Peter Symonds College
Bel Pertwee
Careers Advisor & SUN Progression Mentor at Peter Symonds College
What is your role at the college & how can you support the students?
I work in the Careers Department as part of a team of 9 people. We have 5 Careers Advisers (including myself), 2 Careers Assistants and 2 Work Experience co-ordinator’s. As Careers Advisers we all support different groups in the college and my role is to support the SUN students and those on free college meals. We see students for 1-1 appointments throughout the week and offer a series of activities throughout the year including a Careers Day (150 talks from 100 different speakers), our Progression Fair – over 80 stalls from universities, apprenticeship providers and other support agencies held in our Sports Hall. My aim is to support young people with their future planning, hopefully helping them to achieve their dream.
What has been your career journey & what did you study?
If I am honest I only applied to university because I wasn’t sure what else to do, and my A Levels were better than expected, so I applied because my friend was going and I decided to go to the same university that she was going to – very unimaginative and no research! I only visited it just before I went there because I had to go for an interview. I read Philosophy and Theology at university. Happily that university was Exeter and I had an incredible time there, happy memories and great friends. My career journey after that falls into three separate parts. After leaving Exeter, I worked in HR in the City of London for nearly 10 years. I spent two nights a week for two years at Thames Valley University completing my Career development Institute exams. After a career break to have my three children I went back to work in a school as a pastoral tutor. I moved from the school to Sparsholt College in 2013 and whilst there I did my Masters in Careers Advice and Guidance L6 through the open university. 8 years ago once qualified, I moved to Peter Symonds as a Careers Adviser. My advice would be don’t look too far into the future, focus on the next 2-5 years and just make sure you are doing something you love and enjoy!
What is a fun fact about you?
I love yoga and am currently being taught by a student who left Peter Symonds in 2019 and has recently finished her masters in Sport Science and Nutrition. She is training to be a yoga teacher alongside her work in nutrition so its amazing to see how she has progressed with her career since leaving college.
