Tag: work experience

For most, university is about gaining the necessary skills and knowledge to enter a certain field or industry. It is this reason why a lot of people quite easily fall down the rabbit hole and assume they must have their whole university time planned, with placement along the way before concluding in the perfect graduate role.  

Especially for those who are just starting, the untapped potential you have at your fingertips over the next few years can be really overwhelming and you can’t help but try to plan everything as soon as possible (I know I did). This isn’t sustainable and will likely lead to early burnout.  

To hopefully help you with the process, the following article lays out a method of breaking down how you can improve your employability over the course of your university career. This is just a rough guide; some stuff will work for others that doesn’t work for you. And that’s okay.  

If there is one thing you do learn though, it is that you do not need to do everything straight away and even the smallest step is important. 

This is the second article of three, focusing on what stage two students could be doing at this next stage of their employment journey. If you are interested in any other stage, Stage 1 or Stage 3, please click the respective link. 

Semester 1 

Securing Placements 

Stage One done! Congratulations on completing your first year. Regardless of how it went, don’t dwell on the past, because from here things truly begin to ramp up. While in first year I recommended maybe spending about half an hour working on your employability, now you should probably start ramping up a little bit. Especially if you want to get a placement. 

For many, you may be thinking that you have plenty of time to secure placements for third year, but they can be extremely competitive to get so the sooner you start the better. This is even more important for larger companies like Microsoft and Google who tend to search and hire earlier in the year.  

Be sure to make use of the careers service to help improve your CVs and Cover Letters before you start applying, as they will be able to spot any weaknesses in your applications that could cost you an interview. It might take some time for companies to get back to you about applications but in the meantime, you will be confident in the fact you have applied for roles in a calm and collective manner rather than rushing to send applications off later in the year while juggling assignments. 

For some students, a placement year might not be the thing for you (I know it wasn’t for me). That is perfectly fine, but it doesn’t mean you’ll have nothing to do. It just means you have more time to fine-tune your portfolio! Working on extra projects is a fantastic way to get companies to hire you. And you may also want to consider applying for shorter roles you can either do alongside your studies, or over the summer between stages 2 and 3 (The MyCareers page is great for this as it advertises roles done with the University). 

Semester 2 

Networking and Interviews  

After that initial rush of applying for placements, be sure to try and catch up with your studies. It can be a difficult thing to juggle both your degree and employment, so don’t feel bad if you drop slightly behind!  

Hopefully, you will start receiving responses to applications at some point during semester 2, or even semester 1, and if they like what they see, you may be in with an interview. In a post covid world, a lot of interviews might be over video, but there are some cases where they may ask you to come to their offices. This might mean that you must miss some lessons but if you let your personal tutor and module leader know, it should be fine. The Careers Service also has resources to help you prepare for interviews and assessment centers so that you can really shine out to employers.  

Regardless of if you are going on a placement or not, there is something you must start doing. Networking. Certainly not the happiest word in the English language, networking can fill you with existential dread, but it does work. Whether it’s talking to other people at an interview or attending a short conference, just talking to people will help down the line, especially if you manage to get some LinkedIn connections! 

Semester 3 

Portfolio Progression 

Hopefully by now, if you tried to secure one, you have a placement for next year. Fantastic! What now? You might think you can put your feet up for the rest of the year and to a certain extent you can. But there are other things you can be getting up to. At around this time of year, you might be working on your team project, which is something great to include in your portfolio. But what else should you include?  

If you haven’t been working on anything outside of your degree, you might have a solid portfolio of work, but it will look exactly like everyone else’s. Spending time working on your own projects, be it a mobile game, recreation of a piece of software or just something fun you made in your spare time, is a great way to stand out. If you want more tips on how to improve your portfolio, check out this article. 

For most, university is about gaining the necessary skills and knowledge to enter a certain field or industry. It is this reason why a lot of people quite easily fall down the rabbit hole and assume they must have their whole university time planned, with placement along the way before concluding in the perfect graduate role.  

Especially for those who are just starting, the untapped potential you have at your fingertips over the next few years can be really overwhelming and you can’t help but try to plan everything as soon as possible (I know I did). This isn’t sustainable and will likely lead to early burnout.  

To hopefully help you with the process, the following article lays out a method of breaking down how you can improve your employability over the course of your university career. This is just a rough guide; some stuff will work for others that doesn’t work for you. And that’s okay.  

If there is one thing you do learn though, it is that you do not need to do everything straight away and even the smallest step is important. 

This is the third article of three, focusing on what stage three students could be doing in this final part of their degrees. If you are interested in any other stage, Stage 1 or Stage 2 please click the respective link. 

Semester 1 

Polish and Self Promotion 

Whether you are returning from a placement, or have just finished your second year, congratulations on making it this far. Regardless of what grades you’ve received, the fact that you’ve already committed this much time to your degree is impressive and won’t go amiss by employers. 

For many, this year is a big one. You get to specialize and focus on a certain field by picking modules, a dissertation and the looming threat of securing a job for when you’re done. It can be a lot, and it can be stressful. But remember, you already have two years of knowledge and skill to show off, so be sure to do just that. 

To avoid the stress of trying to sort out your CV and portfolio, applying for jobs and doing a dissertation all at the same time. Be sure to try and break them up. I recommend starting with your CV and portfolio. 

In the previous articles, I kept mentioning that you should be improving and iterating on your portfolio to the point that you are probably sick of the word. But it really is that important! By now you should hopefully have a nice-sized portfolio of work, including things like your team project. Take some time to fine-tune and make your portfolio something you can really be proud of. Check out this article for some more tips. As the year progresses and you work on more specific projects for your chosen career, be sure to include them in your portfolio and maybe even do a few shameless promotions on LinkedIn! 

Semester 2 

Apex of Applications 

Except for some roles at larger companies like Google and Microsoft, the window for most of your applications will be within your second semester. And there is no point beating around the bush, it will be a stressful period.  

However, if you have a portfolio and cv ready before you even start applying, it will mean you have one less thing to juggle. Having a “generic” cv is a great starting point for any application but be sure to take the time to specialise it for the role you are applying for, much like how you would do with a cover letter. 

Keep a spreadsheet of roles you have applied for, as well as how far along the application pipeline you are, with the relevant cover letters and CVs for each role. This means that if you progress to the next stage, you don’t have to scramble around to figure out what you said in your application. 

If you start to notice trends in your applications with either no responses or immediate rejections, be sure to reflect on why this is happening and actively change your applications. Use the Careers Service to help with this! 

Semester 3 

Securing Those Graduate Roles 

Hopefully, between semesters 1 and 2, you will receive responses from the various companies you have applied for. If they like your application, you might have progressed to the next stage in their application process. It varies from company to company what the next step might be, but it could include any of the following: 

• Assessment Centre 
• Coding Interview 
• Classic Interview (1-1) 
• Group Interview 

• Presentation 
• Personality Test 

Any of these can be nerve-racking to attend but all you can do is try your best. Remember, you are already on good footing because they liked your application. They want to fill their open roles! 

Don’t get disheartened if you aren’t successful with your first, second or third application. The job hunt is an iterative process. After each one, reflect on what went well and what didn’t. Where you can, ask for feedback from those who conducted the interview or managed the application process then apply what you have learned the next time. 

And again, please make use of the Careers Service. It is there to make your life easier and has the main responsibility of helping you get a job.