The Module
My decision to take this Bio-Enterprise and Employability module was really easy to make, I didn’t want to pack either of my semesters with too many modules and over stress myself and during a conference in my second year one of the students had told of how he obtained an internship from this module… consider me sold, less stress and potentially some work. I really felt like this module could play a big role in where I went following my degree.
Despite this, I was still very sceptical about a lot of the assessments within the module as a whole; I have a CV that I’d received professional help creating, I’ve been working for five years, I don’t want to create a business and I already felt prepared for interviews thanks to the help I received at college.
One aspect I was looking forward to, however, was the seminars and subsequent blog posts on them. First seminar was great and had me hopeful of things to come. Now, I’m studying zoology for a reason, I want a job in zoology. Given that the blogging assignment required mentions of how each session may have impacted my career choices after hearing the talk, I was extremely disappointed by the range of topics discussed (guess it’s true, you can’t please everyone!), simply because seminar after seminar was on topics I cared little for and had no interest in ever pursuing a career in.
The Additional Sessions
Despite my initial scepticism and feeling underwhelmed after all the sessions had been and gone, I can’t lie to myself (and whoever marks this blog) that I did not gain something from the experience, albeit not the internship I had foolishly hoped for before starting.
I am choosing to list the additional sessions with my reflection in order of my preference:
- Careers Café: Despite being in a packed room and no other option but to sit at the back after entering, so hearing wasn’t easy, I feel I gained a lot from this session. Initially I initially looked at the experience the wrong way, I remember feeling John as being the opposite of me and detesting the idea of working for more money as compared to a zoological career. Upon reflection, however, the whole session made me realise that I’m on the right path, finding a job after university wasn’t impossible and the vast array of career options I could get stuck into was inspiring.
- Assessment Centre: This session beats the CV writing to second place simply because I felt like I gained more from this. Although I already felt comfortable with interview situations, practice is always welcome. I enjoyed the interviewing process somewhat. Learning about personality types and how to optimise team work really helped and I got to meet one of the more inspirational science communicators who inspired me to pursue the idea of making wildlife shorts on YouTube and keeping well practiced at blogging.
- CV: The CV session honestly felt very much like a let-down. Although I now have access to tips and advice for creating a CV and covering letter from the university I don’t feel like they helped me very much. As mentioned in my CV session blog, the marking of the assignment that went along with this really fell short. I was so excited to have a CV that I knew was up to date and contained only essential info that would boost my job prospects, only to receive little to no feedback on how to actually improve what I came up with.
- Business Plan: The business plan divides my opinion, I feel like I gained something from it that I wouldn’t have otherwise but also felt slightly unprepared going into the assignment and left feeling the same way. Our practice in the Dragon’s Den simply didn’t feel enough, although my attitude on the day could have impacted this.
- Dragon’s Den: This was always going to be low down on my list, I never wanted to make a business and still don’t. Having said that, it would be a lie to say I gained nothing from it. Team work skills were put to the test and we created a business plan, something I never expected I would do. However, the length and the fact that it wasn’t assessed really drained most enthusiasm away (along with uninterested teammates).
Final Reflection
These seminars, along with third year in general, swayed me further away from a career in research but my passion to be out in the field and conducting research hasn’t wavered. They helped me on my way to creating two business ideas, one of which was not in the top three at the end of the day and the other which received a poor grade. So, ultimately, they can’t have been very good and leaving with a C in business planning doesn’t fill me with optimism for any future business ventures. My understanding of the use of social media during this time has really grown, the lectures and advice we received was excellent, and that inspiring that I made a Twitter account during the session and plan on continuing this blog at some point, potentially this summer. I feel like given the advice we were, I am now more prepared to write a CV and a better one than I previously had but again, a lower grade than I wanted and little constructive feedback left a sour taste and reduced optimism.
The series had pros and cons as discussed throughout these blogs, but given better planning and improved feedback etc. this module would have been excellent. I would’ve liked to have seen more that could have gotten us in with new contacts and potentially jobs.
This module hasn’t helped greatly in my career plans, I’m a young zoologist whose primary taxa of interest has changed year on year at university. My main focus is to improve my identification skills, become a better zoologist and the same as it was before, dream to be paid to be out in the field.
Ray Reynolds 
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