How the Gold Scholarship Programme helped me
Alongside the financial support, the Gold Scholarship Programme (GSP) offers extensive support in personal/career development. My biggest motivation for my application to the GSP was
for these career development opportunities on offer.
Throughout my first year at university I attended many Gold events that included interview skills sessions and CV workshops. At the end of the academic year there was a celebration dinner for Gold Scholars. This included a networking event attended by loads of Gold Mentors (more on this later) and key contacts from various industries to network with and gain tailored, 1-to-1 career advice which was highly valuable!
In my first year of university I participated in various early career insight programmes. These were a great opportunity for me to really find out which career path I'd like to pursue, by being able to shadow and engage with junior and senior professionals in different fields. This then helped with my direction towards internship applications the following year. If you are going into your first year of a three year course, or second year of a four year course, and have an idea about what industry you’d like to pursue a career in, I highly recommend looking into applying to spring insight programmes. They really do allow you to gain the best insight into a firm/industry. On these programmes you will also gain invaluable career preparation advice for CVs, interviews and assessment centres. To help you get started, you could find a Gold Mentor (more on this below!)…
Opportunities on offer
As a Gold Scholar you have access to having a Gold Mentor. A Gold Mentor is an individual with experience in a particular industry who can share their professional experiences with you,
conduct mock interviews, and have 1-to-1 remote meetings with you. The Gold Community has a wide range of Gold Mentors from various careers and organisations. Some Gold Mentors are also Bath alumni as well as former Gold Scholars themselves, which already provides a common ground! Having a Gold Mentor is a way to connect with someone in a particular industry, and is a good opportunity if you don’t have any personal connections to anyone in certain fields you’d like to explore.
It’s also important to mention that the volunteering component of the GSP is great for your career development too, as it allows you to develop many soft skills including teamwork, communication and leadership skills.
Conclusion
The Gold Team are very committed to creating an abundance of opportunities for Gold Scholars, so you should get involved and take up as many of the opportunities on offer as possible 
whether that’s for your career development or anything else. University is more than just your degree, and these opportunities allow you to build a solid foundation for your next steps whatever career path you decide to take!
Respond
