Finding your Future
What can I do with my degree?
This is probably the most common question that we get asked in the Careers Centre – so don’t worry about not knowing how you are going to use your degree for your future career! Making the right decision for YOU will take time – which is why we advise you to start researching your career as soon as possible.
From Year 1 onwards you are most welcome to book an appointment with a careers adviser to discover what your options are.
Why so soon?
Well – it may take some time to work out which careers you are interested in. You may need to try some voluntary or paid work experience to discover what an organisation or type of work is really like and to see if you are interested in developing your skills in that area.
Even if you know what you want to do, you need to research the work, the organisations offering employment i.e. who are your future employers? You need to look for networking opportunities to make contacts and possibly a mentor in your chosen area.
You need to gain relevant work experience, paid, unpaid, investigate summer opportunities and look for someone who can provide you with a good reference for your chosen career. Some professions will ask for specific amounts of work experience e.g. teaching, law, social work etc and for some work experience is the main way into a career e.g. media, performing arts etc
So how do I start?
Begin by exploring this website more – especially our Download Zone which has booklets called OPTIONS WITH A DEGREE IN….. These have been specifically written by our careers team to answer that question What can I do with my degree? Also look at What our graduates do and the graduate case studies to give you more ideas. Call into the Careers Centre in the SIC and browse through our information library or pick up one of the many publications we display on a variety of career topics.
Graduate Prospects
You should also look at the Prospects website which is the main national graduate website for careers, working in partnership with university careers services.
The following are just a few suggested links that may help you with your first steps to planning your career:
Prospects Planner - combine your skills, motivations and interests into a profile and general ideas to find out what job would suit you.
Read what your job options are and what other graduates in your subject area do next.
Check out detailed job descriptions with information on entry routes, vacancy and information sources and case studies
Finally…
Don’t be a stranger! Our service is for you. If you cannot find information that you need or things are not clear – do come and speak to us. The earlier we meet you, the more we can help!
We look forward to meeting you soon!
Last updated: 26-Aug-2010
