How to make your student loan go further so you can do more career-orientated things?!

Being a student is expensive, especially if you careers orientated like me. There are expenses involved with volunteering, attending talks and attending assessment centres (although most companies do reimburse you, it is after the fact). So, how do I make my student loan stretch further so I can do all these things!?

• ·         Get yourself a NUS card. From £12 it saves you loads on money on the things you would normally buy
• ·         Get yourself a 16-25 railcard. Snap this us as you won’t be this age forever! This comes in real handy when attending assessment centres or conferences which are usually in London or Birmingham
• ·         Ever used cash-back sites? Before I purchase anything, I look whether the shop is on Quidco or TopCashBack. These are free to join and give you cash-back on purchases that you can either have back a Tesco points, Amazon vouchers (good for university books) or straight-forward money.
• ·         Coupons! My friends laugh at me about all the free events, samples and coupons that I get. Having discounts or free days out saves money for petrol, clothing costs and food associated with attending events. I always look on The National Trust website for events and events put on by the local council such as The Love Festival
• ·         Get free samples to test and leave feedback! I am signed up to Bzz Agent which sends you free samples (this month it is four full sized bottles of Frizzi) and all I have to do is post reviews on Facebook!

These are my own personal steps/opinions and are not endorsed by the Careers Department or the SU. If any student needs financial advice, please visit First Point to book an appointment with a financial advisor.

Volunteering Week

The second volunteering week is about to commence! A highlight of this week is the volunteering fair on the 25^th February, 11-3pm, in the SU. I will be attending this, not just for the free pens, but to find out more about the opportunities available. I love volunteering as it gives me the opportunity to make a difference to people (I am fuzzy inside), try new things and gain valuable skills. So what are the rewarding things I am doing!?

• #LovetoRead project: This is a project that I have set up myself with funding from vInspired Cashpoint. This is where young people, aged 16-24 can apply for funding to set up their own projects. My project involve giving free books to underprivileged children.

• YEUK: Youth Employment UK is a charity trying to raise awareness about the concerning job prospects of young people today by getting the government to listen. I work on social media and interviewing employers for their E-magazine

• Careers blog: I do this blog voluntarily! I love to write and I love careers so matching the two is perfect. I write helpful advice for students, publishing the magazines and creating cartoons

• Worcester 6^th Form College: I volunteer in the careers department at the college. The main project that I have been working on is to create Facebook pages so the college can communicate volunteering and alternative options to university to students.

So why I am telling you all this! Well, have you heard the saying ‘it’s a Catch22?’ For example, ‘you need experience to get this job’ and you are thinking ‘well I need this job to gain experience? @S’ Volunteering is a good way to get this experience. 

What other perks can volunteering while at university give you?

• V-record: Anyone who logs 50 hours or more with receive a certificate showing their achievement

• The Worcester Award: This university’s employability award so you can show employers that you have been doing more at university that just studying

• The V-record and The Worcester Award will go on your HEAR which proves to employers what you have been doing while at university

• You can attend the VosCas in Achievement Week. Free sandwiches!!

• Making connections: if someone sees that you are passionate about something and have experience through volunteering, this will increase your job prospects

•  Gaining vital skills

• Doing a ‘good deed’ for someone else

For more information about volunteering contact Careers and Employability or the Students Union!

Survey link: Find out more!

Personalised Research Surveys 

 Completing on-line surveys are an easy way to earn a bit of extra money. Businesses are listening and valuing your thoughts and opinions on their products or services more than ever. Customer opinion is vital to brands, if there is something that you as a customer don’t like then there’s a good chance that others will feel the same way. It might be something really obvious to you but something that a business had never previously thought of and without customer feedback and suggestions brands risk alienating their customers and ultimately losing them. Once businesses have an insight into consumer’s thoughts, they can quickly respond to customer feedback and make changes suggested to improve their product or services. This two-way conversation is vital for building relationships and maintaining brand loyalty, and is becoming more important as market places become overcrowded with companies competing for customers. Partaking in surveys are a chance for you to get your opinion and voice heard. Previous surveys I have filled in online have been long and to be honest pretty boring (with not much reward at the end of it) and after lots of questions I began to lose interest which meant I didn’t give the questions my full attention or answered them honestly. I did, however, decide to give it another go when a couple of new companies came to my attention that ‘promised to be different’. After trying them for a number of weeks there was one that stood out; a company called SurveyBods. SurveyBods are a market research company who send you personalised surveys. Rather than filling in endless questions about products that don’t interest you or aren’t relevant to you, you first answer questions about your interests online and create a unique profile. Surveys are then sent to you based on your profile information, meaning that you receive surveys more relevant to you and your stated interests. Best of all, the maximum length of a survey is 20 minutes – perfect if you’ve got an attention span as bad as mine. I found that they were great to do together with my daughter (they often want to know children’s opinions and the surveys are designed to reflect this), it was a fun rainy afternoon activity and the fact that we earned some money for completing the survey was a fab incentive. I have decided to save all the money each time I do a survey for a fun family treat, maybe a day out somewhere. You get paid for every survey and I found it really satisfying the first time I completed one knowing that my opinion will make a difference. In this economic climate it is a simple way to earn some more money and genuinely influence brands. As a panel member you also get entered into a monthly draw for the chance to win big prizes. It’s not going to be for everyone and it’s not going to earn you a fortune but I do think it is worth signing up to in order to earn some extra cash to treat the kids or yourself.

Bright Futures Magazine February

Become a member of Youth Employment UK