The Careers Service: How Final Year SALC Students Can Make the Most of Semester 1

 

This blog has tips tailored for final year undergraduate SALC students. If you’re a first or pre-final year student (either a second year student on a three year degree programme or a second/third year student on a four year programme), or you’re a postgraduate student, please see our blog posts that are written specifically with you in mind:

We hope that you’ve had a really good start to your final year at the University of Manchester. For those of you who don’t already know us, we’re Louise Sethi and Gareth Frier; Careers Consultants with dedicated links to the School of Arts, Languages and Cultures. That means you might see us in your teaching sessions from time to time and at school events, so please do come over and say hello – we’d love to have a chat with you.

We understand that there’s a lot for you to think about during your final year and it can seem a bit overwhelming to be thinking about life after university before you have started to tackle this year’s coursework. Therefore, we’ve broken things down into just three key careers messages for you to keep in mind as Semester 1 progresses:

 

1.Look out for application deadlines…It’s good to be aware that many graduate schemes have deadlines that fall within Semester 1 and popular postgraduate courses can fill up early in the academic year. Therefore, now is the time to think about which opportunities you might wish to apply to by browsing the sector-specific pages on the Which Career section of our website. Also, check out the websites and LinkedIn pages of companies that interested you for details of their graduate opportunities and associated application processes so that you don’t miss any deadlines. The Careers Service’s online opportunities platform, CareerConnect, also lists hundreds of graduate vacancies for you to browse and can alert you to new opportunities tailored to your interests. To take advantage of this, simply log into CareerConnect, complete your profile (including the occupational areas you’re interested in and by selecting your ‘Careers Readiness stage’) and we’ll send you tailored opportunities alerts based on your answers.

 

 

Click on the ‘Me’ dropdown menu at the top of the CareerConnect homepage and then select ‘Profile’ to update your occupational areas of interest and ‘Careers Readiness Stage’.

 

2…But don’t panic if you don’t know what to do! Sometimes it can feel like lots of other people have everything sorted. Perhaps your housemate is already firing off application forms for their dream job or even has a place on a graduate scheme confirmed and you haven’t got a clue what you’d like to do after graduation. Don’t worry – lots of students will be in exactly the same position! Many employers, particularly smaller organisations, will still be advertising their graduate roles from January onwards (including the University’s own Manchester Graduate Talent scheme) so there’s still plenty of time for you to think things through. A great starting point is our ‘Don’t know what you want to do?’ page, which has tips to help you to explore career paths that complement your values, strengths and interests. You can also use CareerConnect to book one to one appointments with our Careers Consultants and Advisors, who can help you to grow in career confidence and feel ready to take action.

 

3. Get application, interview and CV ready. Creating effective CVs and applications, as well as feeling confident in interviews, takes practice. However, the good news is that we are here to help. We have lots of fantastic resources, including our learning pathways, which provide you with access to cutting edge AI programmes that give you feedback on your CVs, cover letters and even your video interview answers. Each pathway has different resources to suit different learning styles and can be done at your own pace. Careers Service staff can also provide expert feedback on your CVs, personal statements and cover letters, as well as the opportunity to have an interview simulation with one of our Careers Consultants. Sometimes the prospect of getting feedback on interviews and applications can be a bit daunting, but the empathetic and constructive feedback from Careers Service staff will leave you better placed to show recruiters the best version of yourself. To see the range of appointments that you can book, select the ‘Book’ dropdown menu on the CareerConnect homepage. 

 

 

We hope that you really enjoy the new academic year. If you have a question about how the Careers Service can help you, see our FAQS, contact us via Web Chat or drop into the Atrium (1st Floor, University Place) to speak to a member of the team between 10:00 – 16:00, Monday – Thursday and 10:00 – 13:00 on Fridays.

Written by Gareth Frier.