Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) – Career Booster
All your Career Booster Questions answered in one place!
The Career Booster Programme – Your Questions Answered
What is Career Booster Programme?
Career Booster provide additional sessions to the curriculum which will enhance and support students’ employability, professional and commercial awareness and provide students/graduates with additional relevant skills and commercial insight/experience to compete in the graduate job market. Workshops are ‘hands-on’ and interactive workshops providing students with the opportunity to apply ‘theory to practice’.
Who can attend Career Booster Programme?
The Career Booster Programme is open to any student in the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Science students who does not have timetabled teaching.
I have timetabled teaching. Can I attend Career Booster Programme?
Timetabled teaching has priority but students are welcome to attend sessions that don’t clash with timetabled teaching.
How does Career Booster relate to my programme, and will participation add value to my degree?
A range of workshops are offered including personal development, technical skills, and insight to market and sectors that compliment degree programmes. Career Booster Week enables students to select sessions they feel beneficial to their personal development and career journey.
What are Career Booster Themes?
The Career Booster Team have ‘themed’ to help you to decide what sessions apply best to you. Each theme explores different topics which can help to boost your future employability and experience.
Booster Academic: Sessions to enhance and support your academic development boosting your confidence and study skills and supporting you to achieve great results!
Booster Professional Insight: Sessions to provide insight into job markets and working environments delivered by our academic staff, professional networks and alumni.
Booster Personal Development: Sessions focusing on developing your Bradford Employability Attributes and building your confidence and aspirations.
Booster Technical: Hand on technical training sessions teaching skills that employers look for!
Booster Think Placements!: Workshops aiming to boost confidence and success with interview processes and insight to placements, internships and work experience opportunities. Attendance to all 8 of these sessions will see you rewarded with an additional Think Placements! certificate.
Booster NatWest Business Builder: Sessions focused on entrepreneurship and the skills required to set up and run a business. Attendance to all 5 workshops will see you rewarded with an additional NatWest Business Builder certificate.
What sessions do you offer?
A range of 40 to 60 workshops are offered, ranging from 1.5 hours duration to full day sessions. Some workshops are delivered over more than 1 day to provide a ‘deep dive’ experience.
What am I expected to do in the workshops?
The aim of Career Booster is to provide additional sessions to the curriculum which will enhance and support students’ employability, professional and commercial awareness and provide students/graduates with additional relevant skills and commercial insight/experience to compete in the graduate job market. Workshops are ‘hands-on’ and interactive workshops providing students with the opportunity to apply ‘theory to practice’.
To fully benefit from attending the workshops we encourage students to fully participate. For online sessions we request you are in a place to be able to engage with the session and have cameras switched on. This may be a specific requirement for some workshops. For on campus and online sessions you may be expected to work independently or in a team on tasks set by the presenter, providing you with an opportunity to develop your skills and apply your learning.
Are Career Booster sessions being delivered online or on campus?
The programme is a combination of online and on campus sessions. This will be specified in the booking link and booking form. Please ensure you check before booking.
Do I need to swipe in with my student card for on campus sessions?
The swipe card system will not record your attendance on Career Booster Weeks. Your main method of registering attendance is to complete the Attendance & Reflection form after every session you attend. This will be used to monitor attendance, record HEAR hours and update our records.
In some sessions a hard copy register will be used to confirm your attendance. This will be located in the room. It is your responsibility to sign the register to confirm your attendance by signing in at the start of the session and signing out at the end of the session. If your name and details are not listed, please add these to the register.
How do I book sessions for Career Booster?
Sessions will be booked through the Career Booster website. The booking links take you to an online booking form. Please make a note of the session details and save your entry. It is your responsibility to keep a record of date, time, and location of session. The Career Booster Team cannot guarantee to send reminders.
Will I get a certificate for attending Career Booster Week?
If you attend 25 hours or more career booster activity and complete the attendance and reflection form and you are registered as attending career booster sessions, your participation will be recognised with a Bradford Employability Award which will appear on your HEAR upon graduation.
In addition to this, some of the Career Booster Programme workshops offer certificates for participation. These reflect your attendance to sessions and recognise your engagement on the session.
Why are some workshops not offered to all students in the faculty?
We have a recommended student profile for sessions to provide guidance on suitability and ensure student satisfaction. Sessions may be limited to some students due to:
- Level of prior knowledge/learning required to ensure students can engage with the workshop
- Room capacity or access to IT platforms/resources
- Content being duplicated in curriculum for some students so guided to choose sessions offering new experiences
If there are sessions you wish to attend that aren't offered to your student profile then when completing your Attendance & Reflection forms you can register this interest to be considered for future Career Booster weeks.
What happens if I can no longer attend a session I have registered for?
Please email careerbooster@bradford.ac.uk to decline your place reserved so this can be released to another student.
Why is my place not confirmed for some sessions?
A number of our session are capped for varying reasons. Whether we do this to boost the student experience in sessions or due to capacity of rooms and technology we will cap sessions to ensure that we can host the session and maximise the experience that those in attendance receive.
Throughout the booking process our team will monitor bookings, release details and share communications if you have been successful in securing a place.
If you haven't secured a place then please be aware that many of our sessions will be run again in the next Career Booster week. Keep an eye out for future schedules and stay engaged to have your chance at securing a place next time.
If I haven’t managed to secure a place on a session that I wanted to attend, what can I do?
If this is an on-campus session you can take the chance and wait to see if there any ‘no shows’ on the day. If this is an opportunity you will be notified by email. We cannot guarantee you will secure a place in the workshop but sometimes students can secure ‘on the day’ places if students don’t turn up.
Are sessions repeated every Career Booster Week?
We try to repeat sessions we know are highly regarded and in demand, however, we cannot guarantee this. To ensure a vibrant and dynamic programme we provide new sessions every career booster week for students to ensure there is always something for everyone to attend.
Which students can attend Career Booster Week?
If Activity Week is listed on your timetable and you are a Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences student you can attend. Students in the faculty who are timetabled for teaching can still attend workshops that fit around their timetabled teaching.
I would like the presenter to know I have an LSP - how do I do this?
Please email careerbooster@bradford.ac.uk at least 2 working days in advance of your first session. Please put LSP Notification in the subject. Line of the email. Please include:
1) your UB Number
2) titles, dates and times of sessions you are attending
3) what details you would like us to share with the presenter
Why should I do 25 hours?
This will contribute to a Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award every year you participate. The Bradford Employability Award is listed on students Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR) which is recognised as additional ‘achievement’ to evidence to future employers that students have engaged with developing their professional skills alongside academic study.
How is my attendance recorded to ensure my hours of participation are counted?
At the end of each career booster session, you attend you must complete the Attendance and Reflection Form to ensure your hours of participation are counted. The cumulative hours you submit on the Attendance and Reflection Form will count towards your Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award which will be listed in your HEAR. The Attendance and Reflection Form submission is checked against attendance registers and online meeting reports. If a form is submitted for a session which has not been attended the attendance hours will not be awarded.
What is the deadline to complete the Attendance and Reflection Form?
The deadline to complete the attendance and reflection form will be Sunday 30 February 23:45 GMT.
Your Career Booster Bradford Employability Award and HEAR questions answered
What is the HEAR?
The HEAR is a comprehensive, electronic record of a student’s achievement which is built up as they progress through their student life. It includes both academic and extra-curricular achievements and therefore captures and acknowledges the broader student experience. A student's final HEAR includes information about their programme of study, for example, modules and results, degree awarded, as well as any other University-recognised achievements.
Upon graduation, students can share their HEAR to support further study and/or job applications.
More information on the HEAR: https://unibradfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/hear-intranet/SitePages/What-is-HEAR-.aspx
What is the Bradford Employability Award?
Students at Bradford are encouraged to make the most of their time as a student here and undertake activities outside the classroom so that they graduate with ‘more than a degree’.
The University of Bradford has a wide range of endorsed activities that could help build students' knowledge, skills and experience and be included in their final HEAR. These are known as the Bradford Employability Awards.
The Career Booster Programme and Career Booster Ambassador is a recognised Bradford Employability Award.
More information on Bradford Employability Award: https://unibradfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/hear-intranet/SitePages/Endorsed%20Activities.aspx
What is the Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award?
This is a recognition of 25 hours or more of designated Career Booster activity in any 1 academic year by the Faculty of Management, Law and Social Sciences. This will apply whether your academic year starts in January or October. Please note that the hours accrued do not cumulate over more than 1 academic year.
More information on the Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award:
More information on the Career Booster Ambassador Bradford Employability Award:
Who is Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award available to?
This Career Booster Programme and this Bradford Employability Award is exclusive to Faculty of Management, Law and Social Science students, who are studying undergraduate or postgraduate taught students. Bradford Employability Awards are not available to postgraduate research students as this profile of students do not graduate with a Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR). This doesn’t exclude postgraduate research students from participating and attending the Career Booster Programme.
If I attend Activity Weeks in other parts of the university will this count towards my Career Booster Programme Bradford Employability Award?
Only participation in the faculty’s designated Career Booster Programme activities will count towards the Career Booster HEAR.
Bookings for Career Booster Programme https://www.bradford.ac.uk/mlss/careerbooster/
Will the hours of Career Booster activity I participated in last year count towards this year’s career booster activity?
No - you need to do 25 hours or more of Career Booster activity in 1 academic year. The hours accrued do not cumulate over more than 1 academic year.
Each academic year is a ‘new year’ and the hours accrued in previous years are not interchangeable/carried over to the current year. If your academic year starts in January your hours will count from February Career Booster followed by October Career Booster Week and if you are a September academic year start your first Career Booster Week will be October, followed by February.
Do I have to accrue my 25 hours in 1 Career Booster Week?
No. We have 2 dedicated weeks in any 1 academic year where participation counts toward the 25 hours. For a January start the first Career Booster Week will be February followed by the October Career Booster Week, and for those students starting in September, the first Career Booster Week will be October, followed by the February Career Booster Week. Every student will have the opportunity to participate in 2 Career Booster Weeks, whether they are a January starter or September starter.
Can I participate in more than 25 hours of Career Booster Programme activity?
Yes. Students can attend as many hours as they like in the Career Booster Weeks.
Can I get a Career Booster Bradford Employability Award for every year of academic study with Bradford?
Yes, you could graduate from an undergraduate degree with 3 Career Booster Bradford Employability Awards, 1 for every academic year you complete your 25 hours or more of participation. These will be listed in your HEAR.
How will my attendance/HEAR hours be recorded?
You will need to complete the Attendance and Reflection Form at the end of every session you attend in the Career Booster Week, regardless of whether you attend an on campus or an online session. This form will be shared during the delivery of the session but can also be accessed from the FoMLSS Career Booster Programme Group on MS Teams and on the Career Booster website.
Forms submitted are checked against any hard copy registers you are asked to sign during on campus sessions and attendance reports for online sessions. Only attendance and reflection forms which can be supported by actual attendance will be accepted as record of learning for the Career Booster Bradford Employability Award.
What is the Attendance and Reflection Form?
The Attendance and Reflection form is what the Career Booster team will use to register attendance, record HEAR hours and provide feedback to our session presenters.
At the end of each session you attend you must complete the Attendance and Reflection form to confirm your attendance to the session. Once you have done so your hours will accumulate as we record attendance against the registers and attendance reports from sessions.
Once you reach your 25 hours minimum participation you will be eligible for the Bradford Employability Award. The Attendance and Reflection form is your point of action to ensure you are being awarded for your efforts whilst also providing valuable feedback to the presenters and Career Booster team to ensure we can continue to improve our offerings in the future.
Everything you need to know about developing your skills by participating
What skills will I learn? How will it benefit me?
You will develop a range of skills which will support your personal and professional development. These experiences will be unique to you and therefore provide you with evidence for your CV, job applications and competency interview questions.
Find out more about skills employers look for and how this supports you: https://www.bradford.ac.uk/careers/develop-skills/
Can I record participation in the Career Booster Programme on my CV and future job applications?
Definitely a big fat YES! The whole purpose of the Career Booster Programme is to offer students the opportunity to develop their employability skills and enabling graduates to successfully compete in the graduate job market or to secure post graduate study/research. The Career Booster Bradford Employability Award will demonstrate that you have engaged in a programme beyond the degree programme of study but also provide an opportunity to evidence skills developed through participating in workshops.
Find out more on employability skills and how these can support your development:
Career Booster Ambassadors
I am a Career Booster Ambassador. What recognition do I get for being an Ambassador?
Support as an ambassador is highly regarded. Upon submission of a reflective portfolio of your work supporting the promotion and delivery of the Career Booster week you will be awarded the Career Booster Ambassador Bradford Employability Award which will be recorded on the Higher Education Achievement Record (HEAR). It is important to keep a record of all your engagement supporting the promotion and delivery of Career Booster Week.
More information on the HEAR and a Bradford Employability Award: https://unibradfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/hear-intranet
What are the benefits of being a Career Booster Ambassador?
You will have a good opportunity to develop your network with students beyond your immediate degree programme so a great chance to make new friends. The role also develops your communication and network with the academic and professional team. In addition, you will have the opportunity to have a unique experience and develop your employability skills beyond a student participant role which is brilliant evidence and ‘USP’s for a future employer and developing your personal brand.
What do I need to cover in my Career Booster Ambassador Activity and Reflection Report?
Specifically, you will be asked to:
- Upload your welcome profile slide
- Upload a file on what you contributed as a Career Booster Ambassador including screenshots of activity, social media, photos prepared and considering challenges you faced, how you overcame these challenges and what you reflected on from these activities.
- Detail what you have enjoyed most about being a Career Booster Ambassador
- The employability skills you developed because of being a Career Booster Ambassador
- Prepare 2 STAR statements (Situation, Task, Action Result) which support the development of your employability skills in the Career Booster Ambassador role
- Consider the impact of the Career Booster role and your student experience
I am a Career Booster Ambassador. Can I still attend Career Booster programme workshops?
Yes! You can be a Career Booster Ambassador and be a student participant in the workshops so it’s a win/win! If you participate and complete the necessary records you could receive 2 Bradford Employability Awards in 1 year – the Programme Award and the Ambassador Award.
How many hours do I need to do to get the Career Booster Ambassador Bradford Employability Award on the HEAR?
The Career Booster Ambassador Bradford Employability Award is not linked to participating in a set number of hours BUT you must complete enough hours to secure enough insight and evidence to incorporate into a reflective portfolio.
How do I apply for the Career Booster Ambassador role?
Announcements are made through module and programmes on Canvas courses.
Is the Career Booster Ambassador a paid role?
Being a Career Booster Ambassador is an unpaid role. There are no expectations about what level of contribution students make or hours worked by the Ambassador. However, we ask that you have ‘enough’ of an insight and experience to be able to submit the Career Booster Ambassador Activity and Reflection Report which results in being awarded the Career Booster Ambassador Bradford Employability Award, listed on the HEAR.
Technical Accessibility
How do I complete the Attendance and Reflection Form?
After each of your Career Booster sessions we ask you complete the Attendance and Reflection form to register your attendance and log your HEAR hours for the session. This will need completing for every session you attend.
On the form we will ask for your details, programme details, session details and feedback. This is important as it helps us to accurately log and record your hours whilst using feedback to build on each Career Booster week. As such we ask that you complete every question and provide a complete and considered answer.
It is really important that you complete this form using your student Bradford email address. You will only be able to access the form with this email but it also allows us to easily check form data and register your hours. Please ensure you are using *******@bradford.ac.uk
You will only need to complete the form once for each session and as such the form only allows for 1 entry per student per session.
Please ensure you select the correct drop downs for the title of the session attended and number of HEAR hours the session carries. If you are unsure on your session hours then you can visit the schedule page on the Career Booster website which will detail session hours.
How do I access Teams as a Bradford student?
Please follow the detailed steps on the below link. This is a complete guide of how to access and log into Teams as a student. Take special note that when you sign in you will need to do so using your shortened student Bradford email address - e.g. jrblogg2@bradford.ac.uk
Further instructions on accessing Teams as a Bradford Student are as below:
https://unibradfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/it-services-intranet/SitePages/teams-for-students.aspx
How do I access my online Career Booster sessions?
When registering for uncapped online sessions we will link the session to the registration form. At the point of registration for a session we ask that you save this link to your personal diary and access the call from this link.
The Career Booster team will make the effort to share links to sessions prior to the session starting however we cannot guarantee these links we will be shared for every session. If you have any issues with accessing the session on the day you can reach out to one of the Team or your Career Booster ambassadors to ask for assistance in accessing the session.
How do I make the most of online sessions using Microsoft Teams?
This year we have ensured that we have set up all of our Microsoft Teams links in a way that best suits the Career Booster session you are attending.
Once your registration is confirmed you will receive a Microsoft Teams link which will either provide you with access to a Teams Meeting or Teams Webinars.
When attending Meetings you can expect that these sessions will be more interactive and as such we ask that you engage as much as possible to get the most out of the session. Your session presenters will encourage interaction and utilise the Meeting functions to get the best experience for students.
For Webinars these sessions will be a bit more lecture styled. These will utilise a set up where you presenters are delivering a session to you as an audience and you will need to utilise the Chat and Q&A functions during sessions to get the most out of your sessions.
I am still having problems with my IT access
If you are struggling with IT related issues please contact IT Services/Log a ticket for support. Further instructions on contacting IT Services can be found on the link below:
https://unibradfordac.sharepoint.com/sites/it-services-intranet/SitePages/contact-us.aspx or contact 01274 233333