Centre – 8 December

This is a great talk to go to if you want to practice going through what you may have to do in a real assessment centre to get the job that you’re after. I’ve found from doing real assessments for jobs you don’t get much feedback on what you did well and what you could have done better, and so this session would be super helpful for gaining some criticism to help you improve going forward.

These are just a few workshops I thought looked useful for me personally.

Explore more events and workshops happening this term via MyCareer.

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