The Aspire Guide - Flipbook - Page 30
Careers
Start Preparing for Careers Success Now
It’s never too early to start considering your career options, boosting your CV and gaining valuable
work experience. Don’t worry if you’re still not sure what you want to do in the future - explore 26
great career ideas on pages 34-53.
You can get a headstart by contacting local employers to see
if they’ll give you a weeks’ work experience before you get to
university. Once you get to university, a lot of firms offer Spring
Week work experience programmes for First Years, which often
can be converted into a paid Summer Internship in Second Year.
You should apply for Spring Weeks in your first term of university,
and you are far more likely to get the role if you’ve already had
some work experience, or been involved in extracurricular activities
such as sports and societies (and taken on leadership roles within
these). Having had a Spring Week or internship makes you much
more likely to get a graduate job, so it’s important to start thinking
about careers and improving your CV early on.
That being said, if you’re not sure what you want to do, don’t panic! Plenty of students are still figuring
this out, and there’s always opportunities to change your career later in life. Reading about different
career paths and trying jobs out through work experience is a great place to start, even if, in the end, this
only shows you what jobs you don’t want to do.
Salma is a Programme Leader at upReach and shares her Top Tips for students
wishing to start improving their employability early on:
My role as a Programme Coordinator is to support my Associates to develop their
employability skills to enable them to secure internships and top graduate roles. I have
seen first-hand how thinking about career options early is important in helping students
to recognise what opportunities interest them so they can develop the relevant skills
needed for long-term success.
1
Get experience: This could be work experience shadowing members of staff in a role that interests
you. You can also gain valuable experience through a part-time job, or by volunteering for a local
community project. By learning more about what you enjoy (and what you don’t), you can narrow
down potential career options.
2
Explore career ideas: Research the job market to see which career paths may interest you. Consider
what your ideal career sector would be - could it be the private sector, the public sector or not-forprofit? Start by having a look at the sector profiles showcased on pages 36-53!
3
Develop key skills: There are a number of skills that employers look for, including teamwork, leadership
and problem-solving. Think about the activities you are involved in and how you can develop those
key skills before starting university. For example, if you are part of a football team, ask if there is an
opportunity to take on a position of responsibility.
4
Register interest in becoming an upReach Associate: When you become an undergraduate student
you will be allocated a dedicated Programme Coordinator (like myself!) to receive free, personalised
employability support to help you succeed in your long-term career goals.
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