The Next Steps

So my three years are almost up and my degree is nearly over. It definitely didn’t go how I expected with the pandemic moving half of my time at university to online but we made it nevertheless. But what now? I’ve been so focused on my assignments that the need to be applying for jobs has startled me a bit. However, this is the time to do it and I’m devoting a lot of my energy now to getting myself out there.

Getting a Good CV together

I’m sure if you are at this point then you already have a CV written. It’s best to have several versions of it tailored to each role you apply for – hired@UCB have a great CV builder resource and are happy to check your CV over and offer ways for you to improve it. I’ve found that there are thousands of people all claiming to have the ideal way for you to build your CV, but just remember to make it specific to you and not fill it with buzzwords that do not apply to your experience. It’s even better to get someone who works in the industry you want to go into to look at it, or anyone you know involved with hiring. Just take advice wherever you can get it.

Experience

Most of us started a degree at University College Birmingham to gain skills to work in a specific industry, though you might still not have any direct work experience that seemingly every job is asking for. But you’re not going to get that until you get a foot in the door, so in the meantime focus on the key skills that your previous work experience gave you and highlight any modules you completed that directly relate to the job you are looking for.

So for example, while I have no work experience in product development, my product development module required me to fulfil a product specification brief and my experience working in restaurants allowed me to create new dishes for the menu. On my course we have had a few guest speakers including previous graduates who all gained jobs in the industry after leaving University College Birmingham. Take the opportunity to ask them how much experience they had before working and reassuringly, you’ll realise they were in the same position as you are straight after graduating,

Confidence

Looking for jobs can be overwhelming. Several of the roles seem out of reach and it can be tough feeling ready. We all have individual skills, and if you think back to when you started your degree, the knowledge you have across your subject will be far wider and more in depth than you ever realised. It takes a lot of work to get through every assignment and if you’ve managed to do that then you are more than ready to start applying those skills.

I hope this blog is helpful to anyone struggling with the job search. The biggest hurdle is putting yourself out there.

Have a great week,

Joshua