Career Zone Podcast

Introducing Green Consultants

In this week’s episode Helen Hicks, Programme Officer talks with Harriet, one of our Student Programme Assistants about Green Consultants. Helen and Harriet discuss what is involved in completing Green Consultants, including the online learning, projects and internships. Helen shares her advice to students wanting to complete the programme and also shares how previous students have been able to use the learning they gained from completing Green Consultants in their future experiences.  

Green Consultants is an employability programme designed to provide students with skills and experience required to work in the sustainability sector. It is open to all students and you can start at anytime.

Useful Links

• Green Consultants: open to all students, start the online learning now.
• Book onto a Skills session via Handshake. 

Working in Corporate Sustainability: In conversation with alumni Mathys Reiss, Climate Action Associate

In this week's episode, Nicky Hutchinson, Employability and Career Consultant, is joined by alumnus Mathys Reiss, now a Climate Action Associate working at the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD).

Mathys completed his Masters in Sustainable Business Management in 2024, and reflects on his academic journey and his transition into a career in sustainability. He shares his insights into what it's like to work within a global organisation at the forefront of corporate responsibility.

Mathys shares:

• His tips on how to stay resilient during the job hunting process.
• What he did to stand out from other applicants.
• The value of networking and making the most of local opportunities.

Useful Links:

• https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7261652140689936384/?originTrackingId=af%2F0EkrgTd%2B7%2B6NSQQv0Sw%3D%3D  - this is the video which Mathys made we referred to in the episode.
• This is the video which Mathys refers to which inspired his video https://scroll.in/video/1064546/watch-marketing-manager-gets-fired-creates-unique-video-to-present-herself-in-the-job-market
• Listen to our Planned Happenstance podcast: https://pod.fo/e/33a7e9
• Green Consultants is as an excellent opportunity to develop skills and enhance a CV in this area. Open to all students. 

Using LinkedIn without losing yourself

In this week’s episode we’re exploring the love-hate relationship many students have with LinkedIn. For some, it is a great place to find opportunities and connections. For others, it can feel like a stream of carefully curated posts that come across as performative. We explore how to use LinkedIn without losing your sense of self.  

Listen to hear:

• Top tips on promoting yourself in ways that feel natural, not forced.
• Simple steps to start engaging with posts
• How to set boundaries so LinkedIn works for you, and not the other way round.  

Useful links:

• Attend a LinkedIn Essentials session - Book via Handshake
• Sign up to the Exeter Award 
• Attend an employer event or alumni panel - book via MyCareerZone

This episode was devised by Dawn Lees and recorded by Rachel Sloan.

ADHD and Academia: In conversation with Sian Robinson, Senior Lecturer

In this week’s episode, Sian Robinson shares her career journey to becoming Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management. Sian reflects on her non-standard route into higher education and talks about the challenges and positives of having ADHD. Sian also shares the strategies that have helped her and explores how being open about neurodivergence has shaped the way she teaches and supports students.

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Sian is a Senior Lecturer in Human Resource Management. She is also the Programme Director for the BSc Business and Management and BSc Business Studies. 

Sian is passionate about improving the student experience, especially for inclusivity, linked with her experiences of having ADHD, and for widening participation, as a previous non-standard route entrant to higher education. She has developed inclusive programme-level initiatives, such as the 'Your Toolkit for Success' reframing student support project, introducing Focus/Writing retreats at a programme level, and the creation of a Programme Hub for information.   

Part of the Working in Higher Education mini-series

 

Global Leaders in action: Student experiences from the EAIE Conference

In this week’s episode, current students Zabi, Jeremy, Kunal and Owen, discuss their experience of taking part in the EAIE Conference. They share how they have applied the skills they developed from their Global Leaders Experience to real life situations, how their experience has influenced their career aspirations and provide advice to students considering applying for a Global Leaders Experience.

The Global Leaders Experience is a unique opportunity to develop your intercultural skills as part of a short, outbound mobility experience. Typically a week in duration and covering themes such as sustainability, human rights and digital heritage, you will travel to a significant city or location outside of the UK and be immersed in the local environment, presented with real-world challenges and work closely with a diverse range of other students and professionals.

What is EAIE? 

The EAIE is the European centre for expertise, networking and resources in the internationalisation of higher education. They are a non-profit, member-led organisation serving individuals actively involved in the internationalisation of their institutions.  

Each year, the EAIE visits an exciting city in Europe and organises a large Annual Conference for 7000+ professionals interested in international higher education. 

Useful links:

• Global Leaders Experience

Showcasing the skills from your degree

Often in careers, we talk about developing skills alongside your studies, through volunteering, societies, part time work or internships. In this episode we focus on  the skills you have gained directly from your degree and how you can articulate them with clarity and confidence.

Rachel Sloan, Employability and Careers Consultant, explores the technical, academic and personal skills you develop throughout your studies and how to demonstrate them effectively to employers in CVs, application forms and interviews using the STAR technique.  

Links:

• Attend a Careers and Employability session, book via Handshake.
• CV and Application Form support.
• Visit our 'Explore what Exeter graduates do' webpage.
• Interested in Green Consultants? Find out more (ex.ac.uk/greenconsultants)

Working in Higher Education: In conversation with Layal Hakim, Associate Professor

Layal Hakim is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Exeter. Layal grew up in a large family of 8 children from a low-income, ethnic minority background. During her teens, Layal was educated for short periods in Lebanon. This changed the course of her direction academically.

Layal graduated from Brunel University in 2010 with a BSc in Mathematics. In October 2010, she started a PhD, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council. Her thesis titled 'Numerical Analysis of a Cohesive Zone Model Approach for Time and History Dependent Materials’ won the Dean's Prize for Innovation and Impact in Doctoral Research at Brunel University London in February 2015, and a Merit Prize for best student paper at the International Conference of Applied and Engineering Mathematics, part of the World Congress of Engineering in July 2013. Layal worked as an early career researcher at Imperial College London and joined the Mathematics Department at the University of Exeter in April 2018.

 

If you are an undergraduate or masters student and are interested in undertaking a doctorate, please look at these resources:

• Choosing postgraduate study
• Postgraduate Study applications
• Networking and making career connections
• Career Mentor Scheme- search for academic mentors
• Research Internships – look out for research Internships advertised through your department
• A2I – consider using A2I funding to create your own research project within the university

Support for Doctoral students:

• Library Skills for Researchers
• Researcher Development

Placement Year Unpacked: A Conversation with Placement Ambassadors

In this week’s episode, Employability and Careers Consultant, Ben Toulson, speaks to our Centre for Geography and Environmental Science Placement Ambassadors, Sophie Hartop, Abi Brookes and Sasha Clark.

Sophie, Abi and Sasha share their placement year experiences, including discussions around what they gained from their placements, how they found and secured them, the logistics of placements, and returning to university the following year.

Further resources:

• Contact the Career Zone to book a placement appointment with a member of the team.
• Take a look at our work placement pages.
• Explore the Placements Hub.

Working in Higher Education: In conversation with Professor Beverley Hawkins, Dean for Taught Students at the University of Exeter

Professor Beverley Hawkins is a Professor or Leadership and Organisational Studies in the Business School and the Dean for Taught Students at the University of Exeter.

After undertaking her degree in Business Management at Swansea, Beverley went into a graduate role in fund management. Beverley then did another undergraduate degree in Germany where she also translated washing machine instructions. Beverley then found herself in Warwick undertaking her Masters and then at Keele doing a PhD in Management.

In this podcast we explore Beverley’s journey to Professorship and how she dealt with becoming increasingly physically disabled, with limited mobility, during her PhD and how this has impacted her working life. 

Sophia’s PhD Journey, part 1

Thinking of doing doctoral research? In this episode, Kate Foster, Employability and Careers Consultant, talks with Sophia, a second year PhD student. Sophia shares what motivated her to study a PhD, some of the challenges she has faced so far and her advice to students considering doctoral research. 

We’ll be catching up with Sophia regularly to hear how their PhD journey is going. Follow the Career Zone Podcast to stay up to date with Sophia’s experiences, insights and reflections along the way.