Who are the Bright Network?
The Bright Network give exclusive careers advice and opportunities with 300+ top employers and the world’s best companies.
What is the Bright Network's Internship Experience UK (IEUK)?
Bright Network's IEUK brought together world-leading employers and top educators for a series of three-day virtual experiences.
Each experience will have:
Sector-focused skills seminars delivered by leading companies
Set project work to simulate what you’d do on an internship
A chance to talk to alumni
Networking opportunities
Feedback
A certificate on completion which you can add to your CV and LinkedIn
Check out the highlights from the experience here:
5 general pieces of advice:
Networking is important
Networking is your way of building professional relationships and putting yourself out there with potential colleagues and employers. As a result, most people will network with people who have established careers and are miles ahead of them. However, the network you need to focus on is your peer network because this network is the key to your success, they can give you critical sights that other people in your network can't. The most important thing to remember is that PEOPLE are your key to networking.
But... Networking is hard
Networking is hard and is a skill that takes time to cultivate. As Kelly Hoey put it "people are weird" and because people are weird networking becomes hard because you have to deal with others. Everyone has different objectives and goals when networking which can make it hard to navigate. In my experience, 99% of people are lovely and genuine. However, you will most likely experience some people that aren't as nice. Do not let this put you off networking and do not be afraid to report people and block them. Building the confidence to network and talking to strangers is something that will take time. To build that confidence you need to push yourself out of your comfort zone because the more your network, the easier it becomes.
Work-life balance is essential
To maintain good wellbeing and a healthy mental state you need to create clear boundaries. A lot of students, graduates and new employees will reach a point of burnout from overworking and trying to do as much as they physically can to prove themselves. This is not healthy! You need to create both physical and mental boundaries between your work and your life and make sure you make time for other things, including prioritizing your wellbeing.
Teamwork is not the same as collaboration
Teamwork and collaboration are terms used interchangeably because they both include people working towards the same end goal. However, teams include people with similar skills and experiences and have a top-down approach. Collaboration does not have a top-down approach but includes everyone working as equals with different teams with different skills/experiences to create diversity of thought. Both teamwork and collaboration are useful, they just have slightly different uses.
Be reliable
Reliability will be your best asset. One of the hard truths in life is that there will always be someone "better", someone with more experience, someone that went to a better university, someone in a higher position to you; the list is endless. Don't focus on trying to beat people, focus on being more reliable. You can do this by delivering your tasks on time and to a good standard which will foster trust with employers and colleagues. This skill is important to employers and colleagues, will help you in your career and help get you good references.
5 wise word from the speakers:
Show your passion
As a student, you are not expected to have that much experience. Entry-level/graduate jobs and internships and other opportunities open to students are expecting CVs to be pretty bare in comparison to applications from people who have entered the work world. Although you should spend your time at university trying to get some experience, companies value your passion over your technical competence.
Change will usually lead to better things
"Strong opinions, held loosely" - Ben Triggs
This quote means you need to be passionate about your ideas but need to be open to change too and collaborating with people to produce the best idea. In fact, another great asset of an employee and team worker is being flexible and being open to change.
Learn to self-manage
Self-management is important for a number of reasons. Firstly, it will help you create that work-life balance 72% of people want, which in turn will help you take care of your wellbeing. Secondly, when you learn to self-manage you will build trust because you will be reliable. Thirdly, learning to self-manage is necessary because it applies to all areas of your life, not just your career. Self-management includes learning to be organised, communicating effectively, developing emotional intelligence and taking the initiative, all of which are relevant to a career and life outside of work.
Do your research
"Shit that arrives at the speed of light is still shit" – David Abbot
You got your application in first? Great!... Except your application is not relevant to the job you've applied for and when your application is not relevant, you aren't going to get the job. Before applying, you need to spend time looking into the company you are applying for, you need to do your research and use that research in your application. You should also research the people you are interviewing with if you can as part of your prep for the interview.
Forgive and remember
A good skill of a team member and a leader is to forgive and remember mistakes. You need to raise issues in an appropriate, respectful way and suggest a possible solution to discuss. The goal is to create a culture where you can learn from mistakes made and do not feel the need to cover them up. However, you need to remember the mistakes you made and the mistakes others have made (which is where collaboration and teamwork are especially helpful to resolve issues) to improve and boost productivity.
Top Tips for adding the experience to your CV
Put the company (Bright Network) and the sectors you took part it
Add some of the firms names
Compare the role to a real-world role (project manager, lawyer etc.)
Talk about your networking experiences
Put the work sample on your LinkedIn
Example
Internship Experience UK: Law - July 2020
Attended a series of seminars held by [x], [y] and [z]
Completed a work sample imitating work of a [job title]
Teamed up and networked with peers to provide feedback on task
Received excellent feedback on task (the task is displayed on LinkedIn)
Thank you for reading this post!
Make sure to apply for the Bright Network's Internship Experience UK on-demand by Monday 20th July 2020 at 10 am.
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