Boosting your CV

The University of Nottingham has offered me so many opportunities to develop both academically and personally that it is genuinely hard to highlight any one area! From the content of the degree course; support of lecturers; teaching quality and learning environment of the School of English Studies, to the multiple advantages for professional development offered by the Careers Service such as the Nottingham Advantage Award, I feel that I have gained a thoroughly well-rounded experience that will prepare me for my future career. The work experience I’ve gained through Unitemps has also been invaluable.

I currently work as a Receptionist for Unitemps. I communicate with candidates about jobs that are available, review their CVs and application letters and answer any other questions that they may have. I also speak to both internal and external clients about part-time temporary vacancies and help to advertise these as they arise. Additionally, I deal with general office admin tasks, including designing and writing marketing material.

This position has given me a great opportunity to progress in a future career as I have a more expansive knowledge of the recruitment sector which I might otherwise not have encountered before graduation. I now know the importance of making a great first impression on paper which is often the initial stage of the selection process, and I have gained experience in talking to business clients about the type of candidate they would most like to employ.

Having worked on various Unitemps assignments since the franchise opened at the University in March 2010, I received good feedback from my past employers and gained a large amount of knowledge about the business. I have also completed the Work Experience module of the Nottingham Advantage Award, which has taught me to show how the skills gained from my past employment and education are relevant to the specific role that I was applying for.

This module highlights the demands of the current workplace (for example which skills are presently most desired by the big employers); makes you actively reflect upon the skills that you are acquiring as you progress through the work experience placement; and encourages you to reflect on how best to promote showcase the skills learnt on your CV.

Being able to review the skills that I have learnt has certainly allowed me to advise other Unitemps candidates about how to best sell their own experiences on their CVs.

The best advice I could give would be to get involved with any possible opportunity that you can fit into your timetable! Become active by seeking out advice and information, as there are professionals that are always happy to help and they can often make suggestions that you might never have considered. The University of Nottingham offers so much more than just a respected degree, and work experience and extra practical modules like those offered by the Advange Award will only ever add to your CV.

The careers advisors in the Centre for Careers and Employability are also a great place to go for advice. They have been very willing to answer any questions that I have had about my future career path and the wide range of resources on offer in the Centre have allowed me to easily find out more about a certain company or career. The bookable activities such as employer and industry talks that are frequently arranged throughout term time have been extremely useful in providing me with quality ‘insider’ information.

We decided to run the project to raise awareness of climate change, and to engage both fellow students and the wider community to take action. We achieved this through setting up pledge events which encouraged students to make small and sustainable lifestyle changes which could potentially have a global impact. We organised hall competitions and bar activities, and distributed reusable bags in halls to get the ball rolling for student change.

We also submitted our idea in the ‘npower RWE Future Leaders’ Challenge 2011’, which offered the chance for us to win a once in a lifetime trip to the Arctic and guaranteed placement with npower next summer; definitely an added bonus. 

This project has taught me the importance of innovative thinking, teamwork, and good planning when it comes to being part of a successful campaign. For our primary target audience, students, we calculated the annual money that could be saved by making small lifestyle changes and related this to student interests-alcohol, food, and social expenses! The potential savings really captured people’s attention.

In order to get the most out of our teams working on the project, we assigned each team member one segment of the campaign that they had main responsibility for organising. Ensuring this structure was effective, and having my own individual jobs within a team of people taught me a lot about time-management and also about self awareness. Skills in time management and group involvement became crucial given the small time frame we had before we had to present our project at the national final.

The skills I’ve gained from this will set my CV apart from a standard graduate’s, as it shows involvement in work outside of my course, and also that I have a passion for what I want to do in the future. I would therefore encourage other students to get involved in similar activities through the University’s fantastic Students’ Union. Volunteering, for example, is a great way to meet and work with lots of new people who share your interests, whilst generating transferable skills for any future career which will guarantee to stand out on your CV.

I definitely want to continue with environmental work; the competition has taught me a lot about the negative attitudes and lack of engagement people have with regards to climate change. Alongside my university studies, I also plan to continue with volunteer work and helping out in local schools as I believe it is fundamental to teach future generations about climate change in order to ensure that the current efforts towards sustainable development are continued.

Our campaign quickly gained a lot of momentum amongst the student community, because we alerted students to the changes which could save them money and showed how this directly related to their interests. Often, they found the statistics quite shocking and, in turn, wanted to make their pledge to change their lifestyle in small ways. We gained a lot of support from the University and the Student’s Union to raise the profile of our campaign week and as we held a wide variety of events, the week was exciting, fun, and lots of people involved.

We hope that our campaign has taught people the importance of local changes towards global action against climate change. We also hope to have left our legacy through the installation of water fountains and individual recycling facilities in halls.

I became a Student Ambassador in my second year because I wanted to get more involved within the University itself. I also found applying for University myself quite daunting, so wanted to show prospective students everything Nottingham has to offer.

So far I have mainly been involved with UCAS Open Days, which comprise of meeting and greeting visitors in the morning and conducting campus tours in the afternoon. I particularly enjoy talking to prospective students, and their families, about their thoughts and plans for the future and offering guidance where I can.

I have also been involved with the Widening Participation team, who aim to encourage secondary school students from the local area to enter into higher education. Seeing how inspired some of the children get when you explain to them how a degree can open doors and show them the opportunities available makes this work extremely rewarding.

Working as a Student Ambassador has developed my inter-personal skills and my ability to think on my feet when things don’t go to plan. I think employers will value qualities such as time management and the ability to convey information clearly and concisely, which are essential to being a Student Ambassador.

My time spent as a Student Ambassador has also been accredited under the Nottingham Advantage Award, which recognizes professional development and enhances employability. This will hopefully make me stand out more within the employment market.

I am currently a member of Amnesty International and the riding society, have taken part in the Any Body exercise classes and enjoy going to the Human Rights Film Series. I have also been involved with Golden Futures, a charity that provides loans for Cambodian orphans to attend university, and like going to yoga every now and then!

My business is a clothing brand - Rise - and I will also be debuting a new second brand in the near future. The brand aims to take a snapshot of the thriving independent clothing scene in the UK and present that to the high street in a digestible and retail ready format. We produce our garments in Turkey and Portugal, which allows our product quality to be top notch.

Taking part in the competition was an opportunity to look critically at my idea and helped me improve the areas of weakness. Overall, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience which I’m sure will improve my chances of success in business.

After graduating I am still leaving my options open. I will most probably be applying for a foundation year one doctors post in London, but would love to have options on the table to do something else too. If the business had grown to a sufficient point, or an exciting offer from another line of work came through then I would consider all options. I have also not ruled out looking at further education such as a masters, possibly focusing closer on both business and medicine or public health.

People can see the full range of Rise clothing and buy items direct, from www.rise-worldwide.com

Our uniquely patented product uses dry ice to form a snowy mist. The idea was already established over in America, although business appeared very slow. We saw a gap in the UK market for this product and acted on it, thus bringing it over to the UK. We now offer a service of making smoking cocktails at any event, catering for any number which attracted a large audience.

Back in June 2011 we started trading with our first event, the ‘Ghost the musical’ press night after party. This opened new doors for us after a number of celebrities featured in HELLO magazine using our product.

This led to contracts with the Playboy Club, who asked us to install a custom made smoking bar, and Unilever who wanted a smoking tray to serve magnum mini ice creams in style. We have also done a number of private events for clients all over the UK.

We have a number of designs currently going through Research and Development. We hope to launch some of these in 2012, including a new smoking gimmick for making oversized goblets pour over with smoke. Other plans include smoking tiki design glasses, smoking treasure chests and smoking shots.

The EnterpriseLab has provided us with some very useful guidance, as well as access to the expertise of Intellectual Property lawyers, marketing and accountancy professionals. This has helped to guide us in the right direction, from writing contracts to setting up and monitoring our accounts as well as getting our innovative products patented and launched into the market.

To find out more about Smoking Sensations, follow the boys on Twitter @SmokingDrinks