ZIn your final year? If you’re considering postgraduate study at Kent, check out these Instagram lives (@UniKentLive) coming up:

• Wednesday 14 April at 14.00 – PG students Shelley and Laura will answer your Qs around Postgrad life at Kent
• Friday 16 April at 15.00 – LLM student Alex from @kentlawschool will answer your Qs specifically around studying Law
• Friday 23 April at 15.00 – Recruitment Officers Russel and Jon will give you application tips and advice and a tour of the Postgrad specific spaces on campus.

The Instagram Lives will be available to watch after on our Instagram.

Postgraduate study talk

Join Professor Paul Allain, Dean of the Graduate and Researcher College, Dr Tim Hopthrow, Deputy Dean of the Graduate and Researcher College and Stephen McLaughlin, Postgraduate Funding Officer for a Postgraduate Study at Kent presentation and Q&A session. Takes place online, Wednesday 21 April 12.00-13.00.

Come and ask questions about postgraduate study at Kent and find out what funding options there are for Master’s and PhD study.

Exclusive funding for Kent students

Kent has over 100 awards for students with a First or 2.1 degree undertaking postgraduate study at our locations in the UK and Europe including new scholarships exclusive to Kent Finalists:

• “Tomorrow’s World” Civic Mission Scholarship
• “Tomorrow’s World” Excellence Scholarship
• Kent Alumni Tuition Fee Discount
• Kent Business School Loyalty Award

Learn more about our postgrad offer at Kent by checking out our #StayOn #StandOut webpage.

Over the Easter break why not take advantage of SLAS and get on top of:

• planning and revising for your exams including developing revision and exam techniques
• developing your maths, financial maths and statistical knowledge in time for exams
• developing and completing assignments including dissertations

You can either book an appointment online, visit our website or email learning@kent.ac.uk

April is National Stress Awareness Month. Due to Covid-19 and lockdown, this year it is more important than ever to understand stress and how it can be reduced. With deadlines and exams fast approaching, many students can find this a very stressful time. Understanding stress and how it affects you can make it easier to deal with. Below are some interesting facts about stress and some links for where to go if you need help.

What is stress?

Stress is when your body thinks it is under attack and switches to ‘fight or flight’ mode. It releases hormones and chemicals like adrenaline, cortisol, and norepinephrine, which causes a number of reactions.

Everyone can experience stress in different ways and changes caused by stress can be emotional, physical, behavioural, or a mixture of the three.

According to the Mental Health Foundation, 74% of UK adults have felt so stressed at some point over the last year that they felt overwhelmed and unable to cope.

Where can I go for help?

Student Support and Wellbeing Services:

If you feel that stress is affecting your mental health, don’t be afraid to reach out to Student Support and Wellbeing. The University is able to offer counselling and other support to any students experiencing issues such as anxiety, depressed feelings and emotional difficulties. For more information, head to Student Support and Wellbeing.

Stress Management Workshops are also available and delivered by qualified counsellors who will help you to identify stress triggers and learn how to manage stress levels effectively. Sign up for the next workshop on 28 April.

Speak to your friends or family (or someone you trust):

When you’re feeling stressed, often the temptation is to isolate yourself. However, speaking to friends and family can help a lot!

Although it can be difficult to connect with friends due to Covid-19, interaction with others can help with relaxation and generally just talking things through. A good idea could be to go for a socially-distanced walk, or to call your friends online.

The Stress Management Society’s ‘Free Stress Guide’:

If you’re looking to better understand stress and how to deal with it, take a look at the Stress Management Society’s ‘Free Stress Guide’. It explains what stress is, how to recognise it, and what you can do to cope better.

Prepare, Connect, Be Calm

Exam season can be difficult and this year students all over the world are facing new challenges as they prepare for exams. At Kent we have a lot of resources, information and activities to help you stay calm, connected, and feel prepared to tackle your exams.

Head to the Exam Calm page to see how you can make the most of a range of support from different university departments who are working together to help all students throughout the summer term.

Remember: stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing! It helps us to survive dangerous situations and is a natural reaction. However, being in a state of stress for long periods of time can be damaging to our health, so don’t be afraid to reach out if you feel you need help. To look after yourself, ensure you are getting enough sleep, managing your time, taking part in physical activity and talking to others! Try taking up hobbies, and take breaks from work whenever possible.

The Study Plus scheme provides a range of short-term courses and workshops which can enhance your graduate employability skills alongside your main subject specialism.

All events will be delivered virtually either by teams or zoom, details will be on Target Connect and sent to you beforehand. Here’s what’s coming up:

Study Plus – Digital Writing by Jakki  Bendell 30 March 10.30-12.00 

• Understand how digital writing differs from academic writing
• Know what to write about and how to engage your readers
• Plan and structure your content
• Get to the point quickly

Study Plus – ASPIRE Pitching finals and showcase 31 March 14.00-16.00

Selected student entrepreneurs have the chance to pitch their business to our panel of expert judges and win £1,000 to develop their business. Everyone is welcome to join the showcase and celebrate the Business Start-Up Journey programme.

Study Plus – Leading your Team Session 2 By Leanne Davies 1 April 13.00-15.00

• Identify the roles and responsibilities of being a leader.
• Explore different leadership styles and their impact on individual and team performance.
• Identify what motivates and inspires me and my team to do our best work.
• Delegate effectively to develop and maintain a performing team.
• Explore how to give and receive feedback to reinforce or change behaviour.
• Coaching questions?

Study Plus – Editing and Proofreading by Jakki  Bendell  6 April 14.30-16.00

• Understand the difference between editing and proofreading, and why they are difficult
• Know how to check and improve the readability of documents
• Identify techniques to edit and proofread your document systematically
• Know what to look for
• Use free software editing tools

If you book and can no longer attend, please let us know by emailing studyplus@kent.ac.uk as we do have limited places.

We look forward to seeing you at the events and don’t forget to check out Study Plus term 3 events.

Hey! I’m Harvey, I’m a second year marketing student at Kent who was diagnosed with Autism in 2019. Prior to coming to university at 21 I was in the world of work, unknowingly autistic so I thought I could share some tips with you about work and job hunting, whether you’re autistic or have another disability or condition that affects your work. 

Know yourself

Firstly, and for me since being diagnosed the most important tip, is knowing yourself. For me personally I know I can be overwhelmed by a lack of routine or lack of control, so I know that I can’t work in London because the idea of the tube and its loud crowded environment causes me anxiety and I can’t escape it easily. Therefore, for my year in industry I deliberately chose a scheme that was not in London, although I was very lucky my dream scheme wasn’t there anyway! 

The moral of this story for me is to know what you can and can’t do. There is a lot of media today that will tell you you’re unlimited and can do anything, which is true in principle, but it doesn’t mean you should be upset if you make the choice to do or not do something because it wouldn’t work for you. The quicker I reconciled with myself what I wanted and that it was OK the better I felt about myself.

Reasonable adjustments

When It comes to applying you have a right by law to reasonable adjustments, which means throughout the application, interview and in your job your employer must make reasonable adjustments to your work and workspace to ensure you are not discriminated against. You also have the right to disclose or not your disability. Personally for me I always disclose because legally it cannot affect your application. 

The things I normally say is “I am Autistic and sometimes I can’t make eye contact with you, I might go off on a little tangent as well so try and be precise with your questions!”. Or perhaps there is a chance you could slowly get used to the environment if that is something you need? Being able to spend a couple of hours getting to know the layout, people and space might increase your confidence and help to settle you in!

A word of warning!

If the employer does not or cannot accommodate your disability, they might not be the right one for you. Sadly, even today a lot of employers do not understand disability. Personally, I have had a lot of people not quite understand the way my mind works, not maliciously but perhaps a manager may get annoyed by how literally I word things, or I want very detailed instructions. It is up to you to judge on a case-by-case basis but be wary and don’t be afraid to raise the question and have suggestions how they can use your skills best! But don’t feel it is your fault if you encounter issues, I was very hard on myself for a while before I knew I had autism and instead of chastising myself I reflected on what I could have done better, but also accepted when it wasn’t my fault.

Have self-confidence

Another tip that I have is, just because you don’t fit one criteria doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply! Any reasonable employer should know that the perfect candidate doesn’t exist and so as long as you think you’re able to do the job and can show them what have you got to lose by applying? I personally have applied to and even got jobs that I didn’t think I was qualified for or didn’t meet every criteria on the description, so my best tip here is to have confidence in yourself! 

Like anything at University of Kent, there is so many resources available to help you. Never be afraid to reach out to the Student Support and Wellbeing Team or the Careers Team where you can get dedicated one-to-one support on any questions or issues you might have around disability and employment.

Photo by Lukas Blazek on unsplash.

Hi! I’m Harvey, I’m a second year University of Kent student studying Marketing. I came to university a little later at 21 so I’ve worked in a few places before and during uni so far.

So, I thought I’d share my tips for finding experience and making the most of it at university.

Where to look?

For placements such as a Year in Industry I’d recommend sites like Target jobs, the University website, RateMyPlacement, Indeed or other job hunting websites.

If you’re like me and are doing a placement as part of your degree, or even would just like something like a summer internship there are loads of experiences available on these sites. My advice would be if you want to work with a big company then you need to look early in the academic year between September and December, but a lot of opportunities will be available throughout the year. It is important to check at least once every couple of days, as sometimes being in there early is what might get you to the next stage, especially if the company gets a lot of applications!

Although COVID-19 is affecting the part-time job market, currently a lot of food retailers are crying out for staff. During the first peak I was able to secure a driving job at Tesco without an interview. Especially if you’re willing to be a picker at supermarkets (which unfortunately can mean a 4am start!) there is plenty of experience. Although currently a lot of retail outlets are closed you may be able to get experience if you think outside the box. Perhaps being a COVID tester may work for you?

Another great resource we have at the university is the Careers and Employability Service. This is how I got my job as a project officer. I have the opportunity to gain professional skills and enhance my confidence in a controlled environment where it is fine to ask questions and be unsure! The team are really friendly and willing to answer any of your questions so why not have a look at TargetConnect (and look regularly because there’s always new experiences appearing!).

Finally, Send an email! Why not contact local companies offering to do some work for free? They might appreciate the extra help and you can gain insight into a field of interest as well as adding to your CV!

Don’t rule out SMEs!

Placements at big firms are great but smaller companies or (SMEs) may offer you a greater amount of responsibility. Whereas at large companies you may be responsible for your own little slice of the business, often working with SMEs can mean you are responsible for the entire department such as marketing or finance for the time you are there. For example, Aiden, a Kent student who did an internship at Medway Council during the summer in 2019 through the Employability Points Scheme, was given responsibility for a national project on rough sleeping in the UK. Not only is that great to put on a CV but is a really worthwhile experience too!

I want to highlight the Employability Points Scheme we have here at the university. This is a great place to bank up points and redeem them for potential rewards including internships and summer placements! Having engaged with the scheme myself I can attest that they’re really supportive and friendly and will endeavour for you to get the best reward possible! There’s loads of things on offer from small day-long courses on interviewing and assessment centres, to work experience and all the way up to 3 month summer internships at a variety of different companies like the one I just mentioned!

Do your prep work and ask for help!

Once you’ve found that dream job and sent off a blinding application you hopefully will get a request to interview. But first you need to prepare! Here is a few tips to make sure you walk in with the best chance possible.

1. If you know the person who is interviewing/reading the application search them up! If you can find a common connection (or even better what they’re passionate about) then remember it and bring it up in a way that seems like a coincidence! 
2. It seems obvious but make sure you research the company, what do they do? What makes them unique? Knowing this information will make you stand out in interview as someone who is serious about the job and you will feel more confident going into an interview.
3. Create a network. Today it may not matter but by the end of university you may be able to call on connections for work, and hey knowing more people can’t hurt right? When I was asked to interview for my placement year at a large car maker I found someone who had been there the year before and talked to them, asking about the assessment process and the type of things they might want to hear at interview. In the end this increased my confidence massively going into the assessment centre and I got the job!
4. As always, it never hurts to make a careers appointment if you want your CV or covering letter for a job checked, or any other advice related to careers. The team really have helped me to get where I want, and they couldn’t be more helpful! Visit the Careers and Employability Service website to book appointments, find events and links to their social media.

Interviewing

Interviews are scary for everyone! Whether it is a good or a bad thing I have done many since I started looking for work in 2017 so I have a few tips for making sure you show your best!

1. Be yourself! They’re hiring the person not the CV, if you judge the situation well and are able to be personable and friendly it will make you more memorable than if you’re frowning and being monosyllabic!
2. Remember, read the job description, know the company and what they might want to ask you about, have examples!
3. Everything is an experience, even if you don’t get it, it doesn’t mean you wont get something and you’ll be able to learn from it for next time!
4. If you’re nervous, at this level remember everyone will be, they’re not looking for perfect just a willingness to learn and maybe some evidence to back it up (like maybe a uni project you’re proud of) they want to learn about you as much as you about them

Every experience is valid

Whether it is volunteering to pick up litter or working for an international bank, any experience you can gain is good experience! Don’t write off an internship because it is at a small company or unpaid because at the least you’ll learn the soft skills classrooms can’t teach and if you make a good enough impression, who knows, you may even be offered a permanent role! Some companies, especially evident on the Employability Points scheme, have been known to take on interns permanently, Including Reflect Digital and TMLEP who have both taken on multiple interns from Employability Points full time! Again check out the Employability Points Scheme. 

To be anecdotal: I think of experiences like building a pyramid out of blocks… The first experiences form your foundations and a solid base to add more blocks onto. Likewise you can’t start at the top of the pyramid because there is nothing to support it!

To support Kent’s students who are due to graduate this summer, the Careers and Employability Service has organised a week of events and workshops dedicated to preparing you for your next steps. There will be a range of virtual sessions on offer, which will allow you to explore your options, develop your job-hunting skills and receive advice from recent graduates and employers.

Finalist online events include:

• Finding work in the UK for international students
• How to find a graduate job
• HSBC Starting your career, managing your finances
• 10 Ways to Nail Your Virtual Interview
• Starting your own business
• Postgraduate Study
• Managing your student loan after university
• Optimising your CV for the algorithms

There is something for all finalists, whether you are undecided about your future career, you need support when applying and getting through the recruitment process or you’d like advice to help you prepare for your first job. Visit our Life after University Week webpage to access our full events programme and to book! You can also view these events and more on the Finalists webpages.

Kent students now have free access to the Pagoda Cultural Fluency Course. The course usually costs around £40 so it’s a great opportunity to take the course now.

Cultural fluency is the set of skills that allow people to live, work and interact effectively in a multicultural environment

About the course

The course sets out to develop your cultural fluency and adaptability when working in a multicultural team or society. It will help you become familiar with the concept of intercultural communication and cultural fluency; and will allow you to develop and improve your skills related to this field.

The course will cover the following:

• An understanding of what cultural fluency is
• A clear idea on the main barriers that come into play during cross-culture scenarios
• A self-reflection on your experience of cross-cultural situations and on your own intercultural skills to see where you are currently standing
• An understanding of how to apply your knowledge of cross-culture to different workplace scenarios
• Tips on how to improve your intercultural communication

93% improved their cultural fluency competency by undertaking the course  .

The course takes 8-10 hours to complete and can be paused at any time.

How do I sign up?

You need to register online before 30 April and then complete the course by the end of August 2021. You will receive 25 Employability Points once you complete the course.

Kent student William shares his top three tips to help you build resilience.

‘Graduating and finishing studying in the middle of a global pandemic can seem daunting, however, there are methods and mindsets to deal with the increased uncertainty when looking for graduate employment or perusing postgraduate courses.

‘Applying for graduate jobs and waiting to hear the outcome can be stressful. Developing methods and strategies to deal with this is a great skill to have. There are three key things I personally hold key to resilience: perspective, mindset, and physical wellbeing.

‘In this blog I will talk about how these three elements help me to be more resilient, with my studies and applying to jobs.

1. Perspective

‘This is what I like to call ‘looking out’, understanding that companies maybe taking longer to process an application, due to a lower number of staff working and more applications. Looking externally at things beyond your control can help understand why things can be taking longer. Equally, looking in is just as important. If when applying to a job it comes back with unsuccessful, looking at the reasons why and think I can use this to improve. Taking the view that it was not a failure but something to learn from and there will be future opportunities, this is a longer time perspective, looking forward. Steve jobs once said, “you can only connect the dots looking back”.

2. Mindset

‘Mindset is one of the biggest points of resilience. It is how you process a blow or set back. I try and use every job rejection as an indication that maybe I was not right for that role and I would not have enjoyed it. I follow a similar outlook on university work, if I get piece of work back that I am not happy with I use the feedback to better prepare for future essays and talk to academic staff about the feedback. This allows me to use it as a learning experience and not feel negative. This leads me into my next point of mindset, that also is closely aligned with perspective, letting things that are out of my control go. If I have applied to a job and been unsuccessful, I take that and move on and, it is out of my control and focus on what is next. A job or postgraduate application rejection can be very hard to take but putting it behind you and thinking ‘I did all I could’, then looking for new opportunities is just as important. This for me is a way of picking myself up and moving forward, a way of feeling I am progressing, ensuring that I do not let a job or postgrad application derail me from other things.

3. Wellbeing

‘The final of my three points is physical wellbeing, for me this is really important with the other two areas that make my resilience. During lockdown many of us have become used to a daily walk, me included. Before the pandemic I was always interested in fitness and the connection between physical and mental health. I found when I was most active, I was doing well in most other areas of life. During the first lockdown, I started my day off with a long walk or run. The action of just being outdoors really helped set up the rest of my day. This then allowed me to have a set time of day to think about and manage the stress and anxiety of any jobs I was applying for. It also meant that I felt healthy physically and this does wonders for my mental health. I feel like I have more capacity to deal with things if I keep my physical wellbeing. This means it can be easier to process setbacks and deal with them and get back up from them.

‘In this blog I outlined how I have improved my resilience. However, the University’s Careers and Employability Service runs frequent sessions on building resilience, these are aimed at those seeking employment and how to manage stress in the recruiting process.’

Photo by Jenny Hill on Unsplash