CAREER PLANNING FOR YOUR SECOND YEAR

Jenny KeaveneyCareers Advisory Service

16th June 2011

Onwards and upwards – and then?

WHAT THIS TALK WILL COVER

• 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 2013 graduate recruitment - in a recent survey, 30% of vacancies with major graduate recruiters in 2011 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 opento graduates in any subject

• Advertising• Armed Forces• Arts administration• Broadcasting• Computing/IT• Finance• Guidance/Counselling• Heritage Work• Information Management • Journalism• Law• Management Consultancy

• 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– your subject– your skills– your interests– your strengths and

weaknesses– your personal circumstances– your likes and dislikes

Help with self-assessment and career choice

• Employability Skills leaflet• Skills section of our website -

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsmenu.htm• Choosing a Career booklet and web pages

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm

• 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

• Vacation experience and internships

• Part-time work during term-time• Volunteering• Work-shadowing• Extra-curricular activities

SOME GRADUATE EMPLOYERS OFFERING SUMMER

INTERNSHIPS

• Akzo Nobel 31 Jan • Punter Southall 01 Mar• Credit Suisse 05 Feb• Bank of England 15 Nov• IAESTE 10 Dec• John Lewis 26 Nov

(these were the closing dates for summer 2011 internships)

SOME MORE GRADUATE EMPLOYERS

OFFERING SUMMER INTERNSHIPS• Chartered accountancy firms

• Retailers • Software houses• Government departments• Law firms• Holiday camps/summer schools

• Small businesses www.step.org.uk

See “Employers offering career-related placements” at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/vacwork.htm

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.orsoc.org.uk

• Shell “Gourami” Business Challenge www.shell.com/home/content/careers/student_graduate/

• “Careers In” events (London University) – include Arts Administration, International Development, Media, Medicine www.careers.lon.ac.uk

• Target Chances events – law, finance, etchttp://target-events.co.uk

• Business games, competitions etc http://kentroundone.co.uk/competitions/

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– 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)

WHAT NOW?

1) Think about yourself, what you want from a career and which careers might offer this, using:

– 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 Advisory Service website www.kent.ac.uk/careers– including:– Timeline: when to do what:

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/timeline.htm– Work Experience– www.kent.ac.uk/careers/vacwork.htm – 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 Advisory 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 Advisory Service or on the web

THE CAREERS ADVISORY SERVICE …

• .. 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