Experiential Activities Spring 2021

Posted on: 6 May 2021 in Connections in action

Enhancing employability via authentic experiences in real-world scenarios.

The global Covid-19 pandemic has brought about significant disruptions to the way in which we all learn, study and work.

Though Careers & Employability and our Career Studio still operate with the key themes of explore, connect & apply – and we in the Employer Connections Team aim to support students & graduates in making connections, building networks, & getting hired – the traditional processes and structures around employability & employment are changing. The rise in students completing short term experiential employer led projects and virtual internships has accelerated and summer 2021 brings many opportunities for University of Liverpool students and graduates, and our employer partners, to take advantage of these more innovative ways to connect. Here is a summary of some experiential opportunities currently open for students, graduates and employers to engage in:

Bright Network

Bright Network was established in 2013 and has the mission to “connect the next generation with opportunities, insights, and advice to succeed as the workforce of tomorrow”.  As well as providing a platform for careers advice and listing internships, placements & graduate opportunities, Bright Network hosts Internship Experience UK – a suite of 16 three-day virtual internships across eight sectors, taking place in June and July: Audit, Tax, & Corporate Finance, Business, Operations, & Marketing, Commercial Law, Engineering & Infrastructure, Investment Banking & Asset Management, Professional Services & Consulting, Public Sector, Policy, & Charity, and Technology.

Students & Graduates:  Sign-up to the Bright Network website and follow @BrightNetwork on social media to find out more.  This summer’s Internship Experience UK programme will open for applications on 12^th May.

Employers:  Look out for Bright Network on student & graduate applications and find out how the network can support your attraction & recruitment.

Forage

Forage (formerly InsideSherpa) was founded in 2017 and is a technology organisation whose mission is to remove barriers to work experience opportunities for students all around the world.  Forage support, develop, and promote free virtual work-experience programs that replicate work undertaken at their client organisations.  Programs are typically a matter of hours long, making them ideal for students & graduates to complete during a focused day/weekend or over a more relaxed week – the platform enables the sharing of work produced so that students & graduates can showcase their talents and so that organisations can review submissions in support of their recruitment.

Students & Graduates: Sign-up to Forage in order to browse for & apply to company-developed insights into real work.

Employers:  Look out for Forage on student & graduate applications and find out how to harness the power of virtual work experience.

Liverpool Interns

Through funding provided by Santander Universities and the Higher Education Innovation Fund, Careers & Employability at the University of Liverpool are delighted to be able to support student & graduate internships of up to 100 hours (flexible in terms of intensity & commitment) with a bursary of £1000.  This scheme has been running in various forms for a number of years and has already seen over 45 internship appointments during 2020-21 alone.  Eligible internships are usually with SMEs, social enterprises, and/or charitable organisations within the Liverpool City Region, but we’re always open to discussing opportunities & appointments with students, graduates & employers on a case-by-case basis..

Students & Graduates:  Search our ‘liverpoolinterns’ label on Handshake to see the latest internships, or let us know if you think your internship qualifies.

Employers:  Take a look at our Liverpool Interns T&Cs or get in touch with Paul Cullinan – our regional partnerships & internships consultant – for more information.

Skills Enhancement Programme

The Skills Enhancement Programme was conceived by Careers & Employability in summer 2020, in response to the reduced availability of internships & placements as a result of the pandemic.  The first running of the programme saw 50 students work on a variety of group-projects set by twelve organisations from a variety of sectors & industries.  We aim to open the summer 2021 edition of the programme up to even more students and organisations – applications and project-sourcing for the programme is already underway, with projects set to take place during the two weeks between Monday 7^th & Friday 18^th June.

Final-year Students:  Take a look at the Skills Enhancement Programme opportunity-listing on Handshake, and apply before end of Sunday 16^th May.

Employers:  Contact Jack Harte – the Employer Connections Team representative on the SEP working-group – to find out more about setting up a group project and engaging with our talent.

Experiential Learning on Handshake

As well as Liverpool Interns and the Skills Enhancement Programme, you can usually find a variety of experiential learning opportunities via Handshake.  As of week-commencing Monday 26^th April, we’re featuring taster activities with Frontline, Everfi, and Teach First, whilst Agorize are inviting students & recent graduates to participate in Bayer’s Digital Campus Challenge 2021.  For students & graduates with an early-stage business idea or existing enterprise, the University of Liverpool’s Design Your Future enterprise fund could offer you an award of £500-5000.

Students & Graduates:  Use the ‘job type’ filter in order to view the current range of experiential learning opportunities on Handshake.

Employers: Familiarise with & sign-up to Handshake, and/or get in touch with us if you have any questions about the Handshake network and/or your experiential learning opportunities or ideas.