CAREER PLANNING GUIDE FOR NEW GRADUATES · 2016-03-21 · CAREER PLANNING GUIDE FOR NEW GRADUATES Careers help and support after you graduate. CONTENTS ... Employability skills 12

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CAREER PLANNING GUIDEFOR NEW GRADUATES

Careers help and support after you graduate

CONTENTS

www.kent.ac.uk/ces

Introduction 1

Your options 3

Making career choices 5

Employment 6What is a “graduate job”? 6Graduate training schemes 6Other graduate opportunities 7Graduate internships 7

Finding a job 9Employers and vacancies 9Graduate recruitment fairs 10Recruitment agencies 10Networking 11

Employability skills 12

Making applications 16

Interviews 17

Further study 18

Time out 19Working abroad 19Volunteering abroad 20

Careers support after you graduate 21

Congratulations onsuccessfully graduatingfrom the University ofKent!

If you have a job or a postgraduatecourse fixed up already, even morecongratulations – you can probablystop reading now!

If you don’t yet have anythingarranged, and maybe aren’t evensure what you want to do after yougraduate, don’t worry – you are notalone and this booklet has beenwritten to help you.

Don’t let the gloomy media reportsabout the difficulties facing newgraduates discourage you and don’tuse them as an excuse to do nothingabout your career. In recent years

INTRODUCTION

everything else that you have to offeron top of your academicqualifications (including yourenthusiasm and motivation) that willdo this.

The rest of this booklet looks at themain options for new graduates:employment (permanent ortemporary); further study and timeout. It also refers you to resources,from the Careers and EmployabilityService and elsewhere, that willhelp you in your career planningand job search.

With best wishes for the future fromall the University of Kent Careersand Employability Advisers

Kent graduates have had a lowerlevel of unemployment than thefigures for UK universities as awhole. While the graduate jobmarket continues to be highlycompetitive, many employers tell usthat they are receiving far fewerapplications than they expected!Not only that, but even employersthat do receive high numbers ofapplications still have difficultyfinding graduates with the right skills.

You can improve your chances offinding the job that you want byenhancing your range of skills,researching your career options andnetworking to develop yourknowledge of career areas andopportunities. Your degree alone willnot be enough to help you stand outfrom all the other graduates: it is

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YOUR OPTIONS

Whether you plan to get ajob as soon as yougraduate, continuestudying or to take sometime out, there are manyoptions open to you andmany decisions to bemade. Whatever yourplans are, you are notalone as this survey of lastyear’s graduates shows:

Whether or not you have definiteplans, in the present climate, it isimportant for graduates to beflexible, to consider all theopportunities available and to havea back-up plan (maybe more thanone). Your first step aftergraduating, whatever it is, will onlybe the starting point for your long-term career.

Pages 6-7 look at the various typesof employment open to graduates inmore detail: for information onpostgraduate study see page 18and for time out, page 19. First,though, you may need some helpwith making decisions about whichpath to follow.

Finalists’ plans after leaving University

Source: High Fliers Research, 2015

No definite plans (9%)

Expecting to start a graduate job (26%)

Expecting to be looking for a graduate job (16%)

Expecting to take other work (7%)

Intending to go on to postgraduate study (25%)

Taking time out/travelling (13%)

Planning to run own business (4%)


5

MAKING CAREER CHOICES

There are two key steps tomaking career decisions:thinking about yourselfand investigating thecareer opportunities opento you.

Thinking about yourselfStart by thinking about two keyquestions:• What do I want from a career?(what would give me jobsatisfaction?)

• What do I have to offeremployers? (what am I good at?)

Our Choosing a Career booklet canhelp you to analyse your interests,values, personal style and skills.www.kent.ac.uk/ces/files/Choosing_a_Career2014.pdf

Personality questionnairesUnderstanding your personality, andits effect on your behaviour andinterests, can help in choosing acareer. The Myers Briggs TypeIndicator (MBTI) is an assessmenttool that is widely used in personaldevelopment and career planning.

The MBTI looks at your preferredways of interacting with others,taking in information, makingdecisions and working. A self-assessment exercise based on theMBTI is available online atwww.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp. While this site doeshave a section relating personalitytypes to careers, there is a bettercareers guide atwww.personalitypage.com/careers.html

Prospects Career Plannerwww.prospects.ac.uk/planner is apowerful program to help youchoose a career by helping you toidentify your skills, motivations andinterests. Based on your answers tothe questions asked you will get alist of occupations that are goodmatches with your profile and anexplanation of the reasons why.You can then find out more aboutthese occupations including jobdescriptions, work conditions,entry requirements, training andcase studies.

Investigating youropportunities• Our “What can I do with mydegree?” pages atwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/degree/index.html will give ideasfor careers where you may beable to use your degree directly,or where employers areparticularly interested ingraduates in your subject. Youwill also find information aboutcareers entered by past Kentgraduates in your subject.

• Prospects www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/what-can-i-do-with-my-degree also offers arange of ideas on how to use yourdegree. Don’t forget, though, thatmany careers will be open tograduates in any degree subject,so your opportunities are verywide-ranging.

• “I want to work in ….”www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htmThese pages give shortintroductions to over 100 populargraduate career areas, with linksto sources of further information.

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6

What is a “graduate job”?Most graduates will be aiming ata ‘graduate job’ – but what exactlyis it?

• You may be thinking of a‘graduate training scheme’;

• You may want to enter a‘traditional’ profession, such asteaching or law;

• You may want a job where youcan make use of your degreesubject directly;

• You may just want a job thatrequires a degree for entry andrecognises the effort that youhave put into achieving one overthe last three or four years!

All of the above count as ‘graduatejobs’ – but so do many others. Whilea ‘graduate job’ is generally thoughtof as one where a degree is one ofthe essential selection criteria, thiscovers a very broad range ofoccupations. Graduates work in allkinds of roles, especially at the startof their career, and some verypopular career areas, such as themedia, have traditionally requiredgraduates to be prepared to ‘start atthe bottom’ to build up experienceand contacts.

Today’s graduate job market is morediverse and competitive than everbefore. The first job that you enterupon graduation may therefore bea useful stepping stone, or anopportunity to gain key transferableskills for your next job, rather thana permanent position.

Graduate trainingschemesGraduate training schemes aretypically offered by larger employersin business, finance, IT, law,technology, engineering and thepublic sector. They are alsoavailable, although in much smallernumbers, in areas such aspublishing, public relations andadvertising.

In most cases, graduates arerecruited into a specific role, suchas finance, marketing, humanresources or IT, although someemployers recruit graduates onto a‘rotational’ management trainingprogramme. These comprise aseries of short placements (usuallyfour to six months) in differentdepartments or job functions. At theend of the programme, graduatescan choose where they want tospecialise.

Although many employers recruitgraduates in any degree subject,and will provide whatever training isnecessary, graduates are recruitedto do a real job and are expected tobe able to take on responsibilityquickly. As well as on-the-jobtraining, the employer will usuallysupport graduates to study forrelevant professional qualifications.

These schemes are popular withgraduates because they generallyoffer a structured training anddevelopment programme with arespected employer, a competitivesalary and good longer-term careeropportunities. They also have a highprofile, being widely advertised ongraduate jobs boards anddirectories and actively promotedthrough recruitment fairs andcampus presentations. However,only a minority of graduates actuallystart their career on one of thesestructured training schemes – moregraduates will start their career in a‘one-off’ job that is not part of alarge-scale training programme.

While many employers advertisetheir graduate training schemes atthe start of the academic year, andmay have closing dates inDecember or January, others recruiton a year-round basis. Someemployers will only start to recruitgraduates at the end of the summerterm, when they know that potentialcandidates are now going to befocused on job-seeking rather thanstudy. Recent graduates are stilleligible to apply for graduateschemes commencing a year or twoafter they graduate and are oftenpositively encouraged to do so. Ifyou have taken a year out to travel orto gain further work experience,even where this has no connectionwith your future career, you will oftenfind it easier to demonstrate theskills and motivation that employerswant from graduates.

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EMPLOYMENT

7

Other graduateopportunitiesThe majority of graduates will findtheir first role outside a formal‘graduate training scheme’. Theseother opportunities may include:• Opportunities with small andmedium-sized employers (SMEs)

• ‘One-off’ jobs with largerorganisations, where candidateswith a degree are required, orpreferred, for this specific role

• Specialist positions such aseconomist, psychologist orresearch scientist

These posts may arise at any timeof the year and may combine twoor more of the above types ofopportunity.

There are many benefits for agraduate working for an SME.Smaller organisations offer variety,early responsibility and theopportunity to work on your owninitiative: you are also likely to workmore closely with a wide range ofemployees, which gives you a widerexposure to other job roles, includingsenior management. All this providesan increased insight into how thebusiness is run overall and gives youa better view of the organisation as awhole. In a smaller business you arean individual rather than one ofdozens – even hundreds – ofgraduates on a managementscheme, so if you perform well you

will be noticed: a survey by theAssociation of Graduate Recruitersfound that graduates not on trainingschemes were developing faster,being assigned more responsibilityand achieving earlier promotion tojunior management level than thosewho were!

Temporary jobs andinternshipsMany graduates take a job that theysee as temporary for variousreasons:• to try out a career area beforemaking a decision;

• to gain experience that will helpyou into a permanent job or apostgraduate course (such associal work or librarianship) thatrequires relevant practicalexperience;

• to earn money to fund travel orfurther study – or just to live on!

These jobs may be temporary in thesense that they are fixed-termcontracts but, in many cases, theyare only temporary in the eyes ofthe graduate who is doing the job! There is a great variety of‘temporary jobs’, from those thatrequire the same level of skills andqualifications as permanentgraduate jobs to the same type of‘casual’ work that most students doas part-time or vacation work. All ofthese can help you to build up theskills that employers look for ingraduates (see page 12).

Many employers are now offeringgraduate internships. Internshipsare short-term, career-related postswhich typically last around three tosix months. All kinds of employersoffer internships, from largecompanies to small businesses andfrom government departments tocharities. They offer a good way togain initial experience or to try out acareer area that interests you, butthere are many issues surroundingpayment for these internships.

While many internships are paid atleast at the national minimum wagerate, a number of employers offerunpaid internships. Although someof these, such as volunteer postswith charities, are exempt fromminimum wage legislation, manyare in effect illegal. There isincreasing concern that manyorganisations are breaking the lawand exploiting individual graduatesthrough unpaid internships. Anotherissue is that, since the majority ofgraduates who can afford to takeup unpaid internships are fromwealthier backgrounds, theseinternships contribute towardsrestricted social mobility.

Sites such as Intern Awarewww.internaware.org and Rights forInterns www.rightsforinterns.org.ukprovide further information as towhich internships can lawfully beoffered on an unpaid basis.

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CONTINUED OVERLEAF

8

EMPLOYMENTCONT

Completing an internship with anyorganisation does not guaranteeyou a permanent job there(although some interns do get takenon at the end of their internship)but will give you invaluableexperience for your CV.

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships(KTPs) are longer-term, but stilltemporary, positions. A KTP is athree-way partnership between agraduate, an employer and aneducational institution, lasting up tothree years. The graduate works ona project for their employer whilereceiving further training anddevelopment, often leading to apostgraduate degree. KTP hasworked with over 3,000organisations from micro-sized tolarge businesses and any degreesubject is considered. For fullinformation, and current KTPvacancies, seehttp://ktp.innovateuk.org

If you are looking for temporarywork, for whatever reason, don’t justrestrict yourself to jobs that areadvertised on a fixed-term contractas this will limit your opportunities.Most employers will not require morethan one month’s notice and, if youhave worked for them for six monthsto a year, this is unlikely to be viewedby other employers as ‘job-hopping’.You may even find that a job whichyou see as temporary when you takeit up can offer a level of interest andcareer development opportunitiesthat will make you want to stay with it!

Useful resources forfinding internships:The Graduate Talent Poolhttp://graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk

This is a partnership betweenGovernment and employers,designed to help new and recentgraduates gain real work experiencethrough internships in business,

finance, the media, charities, thepublic sector, IT, manufacturing andmany other sectors. Almost two-thirds of internships advertised arepaid positions: the majority of theother posts will cover expenses.

Graduate STEP www.step.org.uk – 2-3 monthinternships offering meaningful,paid work for recent graduates.

Inspiring Internswww.inspiringinterns.com – graduateinternships, jobs and workplacements, mostly based in andaround London.

Intern Avenuewww.internavenue.com – has apolicy of listing only paid internshipsthat offer at least the NationalMinimum Wage.

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9

FINDING A JOB

Employers and vacanciesThe CES vacancy database andother national careers sites are goodsources of vacancies targeted onnew or recent graduates. Most ofthem have a free vacancy alertservice for registered users.

The Careers and EmployabilityService vacancy database• www.kent.ac.uk/ces/vacancies.html

This lists all vacancies for graduatessent to us directly by recruiters,including voluntary work, internshipsand gap year opportunities. Thesevacancies are with a variety ofemployers, small and large: some ofthem are based in Kent but most arewith employers throughout the UK –and also abroad. You can also keepup to date with the latest vacanciesthrough our RSS vacancy feed onTwitter www.twitter.com/unikentces

National vacancy databasesand resourcesThese chiefly focus on largecorporate and public sectorrecruiters, both in the UK andinternationally.

• Prospectswww.prospects.ac.uk/graduate-jobs

• TARGET Jobshttp://targetjobs.co.uk

• Milkround www.milkround.co.uk• Grad Jobs www.gradjobs.co.uk• Give a Grad a Gowww.giveagradago.com

Other resourcesIf you are interested in working locally(where there are few large recruiters),working in media or the arts, orworking for a smaller employer, thefollowing may help you:• Job Profiles atwww.prospects.ac.uk/job-profiles.These cover many different typesof jobs, in all fields of work, andinclude vacancy sources

• “I want to work in …”www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htm Brief introductions to over 100popular career areas, with usefullinks

• Working in Kentwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/kentopps.htm

• Working in Small Businesseswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/sme.htm

• Creative Job Huntingwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/creativejobhunt.html

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10

FINDING A JOBCONT

Graduate Careers FairsThese fairs give recent graduates,as well as current students, thechance to meet graduate recruitersand get information from them abouttheir career opportunities andgraduate recruitment processes.They may be run by universitycareers services (some of thesemay restrict attendance to their ownstudents and graduates) or bycommercial exhibition organisers.They are held throughout the yearand throughout the UK, but summerand autumn are the most populartimes.

These events are always very busyand you need to prepare for them inadvance by:• Researching the employers whowill be there, the positions theyare recruiting for and what theylook for in graduates;

• Thinking of questions that youcan ask these employers;

• Preparing a CV that you canleave with the employers youhave spoken to.

Most of the organisations attendingthese fairs will be the largecorporate employers offeringgraduate training schemes (seepage 6). The fairs are not goodhunting-grounds for graduatesaiming at careers in the media, orother specialised sectors, or SMEs –see page 11 for advice on targetingthese recruiters through networking.

The nearest summer fairs to Kentare those held in London, including:

The Summer Graduate Fair15 June 2016, Olympia Central,London W14www.summergradfair.co.uk

London Graduate FairThe Careers Group andTARGETJobs22 June 2016, Senate House,Malet Street, London WC1www.londongradfair.co.uk/summer

Our own careers fair will be held on1 November 2016 at the Canterburycampus and recent Kent graduatesare welcome to attendwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/careersfair/index.html

For details of careers fairs at othertimes of year, and in other locations,see www.prospects.ac.uk/events

Recruitment agenciesRecruitment agencies can be auseful part of your job search,whether for a permanent graduatejob or a temporary position.

Recruitment agencies are used byall kinds of employers, both largecompanies who wish to ‘spreadtheir net’ as widely as possiblewhen recruiting graduates and bysmaller ones which do not have thepersonnel resources to carry outtheir own recruitment. The agenciesadvertise the jobs, take applicationsfrom candidates and carry out thepreliminary selection. They alsomatch up candidates on theirdatabase to vacancies receivedfrom employers.

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11

Frequently, employers expectagencies to put forward candidateswith specific qualities or abilitiesrelated to the job. This can restrictopportunities for new graduateswithout significant work experience –some agencies specify six monthsexperience in a relevant field.

Do not use any agency that triesto charge you a fee: reputableagencies charge the employer,not the job-seeker.

While the Careers andEmployability Service does notrecommend any agencies, thefollowing may be useful startingpoints for new graduates:• Graduate Recruitment Bureauwww.grb.uk.com

• Reed Graduateswww.reed.co.uk/jobs/graduate

• Best Graduates www.best-graduates.co.uk

There are also agencies thatspecialise in particular job sectors,such as computing and IT, sales,charities, finance, education, socialcare and jobs requiring languageskills. Links to these can be foundon the Careers and EmployabilityService web pageswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/findajob.html?tab=recruitment-agencies

Don’t rely on agencies alone to findyou a job – you should also use ourgraduate vacancy database, othergraduate directories and sites, suchas those listed on page 9, and makedirect approaches to employers.

Networking“Networking is making links frompeople we know to people theyknow, in an organized way, for aspecific purpose”

That purpose may be to get a job orto obtain information. Networking isnot simply a way of makingpotentially useful contacts: it can beused to help in your careersresearch and decision-making.

At its simplest, networking is justtalking to people! You may feel that,at the moment, there are no ‘peopleyou know’ who are likely to be ableto help you begin networking. Butjust start to think about all thepeople that you do know – and allthe people they might know.Anybody may be able to help youstart a network: fellow-students; yourfriends and relatives; friends of yourrelatives; relatives of your friends;tutors and other academics; Kentalumni; people you work with, ormeet through your work; membersof clubs and societies.

If you start to tell everyone you knowabout your career plans, even at avery basic level such as “I’m tryingto find a job in publishing”, sooneror later someone is likely to saysomething like “My friend’s brotherworks in publishing” giving you thechance to ask them to put you intouch with that person.

And you don’t have to restrictyourself to people you meet inperson – online networking is animportant tool for careers research,job seeking and marketing yourselfto potential employers

KEW-NETwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/kew-net.html is an online networking toolspecifically for Kent students andgraduates to meet, support oneanother and help each other getahead. The network is made up ofalumni and business professionalsconnected to the University who canoffer you advice and support. AllKEW-NET participants are eligible tobe both mentors and mentees andwe hope that, once you have foundyour ideal career, you will volunteerto offer advice and support tostudents and graduates in your turn.

LinkedIn www.linkedin.com is abusiness-oriented social networkingsite that provides opportunities tonetwork online with professionalsfrom all kinds of differentemployment sectors, as well as pastKent alumni. To get started, seewww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/findajob.html?tab=using-social-media

Further information onnetworking• The Creative Career Searchbookletwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/files/Creative_Career_Search_2014.pdf

• Beginner’s Guide to Networkinghttps://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/getajob/howtofindajob/Pages/networking.aspx

www.kent.ac.uk/ces


EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS:WHAT DO EMPLOYERS WANT?

Employability skills havebeen defined as:“A set of achievements,understandings and personalattributes that make individualsmore likely to gain employment andto be successful in their chosenoccupations”.

Employers look for a range of theseskills in graduate applicants, manyof which are common to a numberof different career areas. They varyonly slightly between differentcareers and employers and almostalways include:• Interpersonal skills – how well doyou communicate with people?Can you listen, persuade, adviseand communicate your ideasclearly? Can you speakconfidently in front of anaudience?

• Written communication skills –can you write clearly andconcisely? Can you use thewritten word to communicateaccurate information to a readerwho may not have a specialistknowledge of the subject?

• Self-motivation – how proactiveare you? Can you work withoutsupervision? Are you determinedand enthusiastic?

• Analytical ability – can youanalyse complex information andpick out the key issues?

• Decision-making – can you makechallenging decisions underpressure?

• Team working – can you be partof a team working towards acommon goal and not only playyour part but support others?

• Flexibility – can you handle thechange and uncertainty of themodern workplace? Are youflexible about how, when andwhere you work?

• Organisation, planning andprioritisation – can you manageyour tasks and your timeeffectively, even under pressure?

• Problem-solving and initiative –can you solve problems andovercome difficulties? Can youthink creatively and laterally inorder to come up with new ideasand solutions?

• Leadership ability – can youguide, direct and motivateothers?

• Resilience – can you cope withlong hours, deadlines, early startsand pressure to perform or meettargets?

• Commercial awareness andcustomer focus – do youunderstand the market in whichyour company operates? Are youable to work with clients to ensuretheir satisfaction?

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There are also the essential job-hunting skills: the ability to putyourself over effectively in writing (in your application) and in person(at interview) and to perform well inthe various selection processes thatemployers use to assess youremployability skills.

As well as application forms andinterviews, these processes includepsychometric tests (usually toassess your verbal and numericalreasoning skills) and assessmentcentres.

What are my skills?This may all seem scary, but it’simportant to realise that most newgraduates have already developedthese employability skills throughtheir studies, work experience andextra-curricular activities. You nowneed to relate these skills to thecareers and jobs which interestyou and to demonstrate themsuccessfully to employers.Our Employability Skills web pageswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/skills.html can help you to do this.

Our pages on competency-basedapplications and interviewswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/competency.html give advice onhow to use these skills inapplications for graduate jobs.

The ‘skills map’ on the next pagesets out the main employability skillsin a way that shows theirrelationships to each other. You maywish to highlight any you feel youare good at and put a question markagainst any you feel you need todevelop. Does a pattern emerge?Try and think of examples of timesand situations where you have usedyour highlighted skills: these canthen be used in your CV orapplication forms.


SKILLS

Professionalismmanaging your

learning/performance

Organis Plann

ProblemsolvingAnalysing

Investigating/Researching

Timemanagement

Attention to detail

Commercialawareness

AcceptingResponsibility

Learning newskills asrequired

LateraI thinking

Numeracy

Collecting data

Classifying/synthesising

Identifying/evaluatingoptions

IT Skills

Prioritising

Working todeadlines

Respondingflexibly andpositively tochange

Enthusiasm tomake thingshappen and toachieve goals

Self Reliance

Creativity

Data handling

© Copyright of the University of Kent.


S MAP

sing &ning

Decisionmaking

Leading

Co-operating

Speaking

Writing

Working onyour owninitiative

e

Editing/Summarising

ForeignLanguages

Reporting

Telephone Skills

Presenting

Listening Skills

Giving/ acceptingconstructivecriticism

Supportingothers

Presenting apositive personal

image

Motivating others

Being assertive

Negotiating Persuading &influendng

Delegating Settingobjectlves

Actionplanning

Communicating

Team-working


MAKING APPLICATIONS

Completing an applicationform, or composing a goodCV, is the hardest part ofthe application process:often, 90% of candidateswill be rejected at thisstage. If you have alreadymade unsuccessfulapplications for graduatejobs, it is worth reviewingyour technique andmaking sure that you areputting yourself over aseffectively as possible.

Our website includes the followinginformation, advice and tips to helpyou make good applications:

Application forms• How to complete application formswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/applications.html

• How to deal with competency-based questions. These are thetough ones beginning “Give anexample ...” or “Describe asituation ...”www.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/competency.html

• Applications for postgraduate studyincluding personal statementswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/furtherstudy.html?tab=how-to-apply

CVs and covering letters• How to write a CV• Common questions about CVs• Different formats of CV• How to write a covering letter• All the above at www.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/cvs.html

Plus …• Action verbs Using positive verbsin your application can make astronger impressionwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/actionverbs.htm

• Spelling and punctuation testDon’t let poor spelling orgrammar spoil your chances!www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/spelling.htm

• Psychometric tests withexamples to practisewww.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/assessmentaptitude.html

The careers and employabilityadvisers are happy to look over yourCV and/or application form and giveyou tips on how to improve them.This is easiest to do face-to-face,but we can give help by email orphone if it is not possible for you tovisit us in person – see page 21.


INTERVIEWS

Getting an interview isan achievement in itself.Only a small minority ofapplicants are selectedfor interview, so you havealready made a positiveimpression to have gotto this stage. Below youwill find some advice, tipsand resources to help youmake the most of thisopportunity.

The purpose of theinterviewInterviews aim to help the employerto find out more about the applicantas a person, to assess how well theymatch the requirements of the jobapplied for and to get an impressionof how they might fit into the existingteam. They also give the employer anopportunity to get further information

about a candidate, in addition to thatalready given in their application.

It is also your chance to find outabout the employer and to ‘sellyourself’ and your key strengths tothem.

The interviewer will be seeking toassess:• Your personal qualities• How well you express yourself• Your motivation and enthusiasm

There aren’t any right or wronganswers to interview questions: howyou come across is as important aswhat you say.

Thorough preparation is the key tosuccess: research the career areaand the employer to which you areapplying; think of questions thatthey might ask you and plan youranswers. This will help you to

appear confident at interview(however nervous you feel inside!)and provide evidence of yourmotivation and enthusiasm.

Useful sources of informationand help• Careers and EmployabilityService web pages on interviews:www.kent.ac.uk/ces/student/interviews.html. These includehints on the questions you mightbe asked, and how to handlethem, questions you might ask theinterviewer, advice on preparingfor interview and feedback frompast Kent graduates on theirinterview experiences.

• The Careers and EmployabilityService booklet, “InterviewSkills”, covers many of the sametopics in a handy pocket-sizedbooklet. Pick up a copy from theCES building or download it fromwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/files/InterviewSkills14.pdf

• Target Jobshttps://targetjobs.co.uk/careers-advice includes advice on typesof interview, interview questionsand interview techniques


FURTHER STUDY

This does not just meanpostgraduate degrees, butcan also includevocational and practicalskills training: for somecareer areas, this may bemore relevant than aMaster’s degree!

You can return to university forpostgraduate study at any stage ofyour career – you don’t have to starta postgraduate degree immediatelyafter completing your Bachelor’sdegree. Increasingly, graduates areworking for a year or two after theygraduate to help fund their futurepostgraduate study.

Further academic studyEven at this late stage, manyuniversities still have placesavailable for postgraduate studystarting in September – but don’tjust drift into a postgraduate coursewithout thinking about what youhope to gain from it and how it willbenefit you in the longer term.

Our Postgraduate Study web pageswww.kent.ac.uk/ces/furtherstudy.htmlinclude advice on these issues pluslinks to a wide range of sitesincluding databases ofpostgraduate opportunities.

Other areas of studyIT and office skills, particularlydatabases and spreadsheets, areimportant in almost any careerarea. The European ComputerDriving Licence www.ecdl.com isa good way to develop these andother IT skills.

Driving is another useful skill,opening up jobs that require travelor are located in hard-to-reachareas so, if you don’t yet have a fulllicence, it is worth trying to achievethis as soon as possible. Manydriving schools offer studentdiscounts, so sign up before yourstudent card expires!

Languages are always useful andbrushing up on your rusty GCSEFrench, through an organisedcourse or through self-study, couldbe valuable. Another way toimprove your language skills isthrough working or travelling abroad(see pages 19-20) which could alsogive you the chance to pick up abasic knowledge of a more unusuallanguage.

Numeracy is important for manycareers but is a skill that manygraduates feel that they lack! If youhave a low GCSE grade in Maths,or just want to improve yournumeracy skills, retaking yourGCSE, or taking a course such asthe Open University’s “DiscoveringMathematics” (course codeMU123), would be worthwhile.

Business and finance courses canhelp you to build up the skills andknowledge needed for a specificcareer area, or just to develop thecommercial awareness that graduateemployers look for. These coursescould include, for example, theFoundation Award in Public Relationswww.cipr.co.uk/qualifications, theCertificate in Finance, Accountingand Business www.icaew.com/cfab orOpen University modules in Businessand Management www.open.ac.uk

Teaching English as a ForeignLanguage (TEFL) If you want toteach English abroad, a recognisedqualification will open up moreopportunities. The CELTA orTrinityCertTESOL certificates arenot cheap but they are recognisedthroughout the world, so taking acheaper but unrecognised coursecould be false economy. For moreabout TEFL qualifications andcourses seewww.kent.ac.uk/careers/tefl.htm

Local colleges of further educationoffer a range of vocational courses,often through part-time study. Mostcourses will begin at the start of thenew academic year in earlySeptember, but some colleges offershort courses over the summer.Fees are usually reduced if you areunwaged. Distance learning isanother option.

See www.kent.ac.uk/careers/distance.htm for links to sitescovering part-time courses in anypart of the country and also coursesoffered by distance learning.


TIME OUT

Time OutTaking time out after your studiesdoesn’t mean putting your feet upafter all your hard work. There aremany opportunities to gain furtherexperience, improve yourconfidence and skills and enhanceyour CV. These can includetemporary jobs, casual work, travel,volunteering or a combination of allthese – and more!

‘Taking a year out’ needs to becarefully planned. Otherwise, yourun the risk of spending a yearstuck in an unchallenging job (orseries of jobs), gaining little in theway of skills, experience orsatisfaction. The resources listedbelow will help you to avoid this trap,but first ask yourself a fewquestions:

Why do you want to take timeout?• To earn some money to pay offyour debts?

• To travel?• To decide on a career?• To gain some relevant workexperience?

• A bit of all the above?

What can you do?Almost anything! But these aresome of the most popular options:• join an organised project• find your own job or internship• travel independently, working asyou go

• follow a course to improve yourskills or develop an interest

What will future employers think?“Most recruiters look favourably uponpeople who have taken gap years,if they are able to draw on theirexperiences and show an employerhow they might make them moreeffective in the role they are applyingfor” (Association of GraduateRecruiters)

“When looking for jobs I found it veryeasy to handle the questions onemployers’ application forms asI had gained so many skills from mygap year teaching English in China:teamworking, initiative, problem-solving and leadership to name justa few”

A lot will depend on what you havedone during a gap year and how youpresent it. If you have spent a yearbackpacking around the world, yourapplications should show how youplanned and organised the trip; howyou dealt with any problems you metalong the way, how you funded it andwhat you learned from theexperience, rather than just listing allthe exotic countries you visited.

Employers, though, are usuallyeven more impressed if you havegained some rather more structuredexperience, through paid work orthrough volunteering, during a gapyear. The following pages outlinea few of the ways in which you cando this.

For further information and ideas, visitwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/alternatives.htm

Working AbroadInternships and workingholidaysTraineeships in the EU institutionsIf you speak another Europeanlanguage to at least A-level standard(if English is your first language, thissecond language must be French orGerman), you could apply for a five-month traineeship (also known as astage – pronounced starge) in oneof the European Union institutions.Traineeships begin in October andMarch each year, and you need toapply six months in advance.Trainees receive a living allowanceand can be involved in a variety ofwork related to European affairs.For further information, seehttp://ec.europa.eu/stages

BUNACBUNAC organises paid gap yearand internship programmes in theUSA, Canada, New Zealand andAustralia. They help with pre-departure planning, visaapplications, job databases and in-country job and accommodationsupport. For full details, seewww.bunac.org/uk/work-abroad

Working Holidays in AustraliaThe Working Holiday Visa allowsyou to work for a total of 12 monthsin Australia (up to 6 monthsmaximum with any one employer).You can do any kind of work,although most opportunities are intourism, catering and agriculture,and you don’t need to have an offerbefore you go. Full details atwww.border.gov.au/Trav/Visa-1/417-


TIME OUTCONT

Au Pair WorkGood experience for anyoneinterested in a teaching career. Aupairs are required to be given timeoff from their childcareresponsibilities to attend languageclasses, so this can also be a way todevelop your language skills(although au pair work is alsoavailable in Australia, Canada, NewZealand and the USA). The BritishAu Pair Agencies Associationwww.bapaa.org.uk is a goodstarting point.

Working in Ski ResortsThere are many jobs that will allowsnow-lovers to spend a wholeseason on the slopes. Most of thesehave nothing to do with skiing itself,but are based in hotels, bars andrestaurants. However, you will getskiing time and some companiesmay also provide a lift pass amongother perks. A site with a lot of goodbackground information, as well asjob listings, is Nativeswww.natives.co.uk

Volunteering abroad –without spending a fortuneVolunteering abroad is a greatexperience and a great way toimprove your CV – especially if youhope to go into teaching, socialwork, healthcare, internationaldevelopment or conservation. Notmany new graduates, though, canafford the four-figure sums thatmany organisations charge toarrange a volunteer placement.

Below, we list some that offer similaropportunities for a more manageablecost. This does not necessarily meanthat the placement will be of a lowerquality – many of theseorganisations cut costs by workingdirectly with the project organisersand cutting out intermediaries.

Please note that the list below doesnot imply any recommendation ofany organisation and you arerecommended to investigate allopportunities carefully beforeapplying. Before you commityourself, make sure you know allabout the project. For detailedadvice on choosing a volunteerproject and questions to ask, seewww.ethicalvolunteering.org

Prices quoted do not usually includetravel and insurance costs.

• Concordia www.concordia-iye.org.uk Projects in Europe,North America, North Africa,Japan and South Korea or Africa,Asia and Latin America. £225-280

• Ecoteer www.ecoteer.com A non-profit organisation thatconnects travellers withgrassroots charities and socialenterprises around the world.Most projects are free, but somemay ask for a donation to coveryour food and accommodation,and there is a £25 annualmembership fee.

• International Citizen Servicewww.volunteerics.org Supportedand part-funded by the UKGovernment, and led by VSOin partnership with respecteddevelopment organisations this isopen to UK, EU and EEA citizensaged 18-25 and offers the chanceto work alongside local volunteersin developing countries.

• UNA Exchangewww.unaexchange.org “we areusually able to offer projects inmore than 50 countries eachyear”. Cost from £210-£350

• Volunteer Action for Peacewww.vap.org.uk 80 countries.Cost £210-£230

• Volunteer South Americawww.volunteersouthamerica.netThis site lists a large number oforganisations offering free andlow-cost volunteer opportunitiesin South and Central America.


CAREERS ADVICE AFTERYOU GRADUATE

Kent graduates are stillwelcome to use theCareers andEmployability Serviceafter graduation forinformation, advice andguidance.

Advice in personThe Careers and EmployabilityService, at Canterbury and atMedway, is open throughout thesummer vacation and advisers areavailable to help with all yourqueries on career decisions, jobapplications, etc (seewww.kent.ac.uk/ces/advice.htmlfor details). For full details of ouropening times see www.kent.ac.uk/ces/contact/index.html

Advice by phoneWe can offer telephone interviewsto graduates – please phone firstto book a time to talk to a careersadviser.

CanterburyT: 01227 823299

Medway and thePartner CollegesT: 01634 202996

Advice by emailCanterburyE: [email protected]

Medway and thePartner CollegesE: [email protected]

Or use our online form atwww.kent.ac.uk/ces/contact/index.html?tab=email-us

Advice from other careersservicesIf you live some distance from Kentbut would like to talk with a careersadviser face-to-face, you may beable to use the careers service at auniversity nearer your home. Mostuniversities in the UK can offercareers information, advice andguidance to graduates of otheruniversities. These services arenormally free of charge (althoughyou should always check first withthe university you plan to visit).

You should note that mostuniversities based in London will notsee graduates of other universitiesor, if they do, will charge for theirservices.

Further adviceThere is a page of advice and tipsfor recent graduates atwww.kent.ac.uk/careers/servicesforgraduates.htm

Keep in contact with us!If you fill in our Contact Format www.kent.ac.uk/ces/contact/emailcontacts.html we will be able tosend you regular bulletins includingvacancy updates, targetedvacancies for graduates in yoursubject and general job huntinginformation after graduation. This willalso entitle you to get careers helpfrom us for up to three years afteryou leave Kent.

VISIT USONLINE

The Careers and Employability ServiceUniversity of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7ND T: +44 (0)1227 823299 E: [email protected] www.kent.ac.uk/ces

www.kent.ac.uk/ces

CanterburyFollow us on Twitter: @unikentemploy

Visit our Facebook page: University of KentStudent Employability

MedwayFollow us on Twitter: @ukmemploy

Visit our Facebook page: University of Kent at Medway Student Employability

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CAREER PLANNING GUIDE FOR NEW GRADUATES · 2016-03-21 · CAREER PLANNING GUIDE FOR NEW GRADUATES Careers help and support after you graduate. CONTENTS ... Employability skills 12