Hi there,

My name is Claire, a final year psychology student who has chosen to take on the Cardiff Met Award, because if there is a challenge, I will take it.

I chose to take on the Cardiff Met Award because I wanted to show that I am capable of doing a lot of different things and had skills those other future job hunters wont. This Award is also good because while many people have these skills they don’t have evidence to support their claims, but I will. My Cardiff Met Award will show I have the ability to reflect on my experiences, take part in group work, have good communication skills, be able to present, have an interest in personal development and quite a bit more.

So basically the Cardiff Met Award has these main elements:

1. 100 hours work experience
2. 7 hours of an activity where you have used communication and teamwork skills
3. Attend 5 workshops
4. Write a reflective report (1000 words)
5. Attend a mock interview and deliver a reflective presentation

Well, you may have noticed that is quite a lot to do over one year, especially as a final year student. And it is, if you don’t plan your time efficiently. But it is definitely achievable if you get your act together and this will help you prove your time planning and efficiency to a potential employer in the future.

So far, I have completed 100 hours of work experience, through having my job at UMAX and my volunteering I completed over summer of 2013.

I completed my 7 hours of working with others as a Student Representative in Programme Meetings whereby I was involved in discussing roles and modules for the course.

I am on 4/5 workshops, all of which have been amazing and have taught me very useful skills that I will be able to take forward with me in my career. The most enjoyable one I found was Social Media for Employability, which is something that I have really enjoyed and applied the most to my online life. I made a website as a results and I am really proud of it. I get a lot of people looking at it as a result of the link being on LinkedIn. The Time Management workshop I loved because it gave me a new way to organise and prioritise my time. The Interview Skills workshop was really hard, and I found it tough, but I needed that. It was good learning how to talk about your weaknesses and expressing them eloquently without feeling too insecure or upset by them. The Perfect Presentation workshop was so much and I loved that it was really interactive. This gave me a chance to improve on something that will (and already has) help me in my course.

I am looking forward to reflecting on the experience because I am so positive about the time I have spent in my job, in the workshops and in my volunteering. I have enjoyed being challenged for time and feel that I work best when I have a lot to do!

It’s not been easy but has definitely been worth it.

And YES, I would definitely recommend that you take on the challenge of the Cardiff Met Award.

Take care

Claire :)