Monday 30th June
What our corporates have to say...
With our first annual event complete I thought I would let some of our corporate sponsors do the talking...
"I thought the students were very proactive and keen to get involved – I was certainly bombarded with questions after my presentation and felt that there was a lot of interest in what I was proposing. I had expected the graduates to be of a high calibre." L’Oreal
"Extremely ‘bright’, proactive and career focused. They were very good at getting involved in the more interactive elements of the sessions and asking questions. They were also very welcoming and keen to network. " KPMG
And when we asked Meltwater News to describe the students they met on the day the words used were:
"Motivated; Smart; Interactive and Keen to Learn"
And the event as a whole as:
"Exciting; Interactive; Rewarding"
And for me one of the most telling parts of the whole event, which reinforced my absolute belief in the quality of our students, was the fact that after the awards there was little interest in the bar or music organised, but rather a desire to keep on networking.
So well done to our committees for making a great impact, and whoever says students are not preparing themselves for the world of work need to come to Bright Futures!
Posted by Simon Reichwald, Bright Futures National Team
Friday 27th June
Bright Futures Awards, 20th June 2008!!!!
I am sure I speak for everyone when I say I had a really great time at the Bright Futures Awards.
There were some great speakers and seminars. The new Birmingham Bright Futures committee even won a prize during one of them, woo!
Great networking opportunities were available to everyone, and it was good to catch up / meet new members of other Bright Futures societies.
The highlight of my day was - other than the bar - probably Mark Steen's talk. He was a great talker, and had achieved many interesting things throughout his life so far (like inventing Niceday stationery!! AHhh!) A few of us were overwhelmed by this considering that earlier he had told a little white lie that he provided photocopiers for Bright Futures!
A big thanks to Mel, Simon and co for hosting a great event.
Best of luck to all Bright Futures committees continuing on / setting up a new society.
Posted by Gemma Miller-Smith, University of Birmingham
Tuesday 1st April
NCWE Awards
National Council for Work Experience Awards
On March 12th I was invited down to Café Royal in London to attend the NCWE awards on behalf of Graduate Success.
The day provided an opportunity to network with a variety of organisations including PriceWaterHouseCoopers, Centrica, GlaxoSmithKline and many others.
In total there were 9 award categories recognising both large and small companies for their time and resources spent on providing valuable work placements.
After Lunch guest speaker David Frost, Director general of the British Chamber of Commerce spoke about the importance of work experience; and how today’s graduate recruiters are struggling to find graduates with those all important employability skills.
This just shows that Bright futures are a vital and highly relevant organisation to be part of.
To end the day the awards were presented by Heather Collier; Manager of NWCE.Graduate Success was nominated for Best placement scheme set up in the last two years; unfortunately we missed out on the win.
I personally think we were robbed!!
Posted by Hanna Hopkins, University of Gloucestershire
Monday 3rd March
What being on the committee of a Bright Futures society can do for you
Coming from a non-business background, as I study languages, I went in blind and set up Bright Futures at Birmingham with my other colleagues, Tom and Kiren, all the way back in the summer.
Knowing nothing of the business world was arguably the best way to go in, as it meant I was learning new things all the time, and we as a society definitely did as well.
It was at our last event (a mock assessment centre) with Enterprise Rent-A-Car that I really understood what being on this committee has meant to me. Without sounding too cheesy (!), it has really made me grow in confidence, and that is proven by the positive feedback I received at this last event.
So now, as I'm in my final year and thinking about jobs, I have a broader understanding of the world of work, and also what employers expect from me, because I attended and took part in the events we held.
So, thanks Bright Futures for letting me have this opportunity!!
Posted by Gemma Miller-Smith, University of Birmingham
Sunday 24th February
Interview with Hobson's on Bright Futures and employability
Over five weeks ago, I was approached by Simon and Melanie to be interviewed by Hobson’s about Bright Futures and employability. This was a fantastic opportunity to get some additional PR for the society and naturally myself. I gratefully accepted.
Five weeks on and this interview has now been published, and can be accessed via the link below.
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/get-a-job-employability-bright-futures
Sincere thanks to the National Team!
Posted by Gareth Hall, University of Reading
Thursday 21st February
The Strategy for 2008 and beyond
The Bright Futures National team hosted a strategy launch day at L'Oreal on 31st January to share with some of our corporate sponsors, presidents, NUS and alumni our ideas for how we would like take the Society forward. Key to it was our vision and purpose for the organisation.
We feel the national team's role is to provide the 'foundations for success' for all our student members. The three key principles to the 'foundations to success' being: 1. Certainty of Purpose - i.e. knowing exactly what you want. 2. The Master-Mind Principle - i.e. surrounding yourself with people who can help you achieve your purpose (in this case those people are the national team, our corporate sponsors and the other Bright Futures societies). 3. Personal Ownership - i.e. taking responsibility for yourself and making things happen, not just expecting them to happen.
The National Team is then focused on providing the environment and tools to build those 'foundations for success' for all our student members. We want our student members through their membership of the Society to find out what career they really want (and why) though our corporates engagement, on and offline; to build the skills needed to be highly attractive to employers, again through our corporates engagement; and to be in control of their own success.
Additional ideas that come from the event included: on the website, improved and different information on each of our corporate members (including, for example, a list of skills events, business simulations etc they can run for Bright Futures); the ability for our student members to communicate directly with other student members through the site and share experiences. A tool kit for new societies and incoming commitees. A more proactive and engaged Alumni who could provide regional support for the current societies. An 'executive' which meets quarterly to discuss ideas & developments and included corporate sponsors, presidents, the NUS and representatives from HE. More & improved training for the committees (a pilot event is running in March 2008 in conjunction with the National Trust). An annual conference and awards event (now scheduled for 3rd April 2008).
Bright Futures has and always will be student run and student lead. The Bright Futures National Team exist to ensure our student members acheive their ambitions and goals. Whether you are a committee, student or corporate member we are a membership organisation and as such we must reflect the needs of our Society. So keep talking to us!
Posted by Simon Reichwald, Bright Futures National Team
Sunday 17th February
Bright Futures Strategy Day
A couple of weeks back I was given an invitation by Melanie and Simon to take part in a Bright Futures Strategy day. I was very grateful for the opportunity to be involved and duly accepted.
The day took place at the L'Oreal UK headquaters (who put on a very nice lunch I must say) in order to discuss the future strategy of Bright Futures. The venue was host to various corporate members, the national team, the head of the NUS as well as past alumni of SIS.
Many issues were discussed and debated and I really appreciated the openness to ideas and input from all parties. Whilst some targets are ambitious they are definitely achievable.
You will all be glad to hear that a strong foundation for success has been built for Bright Futures and things only stand to get better. So keep up the good work everyone!
Posted by Thomas Stone, University of Birmingham
Wednesday 30th January
Stonemartin at Davidson House event, Reading Bright Futures
Being young and naïve has its benefits. For a start, you don’t have fear or bouts of anxiety. Nor the repetitive slight pessimism conditioning ‘it’ll never work’, until it matches your pulse beat for beat. From my experience, the question has never been ‘why?’, but simply ‘why not?’
So, with our fresh and brazen minds, we descended upon Stonemartin, a first-class provider of conferencing facilities for businesses, to engage in a talk with two guest speakers. Stonemartin is located at Davidson House, adjacent to the Forbury Hotel.
Davidson House is a stunning office location in the centre of Reading. Its imposing, glass-fronted building dominates a new public square featuring contemporary architecture, restaurants, public art, plenty of greenery and dramatic night-time lighting. Their words not mine- but it’s hard to disagree!
With over twenty students, we arrived at Davidson House with a mixture of excitement, curiosity and desire (the pre-talk drinks reception awaited!) Of course, we were still excited about the event!
First up was Paul Spencer, General Manager of Davidson House, and archetypical salesman. Brash, confident and self-aware, he began his presentation on sales with wonderful vigour and enthusiasm.
Weaved into his sales ‘pitch’ was captivating insights into the commercial industry, coined-in with some very amusing analogies. A particular highlight was the similarities of courting women to the art of sales and branding. This was most useful (for the male attendees).
After a short intermission, the second speaker was up, Daryl Scott, local entrepreneur and recently published author (Can we start again?: The Patterns of NLP Applied to Business Interactions). Daryl directed us away from sales, and moved into the realms of entrepreneurship, and what it takes to run your own business.
This included what it takes to set up on your own, what things you need to consider before starting out, and how you can manage the risks involved. With over ten year’s entrepreneurial experience, Daryl provided the ideal template for the demands aspiring entrepreneurs face.
He closed with an interesting exercise that entailed finding all possible uses of a metal coat hanger. After some humorous examples, (including a light-hearted discussion on a hanger’s ability to generate darkness!), Daryl explained that it was our pre-conceived image of a products physical properties that prevented our minds from thinking ‘outside the box’.
As the event came to a close, all attendees grasped at the opportunity to ask our speakers some questions; and with the drinks still flowing, our speakers were delightfully subjected to a further thirty minutes of intense questioning on their vast experiences in the commercial world. There’s nothing like youth and naivety!
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank our speakers, Paul Spencer and Daryl Scott; as well as my committee especially Alex Blondin, who helped spearhead this event, and to all those that attended.
Posted by Gareth Hall, University of Reading
Sunday 6th January
A Rolls Royce Perspective
Hi, my name is Dr Kevin Spurgeon and I am a controls system engineer currently working for Rolls-Royce.
I was approached by the Brighton University Bright Futures President, Miss Oghenekevwe Okoro in October 07 and asked if Rolls-Royce’s Controls Department and Graduate Scheme would be interested in making a presentation to the students. Naturally we accepted as we are always looking to generate interest in our company from the best graduates and in developing and maintaining links with the academic world.
After discussions with Miss Okoro and members of the Brighton University Academic Staff it was decided that the presentation would discuss the variety of entrance routes into Rolls-Royce. For graduates this meant our Graduate, Leadership Control Systems Programmes and Direct Entry Scheme. For Undergraduates we would also introduce the Summer and Year-Long Internships that run within most of our departments. Finally, I would present my own experiences of joining Rolls-Royce as a graduate along with an “insiders-guide” from a Chief of Function as to what we, Rolls-Royce look for in both the people who apply and more specifically what we consider to be the ideal C.V.
On the day itself, 4 people made the journey to Brighton: Iain Robertshaw (Chief of Mechanical Hardware, Military Controls), Eloise Fowler & Gareth Browning (current members of the Engineering Graduate Scheme) and myself. We were met by Miss Okoro when we arrived and shown to the main hall of the Cockroft Building where the presentation was to be held. Approximately 70-80 students attended the event and the various presentations lasted just over an hour in total. From our point of view, the most encouraging aspect of the day was that the vast majority of students waited to talk to the team members for almost a further 45 minutes after the presentations. During these informal discussions students discussed a variety of subjects with the team including, career paths within Rolls-Royce, the industry’s opinions of Postgraduate Study, personal development at Rolls-Royce, in-house training and many other aspects of our day-to-day working lives.
The entire team viewed the day as a resounding success and thoroughly enjoyed both talking to the students and the hospitality shown to us by Brighton University and Bright Futures. The event was extremely well organised and ran without any hiccups.
Rolls-Royce operates a University Liaison Team policy that directly liaises with only the top 15 universities in the UK, due to limited budgets for this type of activity. However, it is well known that not all of the “best” students necessarily go to the top universities, so when Bright Futures contacted us offering a direct route to high calibre students at Brighton University we were naturally keen to make this connection. Since we at Rolls-Royce are always looking for individuals who have not only a high technical background but also a strong desire to succeed, and a developed extra-curricular CV, societies such as Bright Futures offer us a first hand opportunity to talk to these students directly. Even though all students must ultimately apply for jobs through the same channels as everybody else, meeting face to face and making lasting relationships with students who show such purpose and drive stand both us and the individuals in good stead for the future.
We look forward to continuing this new relationship with Bright Futures and Brighton University and hopefully the next event will not be too far away.
Thanks
Dr Kevin Spurgeon MEng
Controls Systems Engineer
Controls R&T
Rolls-Royce
Posted by Oghenekevwe Okoro, University of Brighton
Saturday 8th December
Thank you from Bright Futures Lancaster!!!
Bright Futures Lancaster exec want to say a big THANK YOU to Mel and Sham (Enterprise Rent a Car) for coming up to campus and putting up a fantastic event. Despite the uncertainty and the high risk of hosting an event in week 9 of term, we hosted our first event yesterday and it was a massive success. The evening kicked off to a fantastic start with a turn out of 61 people. We started off with Mel doing a presentation on Bright Futures followed by Sham doing a presentation on Assessment Centres. The evening was interactive and fun and relaxed. After some amazing food, and lots of positive feedback everyone left but the feel of the evening was awesome!!!
We just got affiliated to LUSU last week but my exec have been working on this event for a few weeks now and putting the event up didn't come without the usual ups and downs. The careers service were very impressed that we managed to get so many people in for this time of term and bounced right back despite the few drawbacks. The feeling the exec went away with yesterday made this an awesome experience for me as a President. The exec gave off a sense of achievement and I felt real team spirit and a really cool bond that formed between the members of my exec which is what is going to take Bright Futures Lancaster a long long long way. With just this one event, I've seen the exec grow in so many ways its unbelieveable. Yesterday's was definitely an unforgetable and valuable experience and I know for a fact, this is the first of many many many wonderful experiences to come!!
Deepika, Bright Futures Lancaster
Posted by Deepika Gupta, Lancaster University
Wednesday 5th December
Another Fundraising Tool
Stevie the President of Bright Futures at Brighton has just earned her Society £50 for recommending a friend at Kings College, London to start Bright Futurezs there. A new Society at Kings has just been ratified by the SU and I am more than happy to put the £50 into the commitee funds.
Who's next?!
Posted by Simon Reichwald, Bright Futures National Team
Monday 26th November
You must know how to demonstrate your capability
Speaking to a group of 20 bright students at a Bright Futures event held at Cambridge University last week it dawned on me that what undergraduates need to be able to do to secure the best jobs is know how to demonstrate their capabilities. Everyone has capabilities - things they are good at - but too often undergraduates do not know how to do show that they have what companies are seeking.
So next time you see your Bright Futures Society running an event called ' How to get the best graduate job' come along - we will show you in 60 minutes both how companies test individual's capabilities and how you can demonstrate that you have them.
You will feel more confident about seeking either internships or graduate jobs and if you don't beleive me, believe your peers....!
"I've attended many presentations provided by the largest recruiters, but none of them told me how I can prove my capability. Only your presentation taught me how I can stand out. I found it very useful. With your advice, I feel more confident about my application"
"Thanks ever so much for the talk, I feel so much more confident about apllying for internships now!"
So now you know - see you there!
Posted by Simon Reichwald, Bright Futures National Team
Monday 19th November
How much does experience really count?
Right now many of the most popular graduate employers are accepting applications from students - but only those with outstanding A-levels. Several of the top employers demand UCAS scores of 360 (3 straight As) to even read your application. Which, for academic underachievers and vocational overachievers like me, proves a little problematic.
Rather than studying for my A-levels, I was busy running large-scale gaming events at Earl's Court, ExCeL and Sheperd's Bush...or being paid to travel around the world writing for gaming magazines, or looking after a £100k AMD marketing initiative to crack the early adopter market. Or, at the expense of coursework, growing huge online communities and social hubs for various companies.
In short, my teachers weren't too keen with either the quality or promptness of my work. Still, I always assumed that this was a worthwhile sacrifice as it would give me a huge advantage when looking for a job.
Only it doesn't.
After a frustrating cursory browse through many of the top business/marketing student employers in the top 100 graduate employers, its clear that UCAS points is still being used for the purposes of applicant-screening. And by clear I mean several companies even have very direct signs specifically to draw attention to the required UCAS score to apply.
Are the links between A-Level achievement and corporate talent really so clear? I've read several studies which beg to differ. So, what is the solution? Is there one?
Posted by Richard Millington, University of Gloucestershire
Friday 16th November
Over 200 students in just under 2 weeks : Just how did she do it….?
Tiffany Stewart, President of BrightFutures@LSBU, began her recruitment campaign on her university’s campus on Thursday 18th October and recruited over 100 members within the first five days.
Alone, with no events books or other committee members, she knew she had to get the BrightFutures name recognised on the LSBU campus -she had to think big!
There is nothing worse than putting all the effort into planning an event which nobody attends. So here are the small steps that led to her grand success:- Think : Who do I want to communicate to? – The whole student body!
- What do I want them to do? – Sign up online so they can notified of events
- Action : I drafted an email, including a link to my society's webpage, to the Public Relations Department of the whole university asking them to send out a message on my behalf to the whole student body… and “ping” the student sign-ups came pouring in!!
Simple ideas – phenomenal results! Shame no one thought of it sooner.
Why reveal a local publicity secret and not watch other societies’ waste their time designing posters?? Well, if the publicity teams of other universities do not market their events effectively, we, ‘BrightFutures’ are not as recognised as we’d really like to imagine. This could also have adverse effects on the corporate member database. Also, the Bright Futures National team are brilliant at what they do, so for the National team to sign up all the members you have on paper, manually online, would actually waste a lot their valuable time.
Sometimes, the most valuable gems come in small packages. I only have a few contacts but they are all put to good use and save a lot of time and even more funds.
What's funny about this publicity result? I have not even started yet!!
Good luck!Posted by Tiffany Stewart, London South Bank University
Thursday 15th November
RBS Williams F1 Day
For those of you who didn't get to go, you missed a great day at the RBS F1 Williams Centre. After a brief talk and insight into careers with RBS we we're treated to a delicious buffet and informative tour about the history of the Williams team and Formula 1. Really brought me back to the 90s hearing about Schumacher and Hill fighting it out, on and off the track. Not to mention the F1 simulation (that a certain somebody won with a time of 1:24 - step aside Lewis), which was definitely my highlight.
Well done to RBS and Williams F1 Conference Centre! This is the kind of graduate recuritment I could get used to.
Thomas
Birmingham Bright Futures
Posted by Thomas Stone, Birmingham
Monday 5th November
Baby Bright Futures!
Congratulations!!
Sam and Marianna Hill have just had their first baby; a little girl named Marianna!
Posted by Bright Futures National Team
Wednesday 31st October
Aston Bright Futures: Dinner With Industry
Just to brief you: the Dinner With Industry event is open to everyone, only
happens once a year and is one of the most sought after events of the year with
only a few places. This event is a unique opportunity to sit, talk, network and
eat with some of the biggest companies in the world including Deloitte, Barclays,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Accenture, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and many more! The
event includes an exquisite silver-spoon dinner buffet meal in the 4* MacDonald
Burlington Hotel, along with a charity prize raffle, fun activities, live
performances and a professional photographer. A great night out with a business
twist!
For the permanent record in time and space: the amount of organisation for this one event has been phenomenal, and I'm sure it shall get even more stressful closer to Tuesday 6th of November 2007, which is now less than 7 days away! For everyone else it shall merely be just another event, but for me it's a major milestone and a profound statement for Aston Bright Futures because it’s our biggest event of the year. I'm confident that it shall be a great success, but there is a lot of work yet to do over the coming days to ensure that.
For those of you just starting up Bright Futures societies at your universities, you're in for a challenge which is unique, precious and unforgettable. It's an experience with many twists and turns, and many ups and downs: but every moment is something for us to learn and grow from. I guess the challenge is really as big as we want it to be. With Aston Bright Futures, I set my expectations very high and it reflects in how far the society has come and also in the workload involved! But in the end it boils down to experience. There is no other experience like running a Bright Futures society and I would recommend it to everyone forever. Get involved! Start a Bright Futures society today!
Posted by Jasdeep Singh, Aston
Monday 22nd October
Give us CEO’s not HR!
My previous entry on this blog criticised the lack of assistance that organisations are willing to provide to BF societies when planning an event. However, perhaps more worrying than this is the trend among large organisations to let HR departments ‘deal with’ BF events.
Whilst HR departments fulfil a vital function at large companies - and many I’ve worked with have been very helpful and run really successful events alongside the society - it is a huge mistake for companies to rely solely on their HR department to represent them at events. Students who attend these events are often expected to participate in question-and-answer and networking sessions, meaning that companies ought to bring people with them who are able to answer a range of questions.
Throughout my time as a Bright Futures member and president, I have witnessed company’s send recent recruits (who have not even completed an internship at the firm) in place of experience and well-versed employees. Coming to an event unable to answer simple questions such as ‘when are your internship application deadlines?’ does not reflect well on anyone involved in the event and wastes the time of many students who have given up their evening to come and find out about a company and sector.
One of the best events I’d ever been involved in was delivered by a new company with only the founder members present - being presented by people passionate about their work and with years of experience and insight in the sector made a huge difference to the appeal and success of the event.
Whilst it might be expensive for a company to send more experienced employees, it is crucial in continuing to recruit the most able students they can. Indeed, once a company has paid a large sum for an event, it is a waste for them to not do it properly, and to skimp on the employees it sends.
I would recommend that for most standard company presentations, firms should send three employees: a recent recruit (who could talk to students from their point of view); a more experienced employee (able to answer the questions of keener and better informed students); and someone from HR (who has all the facts about application deadlines and internships).
Nadia Witkowski
President Cambridge Futures, Lent and Easter 2007
Posted by Nadia Witkowski, Cambridge
Thursday 18th October
17th September-Committee Training Day
So we’d been waiting weeks and weeks for the event, the event that would bring together members of committees from all over…Well it was definitely worth the wait!! Not only was the event extremely informative and useful, it was inspiring too! Set out in the Student's Union at Bristol University, roughly around 15 committee members from all over assembled. The atmosphere relaxed and fairly informal, soon everyone was chatting away!
The initial ice breaker definitely a success, not only did we have to introduce ourselves, we also had to state one unusual fact about us, after many giggles over lack of sleep, breaking legs(!) etc we soon got down to business…..
First up was Simon Reichwald himself, he delivered a motivating speech about Bright Futures’ (SIS) past and what part we could play in the future. This is OUR society and the amount we can do is only capped by our imagination! He explained to us the aims of the national Bright Futures committee and gave us incentives about not only what we could do for Bright Futures but what they could do for us.
Next up was Dan Ellis from Rent A Car, who presented a seminar on the general running of a society; he told us to decide on goals and formulate a plan to achieve them, weekly hour long meetings were sufficent and to make objectives that follow the rule of SMART, Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time.
Thirdly was Rob from Accenture, this involved an extremely effective workshop on the various innovative ways we could secure sponsorship, from weekends away to endorsing freshers fair stalls! The emphasis is on the collaboration between committee and corporate and a deal that could maximise the benefit for both parties. This ended in a game where we split into groups and pitched our ideas to the corporate to see who they would pick and why.
Lastly but by no means least we met Rob Holling from HP; being an active member of a former SIS society himself, he could advise and guide us based upon his own first hand experience! He gave us many, many ideas on events to aspire to and plenty of general hints and tips which we know will definitely come in useful for the future.
All the corporates hung around so we could get a chance to talk to them on a one on one basis for any questions we may have had.
All in all, the day exceeded our expectations and was a great chance to meet other committee members as we are all striving for the same goal, we know we will all be keeping in touch and comparing notes on various issues!
Posted by Kiren Poonian, Birmingham
Monday 15th October
Reading University Freshers' Fayre
It was with a mixture of excitement and anxiety that the Reading University Business Society prepared their stall. The organisation had been thorough, the logistics had been accurate, and with the wait, now, almost untenable. Upon arrival, we were shown to our stall: a simple 6’ by 3’ wooden table that would soon be swamped with posters, flyers, merchandise, and most popular of all, toffee.
With our RUBS banner hung-up with the splendid and sophisticated use of sticky-tape, and our very professional poster from Bright Futures taking pride position on the right of our stall, we were set.
The time ticked along merrily to 11am, and soon first-years started to filter in, first one by one, then in their droves, as the atmosphere swelled with enthusiasm, laughter and assorted confectionary.
Freebies were available every which way you looked; these varied from the mundane, to the more extravagant, with each society attempting to offer that added value that would help differentiate themselves from the rest. We seized this opportunity, and grabbed every student in sight that showed an interest, however slight, in our stall.
A most welcome surprise was the keenness of many students to find out more about our society’s goals and aspirations; entwined with our astute sales skills and some wonderful banter, the day proved a major success, with over 130 student sign-ups.
Now, with close to 200 members, we can go about the real business, with added confidence and purpose into the forthcoming academic year.
A special thank-you to the National Team for their superb support, and to my committee for their excellent efforts, both towards and on, this most special toffee-filled day.
Posted by Gareth Hall, Reading
Thursday 11th October
60 students attend Aston Bright Futures Event
I was invited to speak at the Aston Bright Futures Society and I was impressed to see 60 students in the room. But before I was allowed on the President and his committee wanted us to get to know each other a bit so spilt us up into 8 groups and asked us each to compose a funny poem in 7 minutes. The results were "varied", some truly funny but some sadly not!
We also heard about the Aston Bright Futures Dinner with Industry event for November this year which sounds like a really worthwhile (and good value) event.
Then it was my turn and I delivered a session on 'how to stand out in the graduate market'. I normally have about an hour for this but with the time constraints I did it in 30 minutes. The key messages were - being a graduate and having a 2.1 is no longer enough to get you a great graduate job. You need to offer and have done more. Of course a great way to do that is by joining Bright Futures, attedning the events, accessing the Bright Futures national website and ultimately, maybe even, becoming a committee member. The top Employers want graduates who have done more than 'just' a degree.
My time was soon up and it was time for the committee to start signing up more members.
Well done to Jasdeep and the committee for a well attended, energetic event!
Posted by Simon Reichwald
Friday 5th October
Unfortunately we cannot offer you a stall at Freshers Fair, as you are not a registered guild society...
When I initially read this line on the 20th of September I thought WHAT?! I stormed down to the guild, putting my emotions before anything else and told one of the presidents of the guild how atrocious I thought this was, considering we had been led to believe that we were a registered society...
I’m not mental (!)- just passionate about what Bright Futures stands for, so to have to learn this rather significant bit of information just days before we were meant to have a stall at our Freshers careers fair (the 27th & 28th of Sept) was pretty hard to stomach, especially after all the work and effort Kiren, Thomas and myself had put in to Birmingham Bright Futures since July.
Without guild membership we also wouldn’t be able to a) take membership money from students on the day, as it was based in the guild, so that wouldn’t have gone down well or b) be able to book rooms for our events free of charge. This would result in having to fork out £200 odd for a room for half a day out of our own pockets.
As it turns out however, this setback has worked in our favour. Despite not having a stall at Freshers fair we still managed to take down around 150 people’s contact details, give out flyers AND hand out some of the freebies CIMA (tea towels, hanging air fresheners) and Graduate Jobs (pens) sent us just by walking around the marquee with our clipboards in our Bright Futures t-shirts. Also, re: rooms, we found that in the Business School, where Tom studies, we could have one of the rooms (capacity of 200 people) free, and without having to go through all the pieces of paper one normally has to fill in and sign in order to book a room.
So although we were very disappointed with the initial news, in retrospect it seems to have been the best thing that could have happened to us, as we were able to deal with the problem in a different way, and we realised that we can still make ourselves a successful society without being members of the guild. In fact, when I told one of the presidents of the guild at Freshers fair that we had a room booked for free he was very happy for us, so it seems that it’s not that he didn’t want to make us a society, it was just that he couldn’t due to all the official steps EVERY society has to go through. So for the moment our status is still pending and we will hopefully come up in front of the Guild council to pitch our case very soon. We think that there is no reason why we shouldn’t become a guild society, as we obviously ultimately want to help students, however every society, when setting up, has to undergo such a process.
We will start to take money from students at our first event, charging the normal fee of £3 for the year, as this will not be on guild ground. We have also started lecture shout-outs, accompanied by OHP sheet listing our next event, which have proved very effective indeed. Posters in the Business School will be our next step, but we will wait for some membership money, as posters are more expensive than flyers.
So...this blog is just to inform all of you who are just setting up your Bright Futures society, that, do not despair if things don’t necessarily go as smoothly as you like, through perseverance, patience and through a different approach you can succeed. It may take slightly longer, but you will see the benefits eventually. Also the experience you go through to make the society work from a different angle is a great learning curve, although it may not feel like that at the time!
One last point, Melanie Cheeseman and Simon Reichwald have both told me that every university guild / student union is different re: becoming a society, some are more official than others. One thing’s for sure, you do NOT want to get on the wrong side of them, so make sure you check with them with what you can and cannot do and then you will gain their trust.
Posted by Gemma Miller-Smith
Monday 1st October
“Hey, Corporate Members - it’s your event too!”
Having had experience at organising, running and attending a number of Bright Futures events (during my time as head of operations and president for Cambridge Futures) I feel well placed to comment on what sponsor companies do very well, and what they do very badly.
One of the main criticisms I have of companies sponsoring BF events concerns the lack of support they give to the student presidents who are organising them. Whilst companies will tell you they want to stand out from their competitors by coming up with exciting events to attract students, they often seem unwilling to put any thought into the event and expect our committee members to independently conceive it.
While student input is obviously essential in devising an event to benefit both students and the company, and while students will no doubt benefit from the responsibility that comes with event management, it is unrealistic for companies to expect a student to be able to single-handedly plan events that cover a number of different business sectors. At any one time we cannot expect to have such a range of members on our small committee with a deep enough understanding of each sector to devise well-suited careers events.
This is where companies must step in and pull their weight.
If companies say they want an innovative and exciting event then they need to come to us with suggestions and ideas. Indeed, the whole ethos of Bright Futures is that it promotes collaboration between students and industry. Better collaboration in the event-planning stage will result in more relevant, more interesting, and ultimately better-attended Bright Futures events.
Nadia Witkowski
President, Cambridge Futures, Lent and Easter 2007
Posted by Nadia Witkowski, Cambridge
Wednesday 1st August
Aston Bright Futures Website Goes Live!
Yes, the rumours are indeed true! Aston
Bright Futures website is now live and kicking! The moment you’ve all been
waiting for is here. The date 01/08/2007 shall forever stay in minds and hearts
of all those who hold Bright Futures dearly.
All people, wherever they come from, shall from this day forward be free to browse the Aston Bright Futures website and look at the range of events organised for the coming academic term by us. With Aston Bright Futures being one of the biggest Bright Futures societies in the United Kingdom, this is truly the beginning of a new revolution.
The stage has been set for a new world order, which shall be coined Bright Futures. Oh wait, I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere before, right? Never mind, we’ll just call it Aston Bright Futures to avoid any potential copyrighting issues ;). Visit http://www.astonfutures.com/ Now.
Posted by Jasdeep Singh, Aston
Wednesday 1st August
A ‘haystack’ without ‘needles’: Why are Sports Marketing placements so hard to find?
For the past twelve months, I have been subject to the ongoing struggle of finding a placement role for the coming year. A student at the University of Gloucestershire, my degree program (Marketing Management and Sports Development) gives me the option of completing a one-year internship position, prior to my final 3rd year. I fully intent to take this option - I believe that a year in industry will be of great benefit to my skillset, and will give me a headstart in the employment world upon graduation.
Since I intend to pursue a career in a sport-related marketing field after graduation I have been endlessly searching for sports marketing placement roles. Yet, despite being very active in my search since July last year, I have struggled to find many suitable offerings. The words ‘needle’ and ‘haystack’ spring to mind…
And I have tried everywhere: sports teams and clubs; sports agents; sports marketing agencies; specialist sponsorship companies; sportswear firms; governing bodies; sports journalists… I could go on. My list of rejection letters (“Sorry, we don’t offer internships… but congratulations on your career choice”) reads like a ‘Who’s Who’ of all firms vaguely related to sports marketing in the UK, US and even Germany.
Obtaining experience in this industry, it seems, it an almost impossible task. But why is this? I can think of two possible explanations:
1. I’m simply not good enough. Obviously, I would hope this is not the case. My academic record throughout my educational history has always been very good and, in the last few years, I have made massive efforts to extend myself in other areas: work experience roles; unpaid sports journalism; and attendance of relevant marketing conferences to name but a few. I believe I have a lot to offer a firm, and have carefully submitted applications to try and show this. My ‘product offering’ is, I think, strong. Which leads me to the other possible explanation:
2. Sports companies just do not offer placements. Marketing is a hard industry to get into, period. Throw in the word ‘sport’, where budgets are tightly constrained and win/lose margins are small, and its easy to see why this may be the case. But it shouldn’t be. There is a lot of value to offering student placements as my current boss at apt marketing & pr (where I am currently undertaking an extended work-experience role) will tell you. The University of Gloucestershire lists a number of ‘Benefits to Employers’ within its Placement Handbook, including;
• Productive work at a reasonable cost
• A resource to carry out work-based projects
• Up to date and relevant knowledge, skills and vocational qualifications
• The opportunity to assess the student as a potential employee
• Potential supervisory experience for your own employees
• The ability to demonstrate career opportunities available to students
• An opportunity to demonstrate a commitment to career development.
I realise that I am drastically narrowing my search field by focussing solely on a sports marketing placement (over a generic marketing placement), but since sport is the field I wish to enter upon graduation, I feel that this is the area in which I can learn the most. I also feel that this is the field in which I can use the whole of my skill set, and an area where I can apply the principles learned in both of my degree disciplines (Marketing Management and Sport Development).
For students beginning their placement search this semester, becoming a member of Bright Futures will undoubtedly help: the growing list of employers and placement opportunities is highly useful, while attendance of Bright Futures event has certainly helped extend my commercial awareness, and make me a stronger candidate for recruitment. One criticism of the society could perhaps be that the Corporate Membership does not yet cater for specialisms within the marketing and business fields (such as sports marketing), although I would imagine that this is the next stage for development. (Simon?!)
(Incidentally, if any sports-marketing related companies out there want to see what I can offer, email me!)
Right, enough of my rant - I’ve got a needle to find…
Posted by Ian Probert
Friday 13th July
What the definition of a great Student Society?
At the recent National Graduate Conference run by the AGR & attended by over 550 graduate recruiters I asked the question what makes a great student society and this is what they said:
You need to:
- Communicate with them all through the year not just take their money (i.e. sponsorship) and never talk to them again
- Have a clear objective about what you want from them
- Be well organised
- Do mention your previous track record with other companies who the Society have worked with (it enhances your credibility)
- Do let them know about the services you offer and keep reminding them!
- And they want continuity with the people who contact them (at least through the year)
AND a final tip from me - they are really busy people so you will need to be persistent. Do not expect them to reply to your email by return - it may take a few goes and somne follow up calls!
is this useful information? Or do you do this and not got back from them what you expect?
What are your experiences? What works well for your Society? Share your thoughts and ideas...
All the Best, Simon
Posted by Simon Reichwald
Thursday 14th June
2008 Global Management Challenge - Register Now!
The world's largest strategic management competition, hailed the 'Business Olympics' for students, is open for registrations.
Enhance your CV and manage your own virtual company - the aim is to finish the game with the highest price on the virtual stock exchange.
If you're looking for other members to join your team, get in touch and leave your name, your email address and the university at which you are studying.
If you already have your team of 3-5 students, register now for your chance to compete and improve your employability prospects. The UK winning team will travel to the International Finals in Bucharest, Romania in April 2008.
Posted by
Friday 1st June
A degree is not enough
As someone who has been helping companies attract and recruit graduate talent for over 13 years one of the big changes in the last few years is that employers focus less on the degree and more on what else you have done.
Yes your degree is important and you will be able to apply for things as a result of it and the better you do the better. BUT....the sheer volume of graduates (over 300,000 per year) and even those with a 2.1 or better (59%) means that companies cannot screen applicants effectively (i.e. get the numbers down to 'manageable levels) using a 2.1 as a screening tool.
So, more and more they are looking at what else have students done - and it is things like being a part of a student Society (or better still on the committee) of Bright Futures!); volunteering; travel (self financed and not just to Australia!); BUNAC; Duke of Edinburgh; CRAC Insight to Management Courses; and of course achievement in anything from winning the GMC (Global Management Challenge) to Grade 5 with the flute that catches their eye. Employers want to see evidence of what more you have done than just what you do through being in the education system.
And I think this is a good thing as it means that the individual (who they are and all the things they have done) is more important than a piece of paper.
So do more and do more different things and you will get more!
Posted by Simon Reichwald
Friday 11th May
Bright Futures sponsors the TARGET Awards
The TARGET National Graduate Recruitment Awards (http://www.targetawards.co.uk/) were successfully attended by companies from every sector that can be feasibly comprehended. There were a total of fourteen awards, spread over different sectors of employment, to honour the best graduate recruiters, campaigns and websites.
Bright Futures were the proud entertainment sponsors of the awards and had a prominent logo on the main stand. There were lots of informal business debates, discussions and dealings going on as the event unfolded with the sponsors all gathered together in a 'special' room. The chatters of the sponsors were soon drowned by the loud bellow of one the event's host, who was cordially dressed in a fine red tuxedo and a top-hat.
The main event began with a few activities to raise money for charity, including a life-size version of heads and tails with prizes up for grabs. This was followed by a three course meal for all the attendees, which was of the most exquisite quality. The meal was concluded with a spot of tea or coffee in cups smaller than a ping-pong ball, after which the awards shortly commenced. As a brief mention, the graduate employer of the year was awarded to be IBM UK.
Although I has to rush off early to catch my train back home, it was an event that I thoroughly enjoyed and in which I was given the opportunity to meet some amazing and enthusiastic people that are just as much driven to make the world a better place for young people as I am.
I do however look forward to working with Bright Futures more closely as the new President of Aston Bright Futures and I can see that Bright Futures is an organisation which is quickly going to get established and grow immensely from strength to strength. I shall now declare publicly, for the first time, my unofficial tag line for this fantastic company..."The Future's Bright, the Future's Bright Futures".
Until next time,
Jasdeep Singh (Bright Futures - Aston University)
Posted by Jasdeep Singh, Aston
Tuesday 8th May
Your Damaging Digital Dirt
There has been a mass of coverage recently on ‘digital dirt’; personal online information, that often paints a far from flattering picture of you. This can be pretty damaging when potential employers are sizing you up. Just as we have all tried “Googling” a date or celebrity, so employers are using search engines to check out candidates.
A recent survey by executive search firm ExecuNet found that 77% of recruiters use search engines to evaluate applicants, while Search Engine Watch reports up to 50 million proper-name searches every day. So, what is your online identity saying about you? Google your name and find out, maybe adding your city or university and perhaps your email address. What have you found? Oh dear, that’s not your MySpace page, with the tale of the all-day hangover is it? Or the dating website profile you set up ‘as a laugh’ last year? Worse, your digital dirt may extend beyond search engines.
Employers can use Flickr and Photobucket to find ‘interesting’ images, while advanced web searchers may even delve into IP addresses, potentially uncovering everything you’ve ever done online. Worried? You should be. Of the 77% of recruiters who use search engines to evaluate candidates, over 35% admit to rejecting them on the basis of what the web has revealed. That’s over a third of potential employees who can trace their failure to a single web page, comment or image. Even if you find nothing on your name, you may still be in trouble. Arguably, a non-existent online identity speaks volumes about you. Building a positive online profile is now a major factor in job-hunting.
One way for students to bolster their online profile is to register with Bright Futures, as we provide ways to interact directly with employers. That’s why it’s important to join your local society, if you have one, and if not – start your own. As well as running on-campus, regional and national events, you can interact via this site, and really sell yourselves via the wiki, helping to counter any negative net information. There’s another important task though; cleaning the muck that has already been spread. For content you’ve added, this is not too difficult – simply destroy the evidence! Edit your MySpace page, change your MSN nickname, remove those risqué online photos and delete that dodgy blog entry. If someone has posted derogatory comments about you, act fast. Get in touch with them, asking for a retraction of any false information and putting a positive spin on anything that is true.
Burying your digital dirt is an ongoing process, but an essential one to safeguard your career prospects. With employers increasingly turning to web-based recruitment and evaluation, online identity management should be a concern for all students. However, with the right strategy, all you should have to worry about in an interview is living up to your online identity.
Posted by Simon Reichwald
Monday 2nd April
Here's to a Bright Future!
What a whirlwind the last 6 months have been since I have taken over the nationwide support for the Student Industrial Society (SIS) or Careers Society or Skills Society as it is called on some campuses.
When I first took SIS over from CRAC I had loads of ideas as to what to do, some of which turned out to be terrible (so we didn’t do them) and some of which look like they will be great.
SIS has been my life for the past 6 months, every waking minute I have been thinking about it. I really believe in what the society aims to do and want so much to be a part of making that happen. I have great ambitions for it but I am acutely aware that SIS is a student society for students run by students. So I can only ever do so much – which at times I anticipate finding frustrating!
We have really tried to incorporate the ideas and aspirations of the committees I have met as well as, of course, the views of the corporate members. I have also put on my graduate recruitment ‘hat’ and thought about what job hunting students want (save me time and help me make fewer better applications as well have meet more like-minded people and have fun doing it all; while for the committees it is about help growing their society) and what graduate employers want (to engage with the most work savvy students to get more better quality applications for their roles, be they internships, placements or graduate jobs).
The end result is a new name – The Bright Futures Society Ltd. to give it its full name. We are now set up as a legal entity and importantly as a not for profit company.
We have a new fantastic website and loads of great marketing materials & services for the committees to use and get lots more members as well as plans for an Alumni.
Take a look at this new site and let me know what you think. And if you are a committee member, corporate member or student member please talk to me as after all it’s your Society and my role is to make it work for you!
Finally, lots of other people have played a big part in making this all happen, (and if you are reading this you know who you are!). Thank you all for your work, ideas and efforts so far and the good news is lots more hard work still to be done!
Posted by Simon Reichwald
