Going into my second year studying Social Policy, I was eager for a challenge and looking for an opportunity to gain hands-on experience volunteering with the community. When I found out about Bristol Hub’s Social Innovation Programme (SIP), I was immediately drawn to the idea of working with a local organisation to help them make an impact. What I didn’t expect was the impact the programme had on me: on my perception of my skill set, on the confidence I have in my abilities and on the way I approach challenges.
Working with a team of my peers from different disciplines and backgrounds, we were tasked with conducting market research for the Future Learning and Insights Platform (FLIP), a startup skills development platform for STEM students and graduates. With more than two million vacancies in the UK tech industry and a further twelve million workers lacking ‘essential digital skills’, there is a clear talent deficit which needs to be addressed. FLIP aims to offer those pursuing a career in the tech industry an accessible, interactive platform which allows them to develop their coding and job application skills, as well as helping them to maintain their wellbeing.
Our job was to design and distribute a survey amongst STEM students asking them which features of the platform they felt would come under a ‘basic’ or ‘premium’ subscription tier, as well as collecting general feedback on the usefulness of the platform. As a Social Policy student, I was apprehensive that my lack of STEM knowledge and market research experience would leave me out of my depth and that my individual skill set would be lacking in comparison to others. However, I found that I brought my own set of strengths to the team, such as communication and organisation, as well as a positive and determined attitude. I adopted a sort of liaison role, maintaining a dialogue with our community partner and our mentor, and reaching out to campus services to organise conducting our research on campus. Throughout the process, although challenging at times, I gained a lot of confidence, speaking my mind and taking charge in situations where I saw there was a need for it. The positive feedback I received from individuals I worked with in the SIP was absolutely instrumental in this growth: feedback from my peers, staff like Sorcha at the Hub, and of course our community partner, Lara Lalemi.
Having finished the SIP, I felt driven to push myself out of my comfort zone more, applying for internships and committee roles, and actively seeking out leadership positions. I think that the SIP helped me to re-frame my perception of qualities which I often saw as less important: being compassionate and empathetic, and being able to communicate with others. I have realised the importance of these attributes and hope to use them in future projects to be a reliable, trustworthy and compassionate leader.