Student Testimonials

Undergraduate working in the Bright Futures National Team
"During my final year at university I worked at Bright Futures and through this role decided to also became a committee member for the Bright Futures Society at my University. Working with Bright Futures is the best thing I did, I have had the chance to work in a fun and fast paced commercial setting whilst developing my employbility skills and have learnt so much. The team have been a huge support whilst completing my degree and have taken the time to develop my skills, because of this I have successfully secured a graduate job. A big thank you to everyone at Bright Futures."

Bright Futures Incoming President, Loughborough
"I just wanted to say a (very belated) big thank you for putting on such a brilliant conference & Awards event. As I am relatively new to the Bright Futures scene it was a fantastic opportunity to find out more about the great work I can get involved in. It was lovely to meet students from a variety of Universities and see the different ways they approach each aspect of hosting events and running societies and how successful we can be.

I really do look forward to helping in the last weeks this term and in the next academic year".

Bright Futures Member, Kings College London,
"I wanted inform you that my job interview with the FSA went very well and I have just been offered the position as a summer associate. I really would like to thank you for your help and tips which proved extremely useful in the preparation for the interview (to be honest, before your presentation at Kings really had no idea what to expect from a Competency based interview and without being rightly prepared it would have probably been a disaster)!"

Gareth Hall, Bright Future President, Reading
"As President, I have been able to improve my communication and leadership skills, which have allowed me to network more effectively between diverse groups of individuals and organisations. Moreover, this society has given me the opportunity to put theories learnt from my course into practice in the business and working environment."


Bright Futures member, Cambridge
 “I've attended many presentations that provided for the largest recruiters, but none of them told me how I can prove my capability. Only your presentation taught me how I can stand out. I found it very useful. With your advice, I feel more confident about my application.” 


Hollie, St Andrews Finalist
 “Like many people I started my final year of university in a slight panic about what I wanted to do with my life!  As a student of Art History and French, with plenty of experience in a variety of jobs and student societies, the options were overwhelming, but I was determined that my perfect future career was out there: I just hadn’t stumbled across it yet. 
That autumn I decided to go to as many careers events as possible, including a mock assessment centre run by Bright Futures and Accenture. With no prior experience in business, I wasn’t really sure what to expect and thrust into a negotiation exercise with what seemed like a room full of management students I didn’t feel particularly confident!  Despite this I received some really positive feedback and I realised that employers were not interested in the result of the exercise but in how you interact with people.
My confidence bolstered and I decided to apply for Accenture’s management consultancy programme.  Going to the real-life assessment centre was a far less nerve-racking experience having been to the Bright Futures event, and I was privileged to receive an offer to start in July 2011.
The Bright Futures event really improved my self-confidence and made me realise that despite coming from an unrelated degree discipline, I could compete just as well in the graduate job market.”

Kalliste Oh, Bright Futures President, Edinburgh
 “The RBS President's Training Day was a great opportunity for me to meet other presidents and committee members, and provided an excellent setting for the sharing of ideas and experiences as well as the chance to forge friendships with other societies.”

Jackie, Bright Futures Corporate Liaison Officer, Swansea
Bright Futures, for me, filled that huge and vast gap that linked me to employers and my dream career. Having studied Zoology at university, and come to the realisation that a degree might not get me the future I wanted (not that I knew what that was yet), I decided that I must do everything I can to stand out. I made the very most of my time at university, taking up new sports, becoming President of the Dance Society, setting up my own community project, working for the Students Union, the Athletic Union, the University itself in a multitude of different avenues as well as raising thousands of pounds for charity. Not to mention taking up a part time HNC in Business Studies on top of my degree in attempt to broaden my academic knowledge.

But despite being crazy enough to take on all these activities, there was something significantly missing. I still had no idea what opportunities I would be capable of doing in the real world, I didn’t know which companies would take someone with a Zoology degree, and I had no idea who the likes of KPMG, Deloitte and Accenture were never mind what the difference was between them, or what on earth ‘SME’ stood for!

I desperately needed to find out how to actually secure a real job, what I was even interested in doing and who in fact would take on someone like me. That’s when I received an email about becoming part of the new Bright Futures Committee and establishing the society at Swansea University. I was about to go into my final year. I needed to pick up my game on the degree front (ultimately what I was there for) so taking on a big role in another society was a risk, but I knew I had to do it.

The society opened my eyes to all these things and more, giving me the confidence to network and present to large groups of people and be secure in the knowledge that I had the capacity to secure a great graduate job, not to mention my ability to thrive under pressure!

Bright Futures also highlighted my inherent desire to help other people identify their true talents and progress in their lives and their future; this is why I continued to support Bright Futures both nationally and locally after I graduated. I wanted to know more and help others in the same position. I soon proved my dedication and developed a greater relationship with the national team. Soon enough I was offered the role of Regional Manager, directly supporting all societies in the South of the UK.

Not only did it open my eyes to the vast amount of opportunities out there and the skills required to get them, it gave me my first graduate job. A job that enables me to help hundreds of students in my committees alone to stand out in the competitive job market, a job that allows me to continuously develop as an individual and make a real difference to the way the company works, a job where I get to meet so many different people from very different backgrounds, a job that I am inspired by and love to do on a daily basis.

Deepika, Bright futures President, Lancaster
 “Yesterday was definitely an unforgettable and valuable experience and I know for a fact, this is the first of many, many, many wonderful experiences to come!!”

President of UCL
"I have been part of it from yr 1 when it was quite small but I wanted to find out what it was all about and then I discovered I wanted to make a difference." 

Martina, Bright Futures President, Edinburgh
I’ve always wanted to do banking for my career, not that I knew why, but I knew that my parents wanted me to be a banker. No matter how many times I have read the FT from cover to cover, my interviewers always managed to sense that I was not cut out for banking, although I obviously thought that I had all the right skills.

Then one day I accidently came to Accenture’s workshop with Edinburgh Bright Futures in hope to “learn what employers are looking for”, as advertised on the society’s Facebook page, and…… I fell in love with Accenture; its brand; its nature of business; those lovely brochures; the people who represented it. I stayed for the networking drinks after the workshop, got those invaluable business cards and attempted to secure at least some work experience with Accenture, but I was told I would have to wait until my penultimate year to apply.

In the meantime, I got more involved with Edinburgh Bright Futures and was elected to be the President for 2009/10 academic year. So next time I spoke to Accenture’s Graduate Recruitment team was when we were negotiating sponsorship for the society. Again, I was very impressed with how friendly everyone was, so I could not wait till I could finally apply for Summer Vacation Scheme.

This was the first application form which did not scare me as, having been to Accenture’s workshops with Edinburgh Bright Futures, I knew exactly what to write. Later, when I was invited to the first-round interview, the contacts which I made through Edinburgh Bright Futures were very useful and helped me to prepare and to get to the assessment centre. This time round I actually had the answers for all competency questions they asked. Being on the committee of Edinburgh Bright Futures gave me so many stories to tell and how to impress, whereas the Edinburgh Bright Futures workshops taught me how to make a successful application.

It also made me feel more confident and less afraid of my interviewers, some of who I’d met previously in an informal setting. Nevertheless, I personally thought that the assessment centre was a total disaster and therefore I was very surprised to hear that I got the job – clearly Edinburgh Bright Futures has so far ensured a very bright future for me, and thus, I encourage everyone to get involved with their local Bright Futures Society as it has the power to make your dreams come true.