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.

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! 

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