Category Archives: Graduate Business Partnership (GBP)

Sam, Higher Education Project Officer

Biosciences, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP)

Degree: Biological Sciences at University of Exeter 2017

Job Role: A Higher Education Project Officer provides support for projects in the Exeter Education Incubator, supporting academics who are working on projects to reimagine how university education can be delivered.

Sam’s Experience: Applying to be a GBP arose at a difficult time post-uni, when my original master’s program was cancelled by the University and all other arrangements fell through. When I became aware of the job, I was interested immediately by the title, but when reading through the description it seemed like an area of employment I had little experience in. However, I saw this as the perfect opportunity to develop skills I have not yet used in a professional environment, as previous experience had been restricted to lab and kitchen work. The main skills I am learning so far are teamwork, meeting skills, project organisation and website design. I would encourage any graduate to apply for a GBP as they are the perfect opportunity to develop important career skills. The project and IT skills I learn should help me massively when choosing to undertake another masters next year.

Catherine, Higher Education Project Officer

Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP)

Degree: BA Geography with European Study 2017

Job Role: A Higher Education Project Officer provides support for projects in the Exeter Education Incubator, supporting academics who are working on projects to reimagine how university education can be delivered.

Catherine’s Experience: I decided to apply for a GBP internship to help me further my skills. I have really enjoyed my placement and it has helped me to increase my self-awareness of the type of career I would like to pursue. I learnt I would enjoy working in a community, people facing role in both an in/outdoor setting. Although I am still not entirely sure what I would like to do, completing a GBP has been a fantastic stepping stone into the working environment.

 

Marie, Survey Project Officer

Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Philosophy, Sociology and Criminology

Degree: BA Philosophy and Sociology 2017

Job Role: A Survey Project Officer undertakes data collection, inputting and profiling. Working with academics, graduates and postgrads they support survey completion and promote the Destination of Leavers from Higher Education survey.

Marie’s Experience: I am very interested in pursuing a teaching career, and the GBP is giving me good experience in preparation for this. It is helping me become used to managing a workload full time in a professional environment. I would definitely recommend GBPs to other graduates. They provide a great chance to try out different kinds of work on a temporary basis and in a supportive environment, or to develop the skills necessary for your desired career.

Eleanor, Careers Information and Student Engagement Assistant

English, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP)

Degree: Literary Studies MA 2017

Job Role: A Careers Information and Student Engagement Assistant provides careers information and advice to students and recent graduates, and supporting the student engagement agenda.

Eleanor’s Experience: My role within the Careers Team includes manning the Career Zone desk at St Luke’s, providing careers support for students on an ad-hoc basis and running CV review appointments. I also work alongside colleagues in the Guild to facilitate academic representation in the Medical School. The GBP role is very varied and busy and has provided me with lots of opportunities to develop my skills and decide what I want out of my next job opportunity.

 

Graduate Finance Associate – University of Exeter, Finance Services

Accounting and Auditing, Banking and Financial Services, Employer Feedback, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Modern Languages,

euro-seem-money-finance

What were your main roles and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My main responsibilities were assisting my colleagues with various daily and monthly tasks (including staff monitoring and modelling bursary allocations), carrying out and presenting data analysis and processing journals for management accounts. I contributed to the preparation of the University’s Access Agreement (a document that outlines the work that the University will undertake to widen participation) for 2018/19. I was also able to attend a variety of meetings and get an insight into different areas of the University.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I learnt a lot about working in finance and confirmed that  I would like to pursue a career in this sector. I was able to use the knowledge and experience I gained in my internship to secure a permanent graduate role in finance.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I was able to lighten the workload of my colleagues during busy periods by taking over some of their usual activities.

“Our GBP made a really valuable contribution, was a fast learner and fitted in well to the team.  She was able to use her experience here when interviewing for the permanent finance role that she has secured.” – Management Accountant. 

Graduate Researcher – University of Exeter

Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Health Care, Internship Schemes,

hospital

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

Using NVivo software ( a qualitative data analysis tool) I analysed the NHS and Cornwall Council’s recent public, community network, and stakeholder survey data for the STP plan in Cornwall. I then produced reports and presented these back to the NHS who will use the results in their publications.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I taught myself how to use NVivo software, which was completely new to everyone in the department, and quite sophisticated. Originally I looked to go on a course to learn the software. However I decided to self-teach which was challenging but very rewarding.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I lightened the workload for both my managers. I also provided reports that the NHS will use to improve the NHS in Cornwall.

“Philippa made a highly significant contribution to my research project with the NHS” – Line Manager.

 

Economic Development Assistant – Devon County Council

Administration, Charity and Development Work, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP),

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My duties included dealing with business relocation and grant enquiries as well as managing the Business Promotion Grant. In addition, I monitored media, including social media, for local, regional and national news and analysis with inward investment focus. I also attended events with an inward investment/economic focus. I updated the company website by generating content, source news, and case studies. I supported both events and an apprenticeship campaign.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Gaining new skills, such as networking.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I lightened the workload for other colleagues by providing support.

 

Employability Project Support Officer – University of Exeter

Administration, Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

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What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My main role has been to improve the employability of graduates from the CLES department, through updating the DLHE database and making transferable skills clearer in modules. Within this, I organised a large employability meeting with colleagues from the Streatham campus, where ideas to improve employability in the department were discussed and a list of actions was created.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

Sucessfully organising this large employability meeting, which helped me to gain valuable administration skills and experience.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I reduced the workload of my colleagues and was able to contribute my own ideas as a graduate on how the department can improve employability prospects for students.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I had to purchase a lot of resources for the meeting so I had to understand how the finance system worked and deal with budgets. This was easily overcome by asking more experienced colleagues in the office for help.

Alumni & Employability Administrator, University of Exeter

Administration, Education, Teaching and Research, Geography, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

university

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?My duties included:

  •  Engaging alumni in volunteering activities such as careers events and creating careers profiles.
  • Organising careers events including alumni careers panels, workshops, mock interviews; booking rooms, ordering catering, parking, promoting to students, etc.
  •  Updating the alumni database.
  •  Promoting careers events to students within our College.
  • Writing and compiling content for the SSIS Employability Newsletter.
  • Helping academics engage alumni in various activities/events.
  • Liaising with the alumni team and working with them on various events/projects when needed.
  • Helping student societies engage alumni & helping promote events where necessary.
  • Dealing with any general alumni enquiries.
  • Organising law mock interviews with alumni, making arrangements for the day, advertising to students etc.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I became a lot more confident in speaking to a range of people as I was liaising with students, academics, colleagues across different teams and alumni – many of whom were in senior positions in their companies. I reached a point where I felt comfortable speaking with such a diverse range of people.

Another achievement was starting the College Employability Newsletter from scratch and working on improving on this over the duration of my internship, and being able to see the open rate increase and the subsequent increase in events bookings.

I also had the opportunity to get involved in so many different aspects and gain a lot of experience in organising events, working in an admin-type role in Higher Education which has enabled me to go on to secure a permanent job at the University.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I started up the College Employability newsletter which the team did not have capacity to do so before and I worked with Design Team to rebrand our College employability branding. Our College also had its highest ever number of alumni volunteering hours and number of volunteering activities during 2015-16 as with more capacity, we were able to organise more events, engage more alumni and I was able to update the database much more regularly to reflect this.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

I was asked to help an academic organise a very last-minute overseas alumni trip which required asking colleagues in GED and they need a much longer time frame to organise these type of events so it caused a problem. I overcame it by ensuring I kept both the academic and the alumni team regularly up-to-date with progress, managing the expectations of the academic and making it clear the number of attendees may be low as it is last-minute. It made sure I was clearly communicating the academic’s requests to the alumni team and being persistent in making sure the academic provided us with the key details as quickly as possible. In response to this we then wrote a procedure summary for all academics to follow in future when wanting to organise an alumni event and to provide them with realistic time-frames.

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“My Alumni & Employability Assistant provided vital support to events, newsletters & alumni engagement” – Line Manager. 

Careers Information Assistant – Career Zone, University of Exeter

Administration, Education, Teaching and Research, Graduate Business Partnership (GBP), Human Resources, Recruitment and Training,

Emily Owen

What were your main duties and responsibilities during the course of your internship?

My role was to provide front desk careers support for the Career Zone at St Luke’s Campus. Aside from this customer-facing role, I was also responsible for several projects within the Careers Service such as Finalist Fridays. My role also included providing admin support to the central team and help organising careers events. My role varied from those at Streatham Campus as it involved tailoring the careers service to the needs of St Luke’s students. This required a lot of collaboration with local departments and services.

What would you say was your biggest achievement over the course of your internship?

I would say my biggest achievement has been leading a project and seeing it grow from an initial idea to an active part of our service.

What benefits did your internship bring to your employer?

I believe my internship lightened the workload for my colleagues as I was able to work on several key in-year targets, allowing my colleagues to work towards other key goals. I would like to think it has also helped our relationship with other departments as I have tried to strengthen the relationship between the central careers service and departmental employability leads.

Did you encounter any problems during the course of your internship and if so, how did you overcome them?

One of the main problems was that there was a lack of awareness of our presence on St Luke’s so I had to devote a lot of time to promoting the service and advertising what we offer. We now see students come in for careers support and enquiries on a more regular basis. The other key problem was working remotely from my team but it just highlighted the importance of good communication and made me keep in regular contact. It also allowed me to work more closely with local teams and services for campus-specific support and guidance.