Employability - what's in it for you?

As many students and staff know, the Careers Advisory Service has been doing a small research project this year, funded by HESCU. The focus? Employability, and how staff and students understand what this means for them. For something which on the surface seems to be a fairly straightforward concept, it is surprisingly complicated, with several different definitions. 

But rather than talk about the emerging findings, this blog is really aimed at giving a quick overview of what students could be doing to improve their ‘employability’. This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but a few pointers in the right direction to help!

Part time work – this is an often overlooked and ‘forgotten’ experience in how students can develop their employability. Lots of employer surveys highlight the need for experience of the world of work, and wanting students applying for graduate jobs to be ‘commercially aware’, good at problem solving and having demonstrable communication skills. What better way of doing all of these than by having a part time job/paid internship?

Making the links between what you are learning at college or university and a future career. This is a really good way to show an employer that you don’t just compartmentalise your learning, but that you can make the links between assignments you’ve done and ‘real life’ work issues. Did I mention that employers want ‘commercially aware’ students? Doing this applying of course knowledge to the work environment will help show this.

Identity – how do you view yourself? Do you see yourself purely as a student, or can you see yourself as an employee/self employed business owner? There is some research which points to students finding it tricky to move from seeing themselves as a student to a graduate employee or to being self employed. Alongside this, the Employers and Education Taskforce have done research which shows that the more good quality contacts that students have with employers, the better and easier the students find it to move from education to working life. So perhaps making good use of field trips, careers fairs, guest lectures done by employers and summer work/internships will help with this issue!

Doing a self audit on your skills – what are you really good at? What skills and experience really stand out for you? What needs to be developed and improved on? This isn’t something that just needs to happen in year 3 of a degree, as you are applying for a graduate scheme, the sooner you start doing it the better, as it gives you time to improve on what you need to! And once you’ve got a graduate job? You’ll need to carry on auditing your own skills and experience so that you can manage your career for the next 40-45 years!

As with most things, some of these pointers will be of more use than others. But what would be worth doing is giving your future employability some thought. How are you preparing for it? What else could you do, even if it takes you out of your comfort zone? And if you want to discuss any of this in more detail, come and talk to someone in the careers advisory service!

Thinking of becoming self-employed or starting your own business?

 

If you’re thinking about setting up your own company, getting your Business Plan right is crucial.

A business plan gives an outline of your business, the market in which it will operate and how it aims to make money - and should answer this question: why will your business succeed when so many others fail?

Be concise
It’s really important that potential investors can understand what your business is all about from a quick glance at your plan. Make sure you include a summary of your business, and how it will make money right from the start, and use simple language throughout.

Be specific

Being specific is just as important as being concise. The details will help you drill down into how you will actually deliver your plan.

Know your market

A big part of knowing whether your business will be successful is understanding your audience. Make sure your plan is clear about your target market – who will you be selling to and how many other companies are already selling similar products?

Know your finances

The other essential part of a business plan is the finance section. If your business isn’t going to make any money, it won’t be successful so you need to be very clear on how you will make a profit. Use it to your advantage – your plan will be incredibly useful when it comes to securing loans and investment, but that’s not its only use. It’s also a personal tool to help you understand your objectives.

Marketing is vital to business success. Think about big brands like Apple, Innocent and Burberry. They have all successfully identified their target audience and have tailored their marketing to suit them, which has helped them to develop a clear identity.

Market research is key, to help you understand your target audience. The more you do, the easier it will be in the future to make decisions about your marketing strategy, pricing, budget and sales target. There are several methods for conducting market research and you may need more than one.

Market research will help you to:

§  Work out whether there is a market for your product or service and how much demand there is

§  Who your target customers are and what your product is worth to them

§  How you will reach your target customers

§  Who your competitors will be and how they operate

Brand identity
Once you’ve done your market research, you can use your findings to help develop your brand.
Think about the impression you want to give your customers and how you can deliver that. For example, if young people are your target audience and you want to be known for being cool and creative, make sure everything from the way you dress to the language of your marketing materials shows that.

Once you’ve identified your customer base and worked out your brand identity, you can start to develop your marketing materials.

Having your own website is a really powerful marketing tool. Making sure it is professional and matches your brand is really important.

Finance & Legal considerations

Start-up costs

Once you’ve worked out your own monthly outgoings, you’ll have an idea of how much your business needs to make for you. After that you’ll need to think about the start-up costs you’ll need to get your business off the ground.

Tax

Once you’ve set up your business, you must register as self-employed with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). HMRC has loads of really useful information on setting up a business, including an e-learning package called Starting in Business. For more detail on registering your business with HMRC and further information on setting up in business, visit their website. www.gov.uk

Insurance

All businesses need insurance as soon as they start trading. Some types of insurance are required by law and should be in place before you’re up and running. For example, you must have employers’ liability insurance if you employ people.

The broker or insurance company you use should be registered with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

Want a helping hand?  If you’re 18 to 30, living in the UK and have a business idea or some ideas to explore, the Prince’s Trust’s Explore  Enterprise programme could be for you.

Visit www.princes-trust.org.uk for more information

Thought about teaching as a career?

Did you know that encouraging children to play in the classroom increases their attention span?
Are you interested in working with children and young people? There has never been a better
time to join the teaching profession! It’s true...research does show that children’s attention spans increased when learning was based in play. Imagine having a classroom of your own where you could make things significantly better for a large number of children by doing what works for your learners. The average teacher will teach around 1,500 children in their careers - that’s a lot of lives you could be influencing.

Having been in education for 26 years one of the best things is those moments when children really grow as individuals and in their learning because of something you did. Excitingly, it’s also an opportunity to be part of a lively community of creative, caring professionals. There has literally never been a better time to become a teacher. For the first time the Government is taking steps to shift the balance of power within our system away from politicians to the professionals. That means the newest teachers will have the most freedom ever to do what works!

Our region has some of the best training available and has excellent links to leading edge organisations to ensure that your training is at the forefront of educational thinking. Unlike many other regions, the training providers here work together to ensure that every trainee teacher has the best possible training and that they end up in the schools best suited to their skills and personalities. I often look at the offer from courses offered locally and think how much more I could have done had I had the training on offer to all of you. You can find out about your local courses by doing a Google Search for teacher training or following one of the links below.

Jo Palmer-Tweed, Executive Director, Essex and Thames Primary SCITT

www.essexandthamesprimaryscitt.co.uk
www.essexteachertraining.co.uk
www.midessexteachertraining.com
www.colchesterttc.org.uk

 

Starting or returning to college - top tips!

After a summer filled with holidays and exam results term has now started!  Are you feeling rather unprepared for what’s coming next?  This blog will look at some top tips for coping with starting or coming back to a course and new university college.

Top tips

Be prepared!  You will hopefully know what is expected of you.  But there may be some surprises

We're here to set you on the path to
a successful career after leaving WUC

too.  

Be flexible.  Sometimes your expectations of what is going to happen may not match reality.  This can be for any number of reasons, sometimes colleges and unis have to tweak what they are offering, or your assumptions might be slightly out of kilter.  If you have concerns about things, do ask someone -your institutuion will prefer to address your queries than you stress about it!  And of course, the reality might be actually better than your expectations.

Plan! There will be a lot to take in during the first few weeks, friends to make or catch up with, timetables to get used to, names of students and lecturers to try and remember.  And this doesn’t just for 1^st years either!  Although most 2^nd and 3^rd years should remember where their classrooms are.  So, its worth spending a few minutes at the start/end of each day reflecting on what’s happened that day, or what might happen the next day, and jotting any thoughts or notes down.  This way you can make a note of anything you are not sure about to find out about – and reduce any anxieties the uncertainty might cause.  In a few weeks, it will be worth taking a longer term view on this forward planning to see what will be expected of you for assignments/reading etc.



Image sourced from Wikimedia Author Druysts.t

Start planning your exit!  This isn’t about ensuring you are not the last to leave the party.  But about what’s going to happen after your course has finished.  This might sound strange at the start of your course, or only in the early few weeks of year 2/3.  But the time will pass very quickly, and employers are increasingly engaging with students far earlier in their studies than a few years ago.  Want that internship or volunteering opportunity this summer?  Or that graduate scheme?  Now’s the time to start planning it.

Using social media – good, bad, ugly?  There used to be a divide between the online world and real life, but not anymore, as you know.  Regardless of the rights or wrongs of the situation, employers will and do look at your social media profile, photos, likes, comments and activities at some point during the recruitment process.  And not just for jobs like accountancy, MI5, teaching or Defence against the Dark Arts lecturers.  People have been turned down for science labs interviews for ‘liking’ an anti animal testing comment when they were a lot younger.  Seriously!  So, before doing some applications, do some ‘tidying’ up of your social media presence.  Social media can be a very useful way of engaging with employers too.  If you want to talk about how to do this, contact the careers department.

Enjoy it! One of the most important things to do on your course!!  Learning should be enjoyable and interesting.

What now? Practical tips on what next.

Now that the course has finished, and the celebrations are over its time to make sure you build on your time at college in your next move. Many students will have already decided what they want to do next, and will have organised it, whether it’s the next level course or finding work/an apprenticeship. Some students will still be trying to do this. There will be some practical tips for all students to carry on your success!

 

If you have got something lined up, well done! Here are some tips for when you start the next part of your education or career,

Check out the travel arrangements, if you are going to be catching a bus or driving each day, make sure you know the route and how long it will take.

Find out if anyone you know is starting on the same course or at the same university as you. Having a friendly face will help. Using facebook or www.thestudentroom.co.uk may be a good way of doing this – with the usual social media health warnings!

If you are starting a new job, make sure your employer talks through your progress regularly during the first 3 months. This will help you settle in and achieve.

Don’t assume that ‘this is it’! Plan how to make the most of this next step, to help you with whatever happens after it.

If you haven’t got anything sorted out, now would be a good chance to do something about it. You won’t be the only student with nothing concrete sorted out yet!

While there may be a certain amount of pressure or questions about what you are going to do now from friends, parents and family relations, it is important not just to react by taking the first job offer. There is an increasing trend for graduates to accept an offer to then turn it down close to the start date due to being offered something else. This doesn’t do anyone involved any favours! Here are some tips to consider to help you.

Wiki images source Druysts.t

Think through what you actually want to do long term – having a longer term career/education aim is important

In the short term, this might mean taking a job or getting some experience that helps with the longer term goal, which you wouldn't view as a long term position!

Do a skills and experience audit, what are you missing that would make you stand out? What have you done that really motivates and interests you?

Get some help and support! You aren’t expected to do all this on your own. The WUC careers dept can help, as will tutors. You may be surprised how many people working in the area you want to get into will also be willing to offer some advice too.

Stick at it and be persistent. You may need to be adaptable in your thinking and aspirations, but there will be opportunities for you.

Whether you have got your plans all firmly in place or not, it is important to recognise what you have achieved so far. There will be much more to achieve in the next few years, and with some planning and thought there is nothing to stop you achieving really well. And who knows what the future holds.

Careers support during Mental Health Awareness Week

We're here to set you on the path to
a successful career after leaving WUC

This month is one of the busiest ones for students across the country, with assignment deadlines and exams looming. In amongst all the deadlines and revision plans there will be some thoughts and questions about what will happen after the last exam.  Many students will have got something concrete organised, a graduate scheme place, harvest work or possibly even something exciting like working on an equine holiday camp in America! For these students the ‘what next’ thinking may well centre around how the transition from WUC will be, and possibly about the natural nerves about starting something new. For these students, the advice is definitely to ‘jump straight in’, having coped with the transition to WUC all those semesters ago, the next transition should be one that is exciting, challenging and one to look forward to.

Quite a few students will have plans that are still either vague or non existent, or whose plan is still ‘in the application cycle’ for a specific job or post graduate course. 
 

Mental Health Awareness Week runs
from 8th May to 12th May 2017

For these students the National Mental Health Awareness Week could be a good chance to consider some strategies to help balance the demands of finishing studies with the increasingly repetitive question that will be asked of ‘what are you going to do once you’ve finished?’. This much asked question, although asked with every good intention, can sometimes lead to rather unwanted additional concerns/worries about what is going to happen after the year is finished. With this in mind, here are some possible practical steps to take to help the competing demands on you, to keep your mental health as positive as possible at a very busy time:

• Eat and sleep as well as possible
• Plan your studying/revising as well as possible – studying/revising into the early hours doesn’t work long term!
• Give yourself time to ‘think’, write down any study/career option concerns that you know you need to address
• Plan when and how to address these – could an email to your tutor or careers adviser help you feel that the issue is starting to be addressed?
• Make time to relax!

The next month or so will make demands on your mental health, regardless of how emotionally resilient you are, or how concrete your plans are for after the end of the course! An important consideration to remember is that there will be several opportunities for you to consider and apply for after the last deadline. There is often a misconception that the first job after graduating needs to somehow be ‘it’, and for some it will be. But just as often, or more often, for many graduates the first job after graduation will just be a stepping stone at the start of a life long career. 

The skills you've gained at WUC will set you
up for an exciting, continuously-developing career.

The skills and knowledge gained at WUC will stand you in good stead for an evolving career, which needs to start somewhere. And hopefully one of the important lessons to remember from the last few years at WUC, is that you have learnt to ‘survive and thrive’ in a new environment, you can do this again after you have finished.  Regardless of how emotionally or mentally resilient you are feeling at the moment, there will be opportunities for you post Writtle, and don’t forget that as a graduate, you can get help from the careers advisory department for 3 years after you’ve finished! 

Applying for graduate jobs - is it worth just applying for big recruiters?

There is an assumption with undergraduates that most graduate vacancies are with big employers, like accountancy firms and retailers. Another assumption is that these employers are the ‘only’ ones that have graduate opportunities, and that they are the only ones that will offer an interesting, challenging and worthwhile graduate career. 

The recent Highfliers Graduate Market in 2017 report has come up with some interesting national statistics about the biggest graduate employers:

The country's top employers plan to increase their graduate recruitment by a further 4.3% in 2017, the fifth consecutive year that graduate vacancies have grown.

The biggest growth in vacancies is expected at public sector organisations and high street & online retailers which together intend to recruit over 1,200 extra graduates in 2017.

Half the UK’s leading employers said they had received more completed graduate job applications during the early part of the recruitment season than they had last year and two-fifths also believed the quality of applications had improved.

In 2015, the latest figures available, there were 248,000 students who graduated. 76.1% of these went onto full time work, 13% did more study, 5% were working and studying (with the rest doing a range of other things!). But it is not just big national employers where graduates end up. Indeed, 35% of those working were doing so for employers with fewer than 250 staff, and 1 in 20 were with employers who had less than 50 staff. (What do Graduates do? 2016 HESCU)

There are benefits to applying for a graduate scheme with a big employer. These often include:  

• Higher starting salary
• More structured training/CPD
• A structured initial career path
• Numerous new graduates starting at the same time

So what about SMEs (small and medium enterprises)? As mentioned, these organisations tend to have fewer than 250 employees. There are definite advantages to working for a SME, including:

• more responsibilities and varied work early on
• more likely to need you to hit the ground running
• a far better work/life balance – no 12-15 hour days as a trainee solicitor or in finance

SME’s are more likely to create a unique job role, depending on your skills and the company’s needs, rather than being one of 500 trainee accountants doing the exact same job.

There are several skills that employers need regardless of size, e.g. commercial awareness and ability to work as part of a team. But smaller companies are likely to want employees who are ‘work ready’ and able to contribute to as soon as possible. This means that you are likely to feel that you are making a contribution/having an impact sooner rather than later!

So, if you are thinking that working for an SME might be an option, then the next question is how to identify where the opportunities are. They won’t be advertised on the Association of Graduate Recruiters, prospects or graduate milkround websites! This is where LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and google will be very useful tools to identify and research potential SME’s. But its not only online that this research can happen, it is worth joining professional associations, talking to tutors and careers staff about their contacts too. On top of this, actively making use of business organisations like the Essex FSB, Essex IOD and chambers of commerce will be helpful if you can. They will often have members meetings where you can meet employers over breakfast or at certain events. Smaller organisations are more likely to respond to a speculative approach than the big graduate recruiters, and will have vacancies at different points of the year, whereas quite often big employers will often have set times of the year they advertise to recruit graduates.

And finally, most graduates will work for SME’s at some point after they have graduated, regardless of the amount of media ‘time’ the well known employers get in talking about their recruitment issues or shortages. Don’t be put off by the competition for a graduate scheme place with a big employer either. What you will need to do is think through not only what career you would like to do, but the different challenges that the size of company you work for will offer you. Preparation and planning will be essential for getting your application right, regardless of company size.

Volunteering, what's the point?

Organisations will often be very keen to have volunteers having an input, and not usually because its free labour.  They get valuable input from motivated, enthusiastic people who are committed to the organisation’s aims and objectives. But its not just a one way relationship. Volunteers can really get lots out of spending time volunteering, as will be highlighted later.

Have you ever thought about volunteering?  There are so many good reasons to give it a go, usually falling into one of three categories, giving something back to ‘society’, to improve your employability skills and future career prospects or for the social benefits, e.g. to make new friends.  The chances are that if you are studying a full time course, the main reasons you may want to volunteer will fall into the category of improving your career prospects.  Why? Because as the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) identify, volunteering can be a very good way to

Gain new skills, knowledge and experience

 

Develop existing skills and knowledge

Enhance a CV

Improve one's employment prospects

Gain an accreditation for a course

If you are thinking about volunteering, there are several issues to consider. Do you want the experience to help you get a career in the degree you are doing, or to move you in a new direction? Do you need to develop any particular skills or experience to strengthen your paid work applications? For instance, students on a conservation degree will often get relevant experience with organisations like Essex Wildlife Trust or English Heritage to develop conservation or surveying skills. But there will often be students who do not want to use their degree subject.  These students sometimes worry, unnecessarily, that their degree will somehow limit their career options or what they can apply for. The often quoted figure of 80% of employer vacancies not specifying a degree subject should reassure.  But the question then arises of how to ‘move’ from studying a degree to working in a graduate role. Experience of the working world, either through paid internships or volunteering is an important element in this process.



Image sourced from Wikimedia Author Druysts.t

So, in conclusion, the benefits of volunteering are numerous. Not only will you possibly make new friends, but you will gain invaluable experience and skills which you will be able to showcase to potential employers – indeed the organisation you volunteer with may well end up being a future employer.  Why the snakes and ladders? Well, quite often, doing something 'different' can lead to 'unexpected' chances presenting themselves. And also as importantly, you will see how your degree is relevant to your future career plans, regardless of  the content of your degree.

Is this the end or a new beginning?

Image sourced from Wikimedia
Author: Diego

Now that the end of term has gone, with exams finished and coursework handed in, you’ve finally reached the finish line!  And with the Olympics happening, there will be plenty of time to enjoy watching them.

 

But it's not quite ‘all over’ yet. It will really help you if you view the next few weeks as a new beginning too. The reasons why are as follows. Firstly, it would be good to spend time reflecting on what you have found interesting, challenging or dull this year and why. The reason? By reflecting on the knowledge gained this year you can decide if or how you could use it in a potential career. Does the thought of using what you’ve learnt about equine nutrition, landscape design or commercial horticulture excite you?  What does this tell you about your career aspirations?  Do you need to talk this through with your tutor or Careers Adviser? 

Secondly, it is not just about the knowledge that you have learnt.  It’s useful to reflect how your skills have developed this year.  This is equally as important as reflecting on your knowledge.  Employers and universities want to see that you can identify and apply the skills you’ve gained to a new situation, e.g. a job or a postgraduate course.  Not only is it important to show others you can do this, but it is crucial for you too.  Why?  Because you need to be able to compare what you have to offer to what an employer or university are asking for.  If you can’t demonstrate that you are a good match, an employer or course scheme manager won’t do this for you.  So part of this ‘looking back’ is about applying this to developing your career/study plans for the future.





Planning ahead will help you graduate!

Are you wondering about whether to use the knowledge and skills you’re gaining or if there’s a ‘better something’ out there?  Within each degree area there will be a variety of related and unrelated careers or further study you could go into.  About 80% of graduate jobs don’t require a specific degree subject, so you could apply for any number of interesting graduate schemes or jobs.  Roughly 10% of graduates will get onto a graduate scheme, often these schemes do not want a specific subject.  There are a huge number of SME (small and medium enterprises) who are very keen to take on students who have developed graduate level skills, in a variety of career ideas.  Just being a graduate itself will give you plenty of skills and experience which will be appreciated by employers if you can present them well enough.



Image sourced from Wikimedia
Author: Petey21

So, the end of this academic year is here, and the beginning of the future is just around the corner!  Is this true for everyone?  If you are finishing your degree course, the answer will be an obvious yes.  But if you are in your first or second year, it is also worth viewing this summer as a new beginning too.  Doing an audit will help you identify what opportunities might be worth targeting to develop your skills or test out your newly acquired knowledge over the next academic year.

 

Your career is going to last a very long time, and it can take time to find the ‘perfect’ career or vacancy - this won’t always happen straight after university.  Did you know you can use the College careers service for up to 3 years after finishing your course?  Careers support is often about helping students audit themselves, to develop their own career management skills.  And you can use the service forever if you are an employer looking to fill a vacancy in the future!  So, whatever year you are in, now is a good time to celebrate the end and start to plan for the beginning.

Written by Mark Yates, Careers Coordinator

Our two Norwegian student bloggers give their perspective on their course - BSc (Hons) Animal Science!

Last time we discussed which student events to attend, now we will tell you a bit about what we are doing on a daily basis. As we have mentioned earlier we study Animal Science. There are many doors that are open in the animal industry after getting a degree in Animal Science and we both have different aspirations on what we will use our degree for.

Gerbil in the Titchmarsh Centre

In the first year of the course a lot of practical work is done, which will come handy later on in life, especially if you are looking at a career where you will do a lot of hands-on work, like working in a zoo or as a vet. This was one of the reasons we chose to study at Writtle College.






The most exciting module of the first year was Mammalian Anatomy and Physiology and the Comparative Anatomy and Physiology.



When we had lab sessions we had so much fun, we had dissections on every lab practical, which we personally think is when you learn the most. We both thought that we would be disgusted by the dissections as you get to look at some quite nasty stuff, but it is way more exciting than disgusting and makes up for it. If you want to work as a scientist later on in life the lab sessions are very important and would come in handy, also in the veterinarian profession as we study reproductive system, nervous system, digestive system and so on.  

Dissections are fun!



We are both very happy that we chose Writtle College because the academic experience at Writtle is very good! Not to mention our lecturers, they are very knowledgeable and that is something we admire. We think they are easy to talk to and you can have a laugh with them occasionally, which makes the university experience so much better.

 

 

As we study Animal Science and not Animal Management, as you expect we have modules which are science related such as Biochemistry in the first year and Animal Health Science and Reproduction and Genetics in the second year. They can be a bit challenging but they are also a lot of fun and very interesting. Take Reproduction and Genetics as an example, we learn about Mendel and the pea plant which is recap for a lot of people who have done biology before, but when we take that to the next level and start to look at several traits that are inheritable, it becomes very interesting and fun to do. 

We are both looking forward to next year, our last and final year of our degree. It is exciting and scary at the same time, especially thinking about our dissertation. Luckily, we both have found something we want to write about and hopefully we will get our data collected over the summer so that the next year might be a bit easier. 

Thank you for reading and I hope you liked what we had to say!

Bye for now, from Anne-Marthe & Serine

More information on our BSc (Hons) Animal Science and Animal Management courses

 

How to best prepare for your future career!

Mark Yates (left), Careers Coordinator

Now that half of the academic year has passed, it’s a good time to reflect on what you are learning, how this will help with your future career, and what will make you stand out from the crowd.  There are several things to take into consideration...

How could you use your knowledge and skills relating to your course?

You will have picked up a lot of knowledge and skills on your course that you may want to use in a future career. If you haven’t started already, it’s probably a good time to start building links with possible employers that you might consider working for in the future. Find out about any work experience or internships that will be available in the coming summer, and ensure you swap contact details.

It’s not just about knowing facts and figures, but about your transferable skills and motivation too!

Employers tend to recruit staff that are motivated and keen to learn. They are also looking out for key transferable skills; communication, team work, problem solving and showing initiative, alongside some commercial awareness – how can your current studies and experience demonstrate these? If you need help with identifying what skills you have, ask!

Do you want to use your course in a related career?

Having now had some experience of studying the course, do you want to use it to find a directly related career? Or is it just a stepping stone to go in a different direction? If you want to talk this through, you can make an appointment with the careers department who will be happy to help: careers@writtle.ac.uk

Are you planning on studying another course after your current course?

Have you enjoyed studying? Are there parts of the course that you would like to develop more in-depth knowledge about? After your current studies there are several progression options for you to consider. You could look at another college course, a degree course or even postgraduate study!  All the skills and knowledge you have gained will help you in the next level of study.

What work experience or commercial awareness have you developed?

Regardless of the qualification you are studying, employers really like to see that you’ve got some relevant work experience – so now would be a great time to start looking for a work placement for the summer break. It will be a good chance to put into practise what you’ve learnt at College, and also give you something else that employers really value – commercial awareness. What’s commercial awareness? It’s about understanding how businesses work, and how your role in the organisation will help it run as best as possible.  By gaining some experience you can also start to build up your awareness of labour market information, i.e. what opportunities are out there that you might be interested in, and how to access them!

Next steps…..

After some thinking about your course and how you might want to use it in the future, now comes the ‘planning’ part, regardless of whether you have a definite goal in mind or not. Make sure your CV and social media profiles are up to date and professional looking. If you would like support and guidance in writing a CV, developing your social media profiles or you would like to discuss work experience options and/or further study options, please email the Careers department on careers@writtle.ac.uk. It’s never too early to start planning, and never too late to actually do something about your future – it’s just a case of developing the ‘career planning’ skills to make the most of your opportunities. 

 

Written by Mark Yates