Employability lessons learnt at the Enterprise café

Hello Everyone,

We’ve had a really busy few weeks in Mission Employable: sourcing and facilitating student-led activity, attending career events and planning for the rest of the year! One event in particular really demonstrated how much Humanities students can offer prospective employers, so I thought I would tell you about it.

Career Destinations’ Enterprise Café takes place every semester. Each café takes place in a social space on main campus, where students can discuss their enterprise and career ideas with like-minded students, as well as get professional advice by signing up to the business clinic.

The most recent Enterprise Café was on Wednesday 4 February 2015. On arrival, everyone got a drink and started chatting with each other about their career hopes and enterprise plans, and staff from Career Destinations were on hand to give advice.

The speaker was Greg Sandford, a 2007 Politics graduate from the University of Southampton who shared his career experiences so far, as well as telling us about his key lessons for succeeding in any job:

1. Build Your Network. This does not necessarily mean that you have to talk to everyone, but try to make 1 or 2 meaningful contacts at each event you attend.
2. Get a good mentor (or 2). Someone who knows you well, and an external perspective too. The University can help with this (e.g. through their Business Acceleration Programme), as well as the contacts that you gain through all your University experiences.
3. Gain ‘T-shaped’ experiences. This means the ability to have a multidisciplinary perspective and attain skills outside of your core strengths. Employers will value a broad perspective.
4. ‘Find Your Muse’. When are you at your best? Use this to your advantage.
5. Create opportunities and be prepared to adapt. The world of work is now more about incremental changes to achieve your final goal, rather than big leaps between careers.
6. ‘Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose’ = the 3 human motivations to being happy and successful in your career.

Have a look at these 6 lessons and think about your own strengths, contacts, and mentors. Perhaps you think you excel when working in a team, or you have learnt a lot from a friend or lecturer. What makes you happiest in your work? Could you make a career out of this? If you’re still unsure, why not have a look at the Southampton Opportunity OPUS website to get inspired and further develop your skill set: www.southampton.ac.uk/opus.

Watch this space for more news, events, and advice!