Tag: Careers

#UniAdvice – How I got my first graduate role!

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Jobs
Image – Geralt

You’ve worked so hard to graduate with a good degree. You can recite your CV and personal statement verbatim. Yet, getting into your first graduate position seems like getting a camel through the eye of a needle! Worse still, you seem to be caught in the ‘Catch 22’ of ‘No work without experience and no experience without work’. In today’s article, Zohra shares her journey to landing her first graduate position with one of the world’s top pharmaceutical firms.

APH: Congratulations on getting first graduate role, please can you share your educational background?

ZA: Thank you. I recently achieved a first class BSc (Hons) degree in Pharmacology from Kingston University. Prior to this, I studied Biology, Chemistry and Maths at college.

You shared with the Aspiring Professionals Hub about how a lack of experience seemed to be a giant hurdle towards getting employed. How were you able to break through this barrier?

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New Year’s Resolutions 2016: Time to get on the scales or simply just eat it?

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It is yet only a few days into the New Year and as usual the “lists” are probably getting longer or even shorter with each passing day or perhaps floating around in your wallet, ironed out by your fridge magnet or like myself, on my little “whiteboard”. I’m sure you know what I’m on about, the fated ANNUAL New Year’s Resolutions conlist!!

New year
New Year’s Resolution – A fantasy or fallacy.               Source: happydiwali2015cards.com

So what exactly have you decided to do? Are your plans or lists achievable or are they the usual 2-3 week strong effort and 11 months and 1 week grumble and regret for even bothering to think you’d do what you wrote?

I’ll tell you mine, well the first and main one!

Projections NOT resolutions – My (Emmanuel) 2015 went as fast as a bullet and my 2015 resolutions list became a distant memory long before spring. So after lamenting on my failures of 2015  my little eureka was to cheat a little ahem! simply change the wording (very easy right?). So, no resolution this year but achievable, meaningful, valuable yet exciting projections that I can quantify or evaluate at the end of the year. This, as a starting point, I was forced to set realistic targets! At least with  target i can have a focus and it trumps an unrealistic resolution which is akin to you dreaming of marrying the queen and becoming King of England…it’ll never happen and you know it 🙂

What else?

But wait, there’s more!

#EntrepreneurChat – Is it time to shake up your business strategy?

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The business environment around us is constantly changing. Successful organizations have to learn to adapt or face the prospect of their competitors ‘eating’ into their market share. The ability to navigate ‘new waters’ is important to all entrepreneurs – whether you are a sole trader or have 1,000 employees! In today’s article, Adeyinka shares steps aspiring entrepreneurs can utilise to ensure their businesses succeed in spite of a changing internal and external environment.

Let’s take a look at Burger King. Once ranked number two on the list of top fast food chains, it now finds itself number 5 in the top 15, according to Business Insider. In 2012, the top 15 fast food chains ranked in the nation had a combined $115 billion in sales. It may sound like this is a good thing for Burger King with sales of $8.4 billion and 7,231 locations right? The fact is that they are losing market share to Wendy’s, Starbucks and Subway which is reason for concern. Additionally, Burger King have Taco Bell in the number 6 spot nipping at their heels. So what has Burger King done?  They are now one of the first fast food chains to come to market with turkey & veggie burgers – tapping into the health conscious and vegetarian consumer market. Like Burger King, every business, whether large or small needs to be able to recognize when it’s time to shake things up.

It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able best to adapt and adjust to the changing environment in which it finds itself.

Dr Leon C. Meggison misquoting Charles Darwin

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#WideningParticipation : BME & STEM Engagement – Can we do more?

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Big Bang Fair
Image – Central Sussex College

Recently, there has been a lot of discussion focused on how to deliver diversity within Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM). However it is still the case that a lot of work remains in addressing the underrepresentation of black and minority ethnic (BME) individuals, disabled people, women and those from socially disadvantaged groups in STEM.  In this article, Hephzi and Amara discuss how decision makers within STEM can engage with BME communities to ignite a passion for STEM in young people and create an awareness of career opportunities within these sectors.

Up until 2011, the concepts of ‘science communication’ and ‘public engagement’ were alien to me. I had never been to a science fair, a science show or even visited a science museum! I had never sat in an audience where someone or a group of people discussed the range of opportunities and possibilities which could arise from pursuing a career within STEM.

I belong to two categories classed as underrepresented audiences in STEM; I am black and female. My recent discovery of the variety of ways in which scientists engage with the public is despite the fact that I have always been interested in science. I studied all three science subjects – Physics, Chemistry, and Biology – as well as Maths for my A’ Levels and have ‘stayed in science’ till date – working towards a PhD in Cell Biology. So, how does one with such an interest in science have such a myopic view on the diversity of career pathways within it?

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“Writing is Fun and Escapism.” -A Journey into the World of Fiction

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Are you thinking of writing your first novel or have you started writing but need that bit of inspiration to help you complete your first manuscript?  In this article, John Hancock, Associate Professor of Molecular Biology and Author of several academic textbooks in Molecular Biology and Cell Signalling shares his experience of writing fiction. John also shares some advice for prospective authors on taking the plunge into writing that first novel. Enjoy!

Writing is both fun and escapism. Having written quite a lot of non-fiction having the chance to write a story is refreshing. There is no right or wrong way to do fiction, by which I mean you can write about anything as long as it, hopefully, comes across as engaging and enjoyable. 

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