Month: May 2019

Accommodation at Sheffield

By Will Szabo, BA Business Management

In this blog post I will be telling you about the different accommodation you will have in your time as a student, offering first hand advice and tips.

In first year, most students stay in halls of residence, which we call ‘halls’. You can choose whether this is a catered flat, where you pay extra to get your meals provided in a food hall, or self-catered, where you are provided with a kitchen and left to cook for yourself. Then you choose between a single or double bed and en suite or shared bathroom. Sheffield’s accommodation has come in the top 5 in the UK in the Times Higher Education Student Experience Survey from 2012-2018, so you’re in safe hands whatever you choose – you just need to consider what will suit you best.

Student Halls

There are 3 different 1st year accommodation villages;

  • Endcliffe
  • Ranmoor
  • City

I stayed in Endcliffe village in the Curbar building. In Endcliffe and Ranmoor, all the buildings are named after famous places in Sheffield like Curbar, Derwent and Howden. Endcliffe and Ranmoor provide a family and ‘village’ experience, where you are surrounded by thousands of other students all in the same boat as you, starting university and looking to meet people. In freshers week you meet hundreds of different people including all the other flats in your building.

The Edge Bar

On both sites, you have access to the social hub The Edge located in Endcliffe. The Edge is a student bar selling food and drink with plenty of sofas and tv’s that show sports fixtures and big events! It’s a great place to meet people and an even better place to sit back and relax. It is also in the same building where catered students will eat.

Your room

The majority of rooms are single bed with en suite however you can opt for a double bed for more money or a shared bathroom for cheaper.

The first year accommodation is nice, but to make it feel like a home you have to make it your own – I recommend lights, pictures, posters – thingsthat make it special to you. In my room I put a clothing rail, a tv and a pull up bar in there. This is what the standard room will look like, with an en suite bathroom to the left.

As long as there is space, you can stay in student accommodation for your second year, however a lot of students choose to find a house with their friends.

Private housing

When I chose who to live with in second year, I ended up living with lads from the flat below me, who I met in freshers week and instantly clicked with. This was quite an easy choice as we all got on very well and were all on different courses, with all different day to day plans meaning no one would ever get sick of another.

Finding a house

In terms of actually looking for the house, there are so many student property shops that do everything for you. In Broomhill, the closest town to Endcliffe, there are over 8 different property shops!

When choosing where to live, you will be able to ask advice from older years, but the main places are Broomhill and Crookesmoor, with others choosing more Hallam mixed areas like Broomhall and Ecclesall Road. All areas are very good and highly dominated by students. Many focus their choice on where their course building is and the distance from the house.

Following years

You will have so much choice of who to live with, whether it’s your course mates, people you lived with in first year, or mates from sports/societies. After second year, many of your friends will take years out studying abroad or on placement, and you could even choose to do that yourself. You may also want to change your house, or the area that you’re living in. This all means that you’ll be changing your house for your last year, which many people I know are planning to do. Luckily, I love where I live and am planning to stay in my current house in my third year, but we have had to find three other people to live with us, due to three of my current housemates going to do placement years.

I hope that this has given you some insight into accommodation at Sheffield! If you want to see the accommodation in person, you can go on accommodation tours at any of our open days.

Opportunities for skills development at The University of Sheffield

By Clemvio Hodge, BA Business Management

Many students come to university unsure of what they would like to do after they graduate. I’m a little different, in that I came knowing what I would like to do and the skills I needed to acquire in order to accomplish my goals. However, many of the skills I have sought to obtain are essential, no matter where life takes you, so I thought I’d share exactly the opportunities for skills development I have found through university.

Workshops | Learn anything that interests you

Always keep an eye on your university email so that you do not miss some of the amazing workshops available – especially if they are HEAR accredited. HEAR is your Higher Education Achievement Record which keeps track of your skills development and will also be shown on your university transcript after you graduate.

One of the most impactful workshops that I attended was an 8-week media course with the Corporate Information and Computing Services (CICS) at through the university. There I learned about and developed a passion for videography and photography, and I have been able to loan equipment and use editing software for free at any time during my course. It also looks really good on my HEAR and resume! Another workshop that I attended, and would definitely recommend, was social media training. This was done through the Employability Hub in the Management School, and provided excellent tips on how to use social media to build a professional network.

Online Tutorials via Lynda.com | Develop skills in software and app usage

Your University of Sheffield log-in credentials give you access to Lynda.com (which you would have otherwise had to pay to access). Through short and easy to follow video tutorials, you can learn app development, use accounting software, or simply find out how to use Excel better – the possibilities are endless. It’s definitely worth signing in and seeing what you can learn whilst you have free membership through uni.

I utilised it to further my knowledge in using Premiere Pro for video editing, Photoshop for photos and graphics, Indesign for publication creation, and tutorials on developing a website.

Competitions and Networking Opportunities | Meet people and visit other places

I would advise any student to attempt the University Business Challenge through the University of Sheffield Enterprise (USE). The objective of the challenge is that a team of students would serve as directors for a simulated company and make relevant decisions over the course of several weeks. The success of the business in terms of profits and other metrics would then be compared among over 300 teams from various universities in the UK and, if you rank in the top 10, you get to travel to compete in the finals.

My team was able to make the top 10 and was afforded the opportunity to visit the IBM Client Centre in London. We got to network with other students, interns and managers at IBM and were able to tour the city.

Another great networking opportunity is City Connections. I was lucky enough to return to London and visited four of the top companies there – one being Ernest & Young. We also had the chance to network with UoS Alumni and gained valuable insight into the working world.

From the list of opportunities I have undertaken, I’m sure you can pinpoint my interests – media and business. You can go further and develop skills through sports clubs, employment skills sessions at the Employability Hub, in engineering via iForge… the list is endless!

My Placement Year at GSK!

By Eloise Howard, BA Business Management with Employment Experience

Why do a placement year?

One of the best decisions I made during my time at University has been to do a placement year. I decided at the beginning of second year that I really wanted to gain experience in a big global company and build my CV, as it is so important nowadays to have more than just a degree. Looking back, I had the best 12 months at GSK – I gained so many skills and I met lots of new friends who I’m still in touch with now. It was a challenging year and I truly developed on a professional as well as a personal level. Not only this, it was also so much fun as there was lots of opportunities to do extra things, such as volunteering.

Finding a Placement

My heart was set on finding a HR role as I enjoyed this module the most and it really stood out to me as something I could see myself doing. However, there are so many different companies to choose from all across the UK so it is a big decision! Luckily, I received tons of support from the University and I was able to speak to dedicated staff in the Employability Hub, who helped me to finalise my CV and provide really helpful advice in terms of where to look for placements and what I could expect from the recruitment process. Not only this, you can do workshops like practice assessment centres, which I would really recommend! My advice would also be to not be disheartened if you have some rejections… there were a few companies I never heard back from or didn’t get past the first or second stage, but eventually I found the perfect one and used all the help available  from the Hub to secure the job!

HR at GSK

GSK is a healthcare company with 3 global businesses: vaccines, pharmaceuticals and consumer healthcare. I worked in one of the specialised HR departments in the Head Office in London. This was really exciting moving to a new city, and GSK were great as they put you in contact with all the other placement students in a Facebook group so that you can find people to live with. My role varied as I did project work including Strategic Workforce Planning (SWP), mySkills (an application to assess employee skills) and Global Inclusion and Diversity. Typical day-to-day tasks were developing communication materials; writing emails andcreating help guides and articles. Plus, I had roles in Project Management and was a key point of contact for global colleagues in Inclusion and Diversity. One of my highlights would be presenting the team updates to the CEO of Consumer Healthcare! Overall, I gained so much varied experience and it helped me to work out that I definitely want to go into HR in my future career. This experience has also made me much more confident in securing a graduate job as I now have so many experiences to talk about in an interview!

Moving to Sheffield from another country

By Alice Lando, BA International Business Management

Are you thinking about coming to Sheffield but wondering what it would be like moving from another country? Don’t worry, it is probably going to be the best decision you have ever made!

I came to Sheffield from Italy over three months ago and I have not
regret it ever since. I chose The University of Sheffield because it offers the course I had always pictured in my mind; a degree in Business Management with the opportunity to study one year abroad.  Coming to Sheffield, I have found that the community created by the Students’ Union and the students themselves have strengthened my decision. Sheffield is truly an international city, filled with open-minded people from all around the world, which makes the experience a lot easier.

Even though I tried not to visualise how my life would be here in Sheffield before arriving, I can definitely say that my experience here has exceeded my expectations. I have made more friends than I thought I would, I have tried so many different activities and I have always felt supported in regards to both my studies and my social life. Lecturers are always available if you need them and there is a wide range of sports and activities that you can try. I joined the University volleyball team; this gave me the chance to go to different cities to play games, but more importantly I met a lot of new people from around the world with who I now spend time with on a daily basis.

As with every experience, I did face some challenges. Sometimes I felt like
there were too many new things I wanted to try, and balancing social life and study was a little bit hard. At the beginning language was another barrier since everyone has a different accent, but I got used to it fairly soon. In regards to how to prepare for such a change in your life, my advice would be to work on your mentality as it will be what is going to support you during this journey. You will have the greatest days, but it’s inevitable that you will also have some bad ones too. Be open to new things, new people, new traditions and you will overcome all cultural differences. Practically speaking, packing and bringing your stuff are probably the most stressful parts. My advice is to pack the essentials, all the things you can not buy in Sheffield or that you need for the first few weeks, especially if you will travel alone. Once you are here, you will have to sort out some things such as a bank account, a UK phone number and health insurance but the University can help you with all of that!

Final tips I would like to give you as I found them useful during these three
months:

  • Enjoy your last days in your home country, you are very likely to miss that feeling
  • Take photos that you can look through when you feel homesick, but also learn a ‘traditional activity’ to always feel at home. In my case, a part of Italy is with me when I cook.
  • Lastly, once you are in Sheffield, enjoy every single moment without letting cultural differences stop you or take you down.

I hope Sheffield will be a home far from home for you as it is for me!