Exploring LiketoBe from a student's perspective

As a current student at the University of Bristol, I am going to be graduating in just less than a year. This is a rather daunting thought, especially as someone who has never really had a plan of what I want to do as a career in the future. Throughout secondary school and sixth form I attended numerous careers fares, none of which helped to give me a clear insight into what I may wanted to do in the future. The experience was often one of rushed disinterestedness, as a range of employers standing next to a big banner with a company name that I knew absolutely nothing about tried to explain to hundreds of bewildered pupils what exactly their company stood for. Conversation was often rushed and went over my head, as I awkwardly stood nodding, pretending I could understand their business lingo, while grasping almost nothing of what a job there would really entail. If anything, I found myself always leaving with a huge stack of job prospectuses that would be placed in a corner of my room never to be opened again. I felt myself developing a growing dread of not finding a job that I would actually like to do, and which would fit my interests. The reality, in fact, was that I just didn’t know what was out there, as all I had seen was a very select few businesses coming to my school or University, which in reality gave me little knowledge of the true scope of the job world and all the opportunities out there for me.

Now, at twenty years of age, I have only just started to get a grasp on what I would be interested in doing as a career. With the help of Liketobe, I was able to get in direct contact with CEO’S of companies like Lidl and Network Rail. This enabled me to directly ask professionals about potential graduate roles and career options within these huge and often daunting organisations. I was really impressed by the speed of the responses and how informative and useful they were, as they explained potential avenues for me to go down and how I could kickstart my career and work my way up into higher roles at the companies. From CEO’S of global companies to marine biologists, Liketobe showcases a huge variety of jobs and individuals who are open and ready to answer any questions posed by students wishing to make a positive start in the working world.

By putting employers in direct contact with school leavers, Liketobe is an important tool in a world where, for young people like myself, it is increasingly difficult to gain a real understanding of how to break into employment when such an overwhelming amount of job roles are available. With Liketobe, there are day in the life accounts as well as regular updates on what is happening at companies of potential interest to me. This makes it clearer to see what exactly a role at that company entails and whether it is something I would be interested in doing. 
Alongside this, Liketobe teaches students like myself the importance of having extra-curricular activities and a unique selling point that will stand out to employers. Instead of focussing purely on grades, the site encourages you to make posts about your interests and aptitudes as well as transferrable skills, which is hugely important in the current job climate for our generation.