Keen to hear people's different experiences so future society committee members and career advisers can improve their offerings.I am in my final year at Bristol. I don't want to slander the name because they have some great opporunities, but frankly, neither societies nor the careers service have helped me get to the point in my career I am at today. It has been a lonely climb. While I have seen a significant improvement in the societies providing CV, cover letter, networking opportunities and interview help during my time here, the university needs to work on informing students that they can take advantage of these things in the first place. It’s the keen ones who already have experience that use these things the most, yet are the ones who need it the least.Finance societies attract two types of people: those with more knowledge, who have an expectation that new members will be as well versed in the field as they are, and those who are new and want to learn. This can lead to the former being dismissive or arrogant to those who they should helping. Then the latter group can get intimidated and subsequently drop out. Women unfortunately seem to make up the majority of this group, and that is perpetuating the fact that societies are 90% male dominated. My friends find it funny that I attend their events, asking me why I want to spend my free time putting up with “all the tory men” (this is not necessarily the case, but I can see why societies are being stereotyped like this by outsiders, when what might spring to mind for them is suits and money). It’s not a very motivational environment to be caught in the crossfire between people with no interest in finance, and people with too much interest in the material/power-hungry aspect of finance. The societies can be fun to get involved in and I still attend their socials, but socials are not for the sake of my career. Perhaps I will see benefits being reaped 5 years from now when I reach out to the network I have built with them, but that is besides the point of answering the title of this thread.The careers service seems great for students looking to go down some routes, particularly in the arts and start-ups, but while they have made a wonderful effort within the finance space, they aren't up to speed. I was lucky enough to get hooked up with an investment banking mentor via them in December of my second year, but by this point, I was at the tail end of applying to summer internships and so there was only so much he could help me. Had this scheme been run in first year, it could have been much more beneficial to me. One thing they are very good at is seeking feedback. They run copious amounts of focus groups, one of which I went to tell them why this should run earlier on - I just hope that my feedback is used!Besides access, I think the main issue lies with not letting people know as soon as they come to university what is out there for them: I literally did not know what a spring week was until my dad said I might want to apply to one. What about my peers who don’t have this figure in their lives? I am a campus ambassador for a recruiting firm, and it is saddening to have people approach me at the end of application cycles asking if I can help them out, because by no fault of their own, they realised they had to apply to things a month too late.I hope some of us can be the change!Has anyone had similar or completely different experiences at their university?