Online resources

What is a virtual internship?

Virtual internships are flexible, online opportunities, giving you the opportunity to undertake remote experience. Many virtual internships exist in the fields of IT, sales, journalism, marketing, and software development.

Some employers will give you project work/tasks to complete over a period of time, and you may have regular catch-ups and support from the employer during your virtual internship.

Depending on the sector and nature of the role, you may not be able to undertake all the elements of a real internship, due to client / patient confidentiality. For example, handling client casefiles for a law firm. However, you are still able to experience some of the work of a trainee and the function of the business.

Bright Network four-day virtual internship programme (26th - 29th June) - applications closed 20 Jun 23.

Different sectors available: Business, Marketing, Law, Finance, Consultancy, Banking, Investment, Public Sector, Charity and Technology.

www.indeed.co.uk/Internship-Remote-Working-jobs - Indeed advertises remote internships

University of Kent Virtual Experiences brought to you by Forage

A number of experiences you can apply for in different sectors. Find out more

Rate my Placement: Work Ready Virtual Experience

RateMyPlacement.co.uk has teamed up with Inside Sherpa and Development Beyond Learning (DBL), to launch a FREE work ready virtual experience. The work ready virtual experience consists of three modules. Each one allows you to build specific skills that translate into the workplace - Wellbeing and resilience under lockdown, virtual first impressions and remote networking.

Study Plus

We offer free courses through Study Plus! Offering a variety of online workshops, covering a range of topics, including: meditation, resilience, project management and photography! View courses and book via Target Connect: careers.kent.ac.uk/

MOOC courses: Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are free online courses available for anyone to enrol. Visit here: www.mooc.org/ 

Subjects covered:

• Architecture, Art & Culture
• Biology & Life Sciences, Business & Management
• Chemistry, Communication, Computer Science
• Data Analysis & Statistics, Design
• Economics & Finance, Education & Teacher Training, Electronics, Energy & Earth Sciences
• Engineering, Environmental Studies, Ethics, Food & Nutrition
• Health & Safety, History, Humanities
• Language, Law, Literature
• Math, Medicine, Music
• Philanthropy, Philosophy & Ethics, Physics, Science, Social Sciences
  

Other online course sites

• www.open.edu/openlearn/free-courses - Open University free courses
• www.classcentral.com/report/free-online-learning-coronavirus/ - a full list of free online courses
• www.futurelearn.com/
• www.coursera.org
• #1 Excel tutorial on the net - www.excel-easy.com/ - Easy to follow, fully illustrated + 300 examples
• online-learning.harvard.edu/
• www.linkedin.com/learning - first month free
• Google Digital Garage- Over 126 online courses are available here
• Future You Podcast- A podcast run by Prospects for those at any stage of career planning
• Amazon Meet and Engage- Webinars discussing graduate careers with Amazon
• Edx- Various online skills and subject courses
• Alison- Free online courses
• Accenture Skills to Succeed Academy- online training and employability skills development
• Wall Street Mojo– https://www.wallstreetmojo.com/all-courses/
• MOOC #1 – Business Fundamentals: Project Management – next cohort 11 May
• MOOC #2 – Project Management: Beyond the Basics
• ICS – www.icslearn.co.uk/
• IT Online – www.itonlinelearning.com/
• Open Study College – www.openstudycollege.com/

Learn to code

• www.kaggle.com/ - data science and python
• www.codecademy.com/ - Includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, SQL, Python, Data Science
• www.freecodecamp.org/learn/
• www.udemy.com/ - Python Core and Advanced
• Girls Who Code

Microsoft 

• The Excel basics tutorial – www.udemy.com/course/excel_quickstart/
  
• #1 Excel tutorial on the net - www.excel-easy.com/ - Easy to follow, fully illustrated + 300 examples
• Level 2 Microsoft packages - www.vision2learn.net/course/free/107/essential-it-skills-level-2
• Wall Street Mojo - Excel - www.wallstreetmojo.com/excel/excel-tutorials/
• Excel Mojo Learn and Master Excel with 300+ Self Study Guides and Resources- https://www.excelmojo.com/excel/
  

Learn a language

• Duolingo - This service takes a game-like approach to learning and offers apps for iOS, Windows Phone and Android.
• Open Culture - can help you learn one a popular language like English, French, Spanish, Italian, Russian, or Mandarin. But there are a total of 48 language options listed on this portal to free language course downloads.
• Livemocha - gives you access to free lessons for 35 languages, but also offers a vibrant community of native language speakers from 190 countries you can connect with to practice your speech.
• BBC Languages

http://__replace__.meCommercial awareness is having a good understanding of an organisation / company (how it works, how it makes a profit, it’s client, objectives, services, products) and the industry in which it sits (understanding how current news can impact the sector). You should have an overview of what’s going on in the market sector - Are there legal or regulatory changes on the way, or does the economic situation have a larger-than-usual impact?

Read more at: www.skillsyouneed.com/general/commercial-awareness.html and www.brightnetwork.co.uk/graduate-career-advice/commercial-awareness/an-overview/
Below, are a few links for building commercial awareness in some sectors:

Attend free online webinars by Gradcracker

Gradcracker is the UK's careers website for STEM students.  You can find graduate jobs listed plus internships and placement opportunities.

Attending the free online webinars can help build your commercial awareness in different sectors by hearing from the varied range of organisations such as Mercedes, Cummins, Centrica, Formula 1, Siemens, Arup and so many more.

Finance and Business
www.prospects.ac.uk  - The Graduate Prospects website contains information on a range of job sectors, with useful links to further resources and information

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, and Department for Business and Trade

www.ft.com/home/uk  - this website allows you to search within the sections News, Markets, Industries and Companies. News searched can be drawn from the FT archives or global news resources.
www.reuters.com  – Read the latest news stories from around the world. Sections dedicated to business, technology, international news etc.
www.bbc.co.uk  - The BBC provides business news
The World of Business podcast - Insights into the business world from Radio 4’s in Business programme.
Business Daily podcast - BBC World Service’s daily podcast on the world of money and work from across the globe.
Today programme on BBC R4 - Today is the most influential news programme in the United Kingdom and sets the day’s political agenda each morning. If you want to quickly build awareness of current affairs in politics, business and society, then listen to this.

Actuarial Science
www.actuarialcareers.co.uk/career-advice/how-to-develop-commercial-awareness/ - overview of commercial awareness in this sector
www.theactuary.com - news

https://www.stemwomen.com/events

Legal
www.legalcheek.com - market news
www.legalweekjobs.com - jobs and news
www.thelawyer.com/news - UK and international news
www.youtube.com/user/LawCareersNet - insights from recruiters, lawyers and the LCN team

Politics
www.bbc.co.uk/news/politics
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics
www.economist.com
www.politicshome.com
www.huffpost.com

Psychology
www.psychologytoday.com/gb - group of renowned psychologists, academics, psychiatrists and writers to contribute their thoughts and ideas
www.bps.org.uk/ - The British Psychological Society
www.sciencedaily.com/news/mind_brain/psychology/ - latest research news
www.independent.co.uk/topic/Psychology
www.newscientist.com/article-topic/psychology/ - weekly science and technology magazine

Specific organisations

• Do it.org: doit.life/ours
• Age UK: www.ageuk.org.uk/get-involved/volunteer/neighbourly-volunteering/
• The Prince’s Trust
• Zooniverse - take part in real cutting edge research in many fields across the sciences, humanities, and more
• Project Implicit - non-profit organization and international collaboration between researchers who are interested in implicit social cognition
• Be My Eyes - a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call.
• Translators without Borders - Translators without Borders depends on volunteers to translate millions of words, but also to help us run the organization.
• Librivox  - LibriVox volunteers read and record chapters of books in the public domain (books no longer under copyright), and make them available for free on the Internet
• Missing Maps - Missing Maps is an open, collaborative project in which you can help to map areas where humanitarian organisations are trying to meet the needs of vulnerable people.
• Smithsonian Transcription Center - Become a Smithsonian Digital Volunteer and help us make historical documents and biodiversity data more accessible.
• UN Volunteering - The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme contributes to peace and development through volunteerism worldwide. Online volunteering allows organizations and volunteers to team up to address sustainable development challenges – anywhere in the world.
• ZSL- Instant Wild - ZSL’s Instant Wild empowers you to take part in vital conservation work, bringing you LIVE images and videos from amazing locations all around the world. By identifying the animals in each image, you are contributing to conservation and making a positive impact on the future for wildlife.

• Prospects have created a page specifically around the impact of Covid-19 on graduates searching for work experience and jobs.
• Linkedin article around remote working and how to use LinkedIn to find remote roles.
• Reed and various online recruitment firms have dedicated work from home/remote working pages.
• Employment 4 Students have a dedicated page for online freelance jobs for students.
• There are several blog posts (largely aimed at stay at home parents) that list different forms of remote working that are flexible.
• Upwork is an international website with many UK jobs listed. As the work is being done online, clients can take jobs from anywhere in the world.
• People per hour has a wide range of jobs on offer, with a good selection in creative arts, and employers’ pay rates seem reasonable. Freelancers can also sell their services for either an hourly rate or a fixed price for the entire project. Offers a full range of services.

• Sometimes it’s hard to find the time to update your CV or LinkedIn profile, but if you have some time to spare now, use it to create a standout CV or profile!
• Reflect on your recent experiences, such as a part-time job, a previous internship or placement, a voluntary role, an insight day you attended or involvement with a society, and start adding these.
• Writing a CV - Our tips on style, format and content
• https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/2024/course/view.php?id=146 – Review our ‘CV and Cover Letter’ talk on our CES Moodle page
• Visit careers.kent.ac.uk – Book a 15-minute Quick Advice appointment, to have your CV reviewed by an Adviser.

LinkedIn

• https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/2024/course/view.php?id=146 – Review our ‘LinkedIn’ workshops, if you are just getting started with creating your profile.
• Visit careers.kent.ac.uk – Book a 15-minute Quick Advice appointment, to have your CV reviewed by an Adviser.