What motivates you?
Consider your values and motivations. Reflect on experiences, skills and knowledge you've gained through your time at the University, including placements and internships. Think about what motivated you, what you want from life and your career. Below are some tools you can use to help you:
A warm welcome from Careers Network
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- Find out what it is really like to work in a sector by receiving one to one support from a professional mentor via the Careers Network Mentoring scheme. If you happen to miss out on this scheme and you are coming to the end of your final year, don’t worry! We have the Graduate Mentoring scheme that you can apply for.
- Understand your preferences: Take some our psychometric tests on Graduates First to understand your learning style, personality preferences and information on different companies.
- Engage with the B-Enterprising programme of activities and events if you want to start your own business. This programme supports the development of transferable, all-round enterprising skills and confidence to stand out and be successful in any career.
- Complete The Birmingham Award. This programme provides recognition of your involvement in activities and successes outside of academic study and helps you articulate your skills. This will help you prepare for real-world recruitment processes.
- Complete a strengths assessment - this can help you to understand and identify your personal strengths, how you can effectively communicate them and where they could take you in the future
Plan your journey and find your career
Learn about different opportunities and gain an understanding about graduate recruitment processes involved:
- Attend some of our employer events, recruitment fairs and skills-based workshops throughout the year. Many employers are interested in recruiting graduates from any discipline.
- Use websites like Prospects, and Graduates First for guides to gain specialist sector information.
- Discover what graduates have gone on to do by exploring Student Stories to help you gain some career inspiration.
- If you are looking to continue your academic journey, visit our webpages on further study. Attending university postgraduate open days and careers workshops on 'Applying for Masters and PhDs' will help you identify courses and prepare applications.
- Are you considering taking a gap year, or travelling? Look at building up work experience via international work experience or graduate internships.
- Explore different sectors on our Sector Insights pages. Discover guidance on working and gaining experience in different sectors.
- Look at our webpage on Graduate Schemes to identify when you would need to submit applications for different companies or sectors.
- Graduate employer information from AGR, Times 100, High Fliers will tell you more about recruiters, graduate schemes, and recruitment figures.
- Chat to employers who come onto campus, to inform you about work experience and graduate opportunities relevant to you and get advice on their recruitment processes. Attending our careers fairs in Autumn Term will be a great opportunity for you to interact with them directly.
- Understand the typical graduate recruitment timeline - Graduate Schemes may be advertised as early as July, before your final year begins. Most large employers tend to open applications during Term 1, with some continuing into Term 2. From Spring onwards, you will start to see more opportunities from small and medium-sized employers, so it's important to stay engaged throughout the academic year.
Master the application process
It’s time to take action, make a decision and pursue your ideal role or further study!
Moving forward can involve taking practical steps such as seeking CV support, talking to a careers adviser or taking advantage of Careers Network services such as workshops, events, and searching the Careers Connect database for relevant graduate opportunities.
- Use CV Checker to get instant feedback on the first draft of your CV. Make some amendments based on the comments and re-upload it to get more tips.
- Having some interview practice will be useful when you are faced with video, phone, and face to face interviews. You can practise specific interview questions on our practice interview software.
- Worried about your next steps? You can attend our UoB Xtra final year events to engage with Careers staff, Alumni and Staff. Look out for information on this event in the summer term.
- If you need help with your career path, you can book a one-to-one appointment with a careers adviser through Careers Connect for personalised support.
- From crafting a strong CV to preparing for interviews, we offer resources and guidance for the recruitment process. Visit our Application support page to explore toolkits, examples, and tips to help you succeed.
- All graduates receive access to our careers support including online resources, CV and application advice, access to events and employer-led services. Have a look at our graduate careers support website.
- Register your graduate account on Careers Connect for continued access to vacancies.
- Stay connected via following us on Instagram for career tips, event updates, employer insights, and student success stories.