April 30, 2024, by brzms6

Where’s the time gone? I’m graduating this summer

Catherine Sibley, Careers Adviser, Careers and Employability Service

It seems like many of your friends are sorted with what to do next and have plans to start a job or maybe go travelling.  Is this really true?  It’s what psychologists call ‘inattentional blindness’ in that you’re focussing on those friends when the vast majority of students we talk to either haven’t a clue or aren’t sure how to carry out their next steps.

You’ve both worked hard and had a good time while at university with the time going so fast that you can’t believe you’ll be graduating this summer.  There are things you can do, either now or when you’ve finished your final coursework and exams to get started on your next chapter in terms of careers.  

When you’re ready, get started by:

• Focussing on the positive.  All students have gained transferable skills from at least one of these activities – their university course, part-time or holiday jobs, volunteering, extracurricular activities or interests and travel experiences.
• Having a chat with us about these transferable skills which will help you to think about what future opportunities could suit you, build a great CV or articulate your skills to employers during a recruitment process.
• Realising that building skills and using your strengths are a life-long process and it’snever too late!  Even if you don’t get your ‘ideal’ job straightaway, whatever you do is still building up skills you can take onwards and people are often able to mould a job to fit the experience they want to build.  
• Considering opportunities in volunteering  It can be challenging to obtain work experience and internships in career areas such as journalism, the civil service and social work (and many more!) but one way to be able to obtain this is through volunteering, which can often fit in with a paid job.
• Accessing all of the jobs we have on MyCareer – click on the Jobs & Placements option.  
• Booking an appointment to talk about your situation with a friendly Careers Adviser.

Remember, we’re around over the summer and once you’ve graduated you can still always access our appointments to talk with a Careers Adviser.  Book an appointment on MyCareer.

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