The History Society’s Mission Employable Experience – Lewis Brennen

Hello Everyone,

I’m Lewis Brennen, a final year History student. As the Welfare Officer for the History Society, I have been involved in Mission Employable this past year as a member of the Mission Employable Working Group, organising Society-led employability events. From the beginning of this year the Society was keen to improve its employability agenda, so we eventually decided to host two separate events, both aimed specifically at History students. One of these was more of an ‘internal’ event and the other involved external guests.

The first event took place on 15 October 2014 and made use of the University’s internal resources. The aim of the event was to prepare students for the second event, improve their employability skills and teach students how to make their job/internship applications stronger. A highlight of the event was the series of ‘How to Network’ seminars that ran at intervals throughout the evening. Career Destinations (CD) had a number of stands from which they gave information on how to write/improve your CV, covering letters, application writing skills, and also information on internships available through the Excel Placements scheme. CD also ran a series of mock interviews throughout the evening, which students had previously signed up for, to give students more experience and advice on how to tackle these often nerve-wracking situations. SUSU’s entrepreneurial societies, such as Fish on Toast, were also present to give advice on entrepreneurial skills and give more information on what they do and how History students can get involved. Finally, a number of academics and postgraduate students were present to talk to students who might be interested in postgraduate study here at Southampton. The event took place from mid to late afternoon on a Wednesday. We timed it to take place just after a compulsory dissertation lecture to ensure as many finalists as possible could make the event, as they were our primary audience. We promoted the event regularly through Facebook and Mission Employable’s social media accounts, had a good turnout as a result.

The second employability event took place on 8 December 2014. This was a careers fair with six external representatives, along with CD and Mission Employable. We approached the representatives as they were from companies that demonstrated a range of industries History students could go into. Present were representatives from: Sainsbury’s, TeachFirst, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, the Daily Echo, IBM and the Southampton Arts and Heritage team. We had some challenges finding a suitable location but eventually settled on the Nuffield Kitchen, which proved an excellent choice. The event ran from 17:45-19:30, and again the timing proved just right. To help students prepare we gave them some ideas for questions they might want to ask the company representatives. We had high attendance at the event – over 100 – which was fantastic to see, and received great feedback from students, the companies, and CD alike.

Organising the events has been of great benefit to me on a personal level. This was the first time I had organised a ‘professional’ event and so I learnt a lot about how to research and approach appropriate organisations. It was also a chance to put into practice – and to refine – the project management and leadership skills gained during my course, for example during the second year Group Project module. Overall, organising the events was a challenging but rewarding experience and hopefully the addition to my CV will pay dividends in the future!

Both events were great successes and the History Society look forward to arranging similar events with Mission Employable in the future.