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CAREER PLANNING FOR YOUR
SECOND YEAR
Onwards and upwards – and then?
Jenny Keaveney
Careers and
Employability Service
12th June 2012
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm
WHAT THIS TALK WILL COVER
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Why start planning now?
Choosing a career
Gaining experience
Finding out more
WHY START PLANNING NOW?
• Choosing the right career takes time and thought
• As you progress into Stage 2, your academic
workload will increase!
• Many popular graduate recruiters have early
deadlines for graduate jobs and undergraduate
internships
• Internships will be more important than ever in 2014
graduate recruitment - in a recent survey, 30% of vacancies
with major graduate recruiters last year were expected to be filled by
undergraduates who had had previous work experience with these
organisations, such as internships, placements or vacation schemes
WHY START PLANNING NOW?
“Students in their first or second year
at university need to ask themselves
what job they want to do. It’s
important that they do not wait until
their final year to think about finding a
job, especially in the current market”.
Sarah Shillingford, Graduate Recruitment Partner,
Deloitte
Just some of the options open
to graduates in any subject
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Advertising
Armed Forces
Arts administration
Broadcasting
Computing/IT
Finance
Guidance/Counselling
Heritage Work
Information Management
Journalism
Law
Management Consultancy
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Personnel
Police
Public Sector Management
Public Relations
Publishing
Purchasing
Retail
Sales & Marketing
Social Work
Teaching English as a
Foreign Language
• Teaching in Schools
• Transport and Tourism
So where do you start?
Think about yourself
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your
your
your
your
your
your
subject
skills
interests
strengths and weaknesses
personal circumstances
likes and dislikes
Help with self-assessment
and career choice
• Career Management Skills booklet
• Skills section of our website www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsmenu.htm
• Choosing a Career booklet and web pages
www.kent.ac.uk/ces/which-career.html
• Prospects Planner careers guidance program
www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Pplanner
GAINING EXPERIENCE
• You can’t learn everything about careers and
employers from books and websites
• Work experience can help you gain an insight
and decide whether a particular career area
is right for you
• If it is, the experience will be especially
valuable for your future CV …
• … but no experience is ever a waste of time
• You are already building up experience!
GAINING EXPERIENCE
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Vacation experience and internships
Part-time work during term-time
Volunteering
Work-shadowing
Extra-curricular activities
SOME GRADUATE EMPLOYERS
OFFERING SUMMER INTERNSHIPS
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SEO London
John Lewis
Morgan Stanley
IAESTE
Tata Steel
ATOS Origin
GSK
30
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22
Oct
Nov
Jan
Jan
Jan
Feb
Feb
(these were the closing dates for summer 2012 internships)
SOME MORE GRADUATE EMPLOYERS
OFFERING SUMMER INTERNSHIPS
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Chartered accountancy firms
Retailers
Software houses
Government departments
Law firms
Holiday camps/summer schools
• Small businesses www.step.org.uk
(for science/IT students)
See “Employers offering internships” at
www.kent.ac.uk/ces/work-experience.html
NOT ALL WORK
EXPERIENCE IS ADVERTISED …
You may need to make the first
approach, especially for jobs in the
media, advertising, public relations,
stockbrokers and other popular career
areas.
See our booklet, “The Creative Career
Search” for help with this
NOT ALL EXPERIENCE IS WORK …
It also includes courses and events such as:
• Operational Research Careers Day (Nov)
www.theorsociety.com/Pages/Conferences/CareersOpenDay.aspx
• Shell “Gourami” Business Challenge
http://bit.ly/LtZEdx
• “Careers In” events (London University) – include
Arts Administration, International Development, Media,
Medicine http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page114.asp
• Target Chances events – law, finance, IT, etc
http://target-events.co.uk
• Business games, competitions etc
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/index.htm#NEWSLETTERS/
NOT ALL EXPERIENCE IS WORK
- some of it can be fun!
And any other activities you get involved in:
• Sports
• Societies
• Kent Union
“Join three societies and become actively involved
in at least one”
Alan Richardson, Graduate Recruitment, Royal Bank
of Scotland Group
“WORK EXPERIENCE” ALSO INCLUDES
• Volunteering
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teaching
social care
media
development
• Work shadowing
• And all those part-time or casual jobs
you do just to bring in some money
WHY?
“The more you enjoy university life, the more you’ll
get out of it. Employers like you to have what they
call “customer-facing experience”. You’ll get loads
of that if you take a part-time job or work as a
student volunteer. It’s a terrific help if you can
understand how businesses work, show you can get
things done and apply simple common sense. It was
my work experience that gave me all these things,
not my academic course”
Kate, marketing officer with a PR agency
WHY?
“If you’ve spent time at university finding out
what you enjoy and what you are good at
(or the opposite!) it will help you to develop an
idea of what you’re aiming for when you leave.
Even if the picture of your ideal job is still hazy,
you’ll know enough to avoid drifting into one
that’s completely wrong for you”
(Association of Graduate Recruiters)
OTHER WAYS TO HELP YOUR CAREER
• The Careers Employability Award
• Employability Points Scheme
THE CAREERS EMPLOYABILITY AWARD
can help you to:
• Identify your employability skills: learning how to
develop these and to “sell” these to employers.
• Identify your interests, values and personal styles
and find out which careers these may relate to.
• Research a particular career or industry
• Prepare a quality CV and learn how to perform well
at interview
• Practise the type of skills-based questions used by
many employers on application forms for graduate
jobs and internships
THE CAREERS EMPLOYABILITY AWARD
How it works:
• Register at https://moodle.kent.ac.uk/moodle
• Complete the quizzes, three assignments (including
submission of a CV for critique) and a feedback form
• Get feedback online and collect 40 Employability
Points
• Available off-campus: you can start on the award
straight away (but we won’t be able to mark your
assignments to allow you to complete the award until
next term)
EMPLOYABILITY POINTS
• The Employability Points scheme rewards students
at the University of Kent for active engagement in
extracurricular activities such as:
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Active involvement in societies
Completion of a World language module
Tour Guide for prospective International students
Course, School or Faculty rep
Attending CES events and skills training sessions
www.kent.ac.uk/employabilitypoints
WHAT NOW?
1) Think about yourself, what you want
from a career and which careers
might offer this, using:
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Prospects Planner
www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Pplanner
Choosing a Career booklet or website
www.kent.ac.uk/careersChoosing/ChoosingCareer.htm
WHAT NOW?
2) Research careers and employers
- who offers the jobs you are looking for?
- what are they looking for?
- how and when do they recruit?
- what relevant work experience can you
get with them?
How to get to the top of the pile in a very
competitive market place? Do your homework.
Research, Research, Research. (Carl Gilleard, Association of Graduate Recruiters)
WHAT NOW?
3) Start to plan ahead for next term
- deadlines for vac work/internships
- getting involved in activities
- part-time work
- starting to note your skills and
interests
USEFUL INFORMATION SOURCES
• Careers and Employability Service website
www.kent.ac.uk/ces
– including:
– Timeline: when to do what:
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/timeline.htm
– Work Experience
– www.kent.ac.uk/ces/work-experience.html
– Employability skills – what do employers want?
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsmenu.htm
– I Want to Work In – brief introductions to 100
different career areas
www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htm
USEFUL INFORMATION SOURCES
• Careers and Employability Service booklets
on Choosing a Career; the Creative Career Search;
Applications and Interviews
• Prospects.ac.uk -sections on special interests
(including Working Abroad) and detailed
descriptions of a wide range of jobs
• TARGET series – Law; City & Finance; IT; etc
http://targetjobs.co.uk/
All available in Careers and Employability Service or on the web
THE Careers and Employability
Service …
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.. is open throughout the vacation
Careers Information Room
Careers Advisers – book an appointment or just drop in
Networked PCs and IT resources
Open 9-5, Monday-Friday
or email us:
– careerhelp@kent.ac.uk
• or phone 01227 823480/1