Introduction to the Careers and Employability Service for Bioscience Year 1 students Bruce Woodcock University of Kent Careers and Employability Service You can download a copy of this presentation at

“Students in their first or second year at university need to ask themselves what job they want to do. It’s important that they do not wait until their final year to think about finding a job, especially in the current market”. Sarah Shillingford, Graduate Recruitment Partner, Deloitte

The more you enjoy university life, the more you’ll get out of it. Employers like you to have what they call “customer-facing experience”. You’ll get loads of that if you take a part-time job or work as a student volunteer. It’s a terrific help if you can understand how businesses work, show you can get things done and apply simple common sense. It was my work experience that gave me all these things, not my academic course. Kate, marketing officer with a PR agency Join three university societies and become actively involved in at least one. Alan Richardson, Graduate Recruitment, Royal Bank of Scotland Group

What can I do with a Kent Bioscience Degree?

One third of graduate jobs accept any degree subject. BECAUSE: Learn new skills quickly Analyse & solve problems Communicate well Open to new ideas, adaptable and flexible “Managers of change” Marketing and Sales Retailing Social Work Personnel Civil Service Accountancy Banking Computing

VACATION WORK Work Experience page See our jobs and internship database Science internships Placements

BUNAC Spend summer working and travelling in North America.  Summer Camp USA: employed as a camp counsellor, teaching sports, music and other skills  Work America programme: anything from working in a theme park or a restaurant to arranging an internship with a company.

WHAT SKILLS DO BIOSCIENTISTS NEED? - GSK Presentation skills Teamworking Computing skills Time management/organising skills People skills Report writing/documentation of experiments Laboratory experience Problem solving skills

Example Bioscience CV Apply early for placements in your second year as some deadlines are early in the first term!

Location of the Careers Service

Bruce Woodcock An adviser is on duty for short (15 minute) consultations in the Careers and Employability Service any weekday morning or afternoon from 2 pm to 4 pm. You don't need an appointment to see the duty adviser at these times. Just ask at Careers Reception to see them. Monday careers events and vacancy s

Moodle Science Careers Employability Award 2% unemployment rate for graduates who completed the award compared to 5% for other Kent graduates.

Moodle Careers Employability Award  Assessed by a range of quizzes and assignments  Only 2% unemployment rate for students completing the award compared to 5% for other Kent students.  Will greatly improve your career planning and jobhunting skills, giving you strategies to make career choices and will increase your chances of getting a graduate level job.  Takes about 12 hours to complete  On completion you will get a University of Kent Careers Employability Award to add to your CV  Get 60 Kent Employability points for successful completion of the module.Kent Employability points 

Moodle Science Careers Employability Award 14 Quizzes: need 75% to pass but allowed unlimited attempts Complete 3 of the following seven assignments  Employability skills quiz  Employability skills quiz: drag & drop  How to develop the skills employers want?  Test your spelling & grammar!  What makes you happy at work?  How commercially aware are you?  Special interests topic lesson  Interview preparation  Practice interview  What are the most common interview questions?  Aptitude tests & assessment centres  CV quiz  CVs & covering letters drag & drop quiz  Career planning drag & drop quiz  Analyse your skills & learn how to make top quality applications  Do you want to live to work or work to live?  Researching careers  Choosing a career  Submit a CV  Social media  Action planning

Comments from students who have completed the award You get a really nice certificate! It was so easy, quick and I learned a lot. Without realising, you have finished the course and have already put together a very good CV and covering letter. It really blew my mind with some ideas I’ve never known before, such as portfolio working and working from home. I never thought about obtaining happiness from my work before. It would be mad to apply for a job or attend an interview without doing it! Before the course I had only a vague idea of my career path and opportunities. Now I am applying for summer internships and know how to effectively sell my skills to a prospective employer and have a much more focused plan for my future. The module is very, very useful! I really love how it makes you to think about your personality and helps you to identify your strengths and weaknesses. I found the module to be highly thought-provoking as it really encouraged me to consider how my degree will benefit my future and what I can be doing now to improve my graduate employment prospects. I enjoyed the depth of the module. It went far beyond some general tips on how to write a good CV and prepare for an interview. Rather it went in to detail about the whole process of graduate job search from the beginning to the end. It was very instructive. The amount of time put into this is astounding! I actually spoke to friends from other universities who said they wished they had something like this. It has made me feel a lot more confident when it comes to applications and interviews and has also made me think about skills that I didn't think I had before. I recently had a very successful interview largely because I put the advice on the module into practice.

FIRST YEAR CAREER PLAN Career Planning is a long term process. Start early! Get a SUMMER VACATION JOB to add skills to your CV. GET ACTIVELY INVOLVED IN UNIVERSITY LIFE – societies, sports, student representative, to get evidence of skills for your CV. Prepare a Science CV Get the Careers Employability Award on Moodle See

Introduction to the Careers and Employability Service for Bioscience Year 1 students You can download a copy of this presentation at

SCIENCE INTERVIEWS Interview may be “on the hoof” Technical questions: often on your project – revise it carefully

Careers Talks

Bioscience Careers Page What Kent Bioscience graduates did after leaving Jobs related to your subject Employers and vacancy sources htm htm

Application Form Questions Describe how your personal planning and organisation resulted in a successful achievement of a personal or group task. Describe a situation where you had to work effectively as a member of a team. What were the team’s aims? How was the team selected? What was your role? Describe a challenging situation which required your persuasive skills and your ability to organise other people in order to reach a successful resolution.

PREPARATION - THE KEY TO SUCCESS Research the employer and the job Prepare answers to obvious questions Think of your unique selling points Prepare some questions to ask Dress smartly

THE COVERING LETTER First Paragraph  State the job you’re applying for.  Where you found out about it.  When you're available to start work (& end if it's a placement) Second Paragraph  Why your interested in that type of work  Why the company attracts you (if it's a small company say you prefer to work for a small, friendly organisation!) Third Paragraph  Summarise your strengths and how they might be an advantage to the organisation.  Relate your skills to the job. Last Paragraph  Mention any dates that you won't be available for interview  Thank the employer and say you look forward to hearing from them soon.

Science CVs: “Sell” your degree List relevant modules (plus marks if good!) Projects – especially if relevant Laboratory skills/IT skills Soft skills – evidence of teamwork, project management, problem solving etc. For non-science jobs (e.g. banking) you would need a different CV focusing on your soft skills more than technical skills.