Bit of a chatty one - I just thought I'd update you all on my life as I have finished university!
A few years ago, I wrote posts on applying to uni and wrote updates on how my first year was going, but since then I haven't really spoken about it that much on here.
So after 4 years of being a Communication and Media student at Bournemouth University, I have finally finished and I got a 2:1 overall with a 1st in my dissertation! I am now working as a Social Media and Communications Coordinator for the same organisation I did my internship with between second and third year.
I am so glad I went to uni it was such a good experience, obviously there were some downs but I wouldn't change it. I won't get into all of my highlights and lowlights for the year because that would take forever. Maybe I will do that when I am really missing uni but for now I just wanted to update you all.
Related: Top tips for starting university
What have I learnt?
To be honest, I feel like most of the stuff I learnt was about adult life and what kind of person I am rather than academic. Obviously I did learn a lot about media too, I feel like I can never watch a film or read a newspaper article properly again without analysing every word or every scene. But reflecting back, the experiences I had will mean more to me than that kind of stuff (sorry lecturers).
It was a shame that Covid kind of got in the way a little bit of my final year but I have still been able to do lots of fun things with my friends. 2021 is definitely the year of the bottomless brunch!
Luckily, because I live an hour away from Bournemouth I can go and visit whenever I want and I will still have friends living there.
I live in a very small town where I'm never really pushed out of my comfort zone so uni really helped push me to make friends and put myself out there (usually helped by a little Dutch courage too).
Where do we go from here?
As I mentioned before, I am starting my career in social media marketing and I am really enjoying it so far. I'm really looking forward to see how my career goes too. At the moment I am still learning about it while working.
I've had a few questions about university and applying to jobs so if you want to know anything, please feel free to ask me.
Related: 7 ways to enhance your CV
To be honest, I just can't believe uni is over it's so weird how quickly it went. I still feel the same age as when I started too, I feel like everyone says that.
It definitely feels like the end of an era but also not in some ways because I am still planning to keep in touch with all my uni pals as much as possible.
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I am graduating university this year, probably at the worst time for jobs with the pandemic so I may be freaking out a little bit. However, I am determined to get a job after I finish so I have been trying to find ways to enhance my CV and LinkedIn profiles to try to make me stand out a little more. I thought I'd share ways I try to enhance my CV with you as I know a lot of other students and graduates will probably be in the same boat as me. It's more competitive now for graduate jobs than ever before so we are going to need to find ways to boost our employability and experience (I say we because we are in this together).
So here are some tips on what I have done, plan to do or what I think would help you enhance your CV and make you more employable.
Top tips on enhancing your CV
1. Gain as much experience as you can
2. Volunteer
3. Start a blog
4. Attend Webinars
5. Complete online courses
Related: 3 tips for staying creative
6. Enhance the layout of your CV
7. Use LinkedIn
Related: What now? A life after graduation
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This is a guest post from Alisha at Inside the Voyage.
Hi everyone! I’m Alisha a travel and lifestyle blogger over at Inside The Voyage. I graduated with a BA Hons degree in English and Media in 2019, and have since been discovering myself and my passions.
What Now?
I am positive that every University student fears
unemployment after graduation. Who wouldn’t? I most certainly did, and to an
extent, nearly two years later I still do.
I graduated in May 2019 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and
Media. Though I celebrated the end of my degree with overflowing prosecco
glasses and listening to the constant ‘Well done, you did it!’ felicitations
from family, and friends. I could not help but hear that deep-rooted
fear within my gut that consistently questioned ‘What now?’.
I did not know what I wanted in a career, never mind
actually apply for a job. So, rather than rack my head around career topics, I
decided to take time away from educational studies and future career prospects.
I needed to gain clarity for my future. I believed I was only causing myself
anxiety, forcing myself to follow fellow graduates into new exciting careers. I
hadn’t found my calling yet, and though it sickeningly worried me, I
comfortably settled into the unknown.
Travelling
I then decided to travel, I love the world and want to see as much of it as possible. I booked onto a two-month tour around South East Asia, though my mum was worried out of her mind due to my travelling solo, I was ecstatic. I finally had one goal set to reach that I needed money. Soon after moving back home, I landed a part-time job in a local bar and began working as many shifts as possible to save for my next adventure. A career was not even a thought in my mind, because in the present I had much more exciting plans. I finally believed that I had structured my life into forming a pathway that I should be on.
April 2020: Travel around South East Asia
September 2020: Start an MA Course (at this point, I was still undecided on what I wanted to do)
Being a Graduate in the pandemic
Unfortunately, this devastating pandemic hit and my plans,
like many others, were indefinitely put on hold. I was now back at square one.
Not sure where my life was going, or even what I wanted to do. Luckily, I
managed to run from the graduate blues, hiding behind my excitement to travel. However,
forced into a lockdown that feared question soon arose, ‘What now?’.
I now had all
the time in the world to figure out what I wanted out of life. And my gosh, I
experimented with plenty of things during 2020. I first started a “marketing”
job, and what a mistake that was. It was not what was advertised, but I earned
next to nothing, and quit on the first day.
Next, I started an MLM scheme, purely out of boredom at this
point. That lasted a week or so before I put time into researching what an MLM
scheme actually was and realised, again, I was barely making any money. Don’t
get me wrong, some people do earn a lot working for an MLM scheme, but I found
it a pretty exhausting way to make money.
Starting my own business
My next adventure and my most favoured was starting my small
wax melt business Inside The Fragrance. Starting this venture has kept
occupied and busy when I felt lost and demotivated. This is one hundred per
cent a small side business for me, and in no means is it my future career, but it
is absolutely perfect for the time being.
Now, like many others, I’m currently on furlough from my bar
job. Thus, this free time has allowed me to focus on my side business and my
future career. I have spent months looking at various job prospects and MA
courses. Ultimately, this slightly freaked me out as I wondered virtually from
one course to another, desperately seeking somewhere I could call home.
Finally, after nearly two years since my graduation, I
gained some clarity on the path I am about to embark on. From one graduate to
another, please don’t stress if you graduate University without a job. It is,
and I CANNOT STRESS THIS ENOUGH; it is not the end of the world. If you’re like
me, it will merely take you slightly longer to reach realisation, but once you
get there, you will feel like you’re on the path you’re meant to be on.
My advice to you:
1. Don’t panic apply for jobs. When we’re panicking, we often make rash decisions and uninformed decisions.
2. Figure out what you enjoy, identify your skills, and discover the right career path for you.
3. Don’t be discouraged if your job application is rejected. That one job was not meant for you, and there are always more opportunities.
4. Use your free time to build on your CV. Attend online classes to enhance or learn to skills.
5. Find your passion! It might be easier said than done, but once you realise your passions, you will feel much more confident in applying to that MA course OR job.
Follow me on social media:
Instagram: Instagram.com/alishabrisco
Twitter: Twitter.com/alishabrisco
Blog: www.insidethevoyage.co.uk
Related read: Top Tips for Starting University
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Join my mailing list for exclusive content an resources here.
This post is an interview with Robyn Moss, third year Psychology student at the University of Lincoln. Before her degree, Robyn was living in Salisbury, Wiltshire, but decided to move 3 and half hours away to Lincoln for university. Read on to learn about her experience of moving away from home.
1. Why did you want to move far from home?
Originally, I wanted to move far from home for university to have a fresh start and push myself to be independent, not having the option to easily escape my problems and go back home. Of course, I also wanted to reinvent myself and explore a totally new place.
Lincoln, however, was a very unexpected choice of mine as I only picked it to fill in my last choice for university. I couldn’t think of anything else and I’d never actually heard of it before, but when I went to visit all of my uni choices, much to my surprise Lincoln happened to be the only uni that really felt like it was for me. If you have never visited, read all about how to spend 48 hours in Lincoln.
2. Were you worried about moving and why/why not?
I wasn’t really worried, I was more excited. The only thing in the back of my mind was, if there was an emergency, I wouldn’t be able to get home easily. Other than that, I didn’t really have any worries. I already knew I vibed with the city and any doubts I had were overruled by excitement.
3. How long did it take you to settle into your new place?
I was pretty much settled the moment I moved in. Of course, it was hard for the first five minutes of watching my parents walk away, and not knowing when I'd see them again. However, you snap out of that pretty quickly due to not having time to dwell on it. You have to unpack, decorate your room and get to know your new housemates, so there’s no time to think about anything else.
You and your housemates are all on the same boat and it’s exciting for all of you and you support each other. I got on really well with most of my housemates to begin with which helped my feel settled initially but after a few days living with them, I realised they weren’t for me which was a struggle and did lead to me needing to change apartments. However, as soon as I found my group and created my own uni family, I felt settled again.
I believe that the people you surround yourself with at uni are the key to settling and you won’t always be lucky at first, but there’s no harm in moving apartments if you don’t vibe with your initial flatmates. Most people manage to get on just fine though, it’s unlikely that you won’t get on with at least one person in your apartment.
4. Is there anything you would have done differently?
Not really. I’m grateful for the lessons I have learned, and any issues I had were out of my control. I do wish I’d been to more parties and gone to freshers events, but that wasn’t possible due to my job. I feel that I would have benefited a lot more if I’d have socialised more during freshers week as it took me a while to find my group of friends. Once I’d found them, my uni experience became 100x better.
Where to find Robyn
Instagram: @robynmossx
Thank you so much to Robyn for sharing her story. Have you ever moved far away from home? Let us know your experiences!
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Related Read: Top Tips for Starting University
Wool of the King
This post is a collaboration with Planning with Em. This post also contains affiliate links so I will earn a small commission if you buy through my links. Please see my disclaimer for more information.
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*Image 1 from Pixabay.*Image 2 from Engin Akyurt on Pexels.
As soon as I'd moved in, there was a party at our flat for my flatmate Kitty, who has become one of my best friends, for her birthday. Straight away we were meeting so many new people and then after that we went clubbing as you do in fresher's week. My first year of university started as it meant to go on which was full on.
I have made so many new friends at university from all over the country, some from other countries and some friends that I didn't even expect to have. It's so different from being at home because I've lived in basically the same place my whole life where there isn't that many chances to make new friends as you kind of know everyone already. Obviously, I love my friends from home but it's nice to have made new ones as well.
Also, I got on with pretty much all of my flatmates in halls which was lucky and I know some people aren't that lucky, but no flat is perfect. There was sometimes fall outs about noise, the kitchen being messy, and food stealing but I think most flats have that. 90% of the time living there was such a laugh and I'll miss it but I'm looking forward to moving into a house with different people in September too because it will just be a different experience.
Living in university halls wasn't always easy, especially when you have to cook for yourself and are clueless in the kitchen like me. Even though a pasta sauce I made turned solid, I never got food poisoning so I see that as a success. All you need to know is how to cook noodles and pasta that is the ultimate student cuisine. My advice would just be to buy an already made pasta sauce that you just have to heat up or stir in.
Like any year, it has had lots of ups and downs. So many good things have happened like mainly getting the grades I want in my course. However, one very difficult thing to go through was one of my closest friends at university passing away. I have to say though, being surrounded by such good friends all the time made it a lot easier.
Overall, I would describe my experience of university so far as zero to a hundred. Not so much with coursework because I mainly did it before it was due and felt like I had all of my deadlines under control. However, with uni life, everything was just so full on which was a good thing for me because there was always something going on and something to do. That's probably why I didn't post on my blog as much.
I'd be interested to know about anyone else's experiences of university and I'm very happy with what I'm doing and can't wait for second year.
Even though it has only been 9 days since I've got here I feel like I've learnt so much. I've learnt how to make noodles and pasta, AKA student necessities. I've also learnt how to find the best deals and spend around a tenner on food shopping, my grandma would be so proud. As expected, I do still have a lot more to learn but I'm having fun while I'm learning about student life and that's the main thing.
Thank you so much for reading :)
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