Now is the time of year when people start looking forward to the start of their university careers, while those who are nearing the end of their courses are looking forward to commencing their careers in earnest.
There was an interesting post on Su Butchers excellent justpractising blog from a student starting his degree who was worried that there would not be an opportunity at the end of it. I responded and it also sparked a conversation within the Calibre office; what makes the best Graduates we’ve spoken to over the years, the best?
We came to a number of conclusions and wonder if there is anything else that you would add to the list?
Has not necessarily got a First class honours, but got a first class attitude
A passion for the subject and knowledge of the wider issues around it
Being comfortable talking about what they done and their reasons for taking that subject.
Can demonstrate social skills; they make the interviewer think that they will be able to do the job well, but also interact with the team.
Having a career plan beyond “get a job”, “work for the industry leader” or “do something in sustainability/cutting edge/world changing” but with no substance of what or how.
Looking at this list some aspects can be learnt, while others can be developed from your existing skill set. One thing is sure; while you are completing your course you can be effectively working to enhance your career prospects and more than likely benefiting your studies too.
As someone starting or part way through your degree you are in a great position to prepare yourself for getting in to a top graduate role; notice our first point was not necessarily having a First. While it is easy to think you have other things to do right now and time before you need to think about it, the steps to ensure you are ahead of your peers are simple, but will take time for you to benefit:
Look for, and take, any opportunity to get industry related experience during your course, not just during your placement – doubly important if your course does not have one.
Attend CPD (Continued Professional Development) seminars ran by your professional body outside of lectures, partly for the information, but also to get in contact with people who are in the trade and of influence.
Emphasise your desire to learn the basics in a live environment when talking with people in industry. University will give you them in a teaching one, but the first thing that most Graduates find in their role is that there is a lot of difference between doing a project in class to one in practice!
Get involved with LinkedIn groups; it will boost your knowledge and expand your contact base and therefore chances of getting opportunities that others won’t even know about.
Learn about the wider world, read beyond the university texts (Twitter is fantastic for this) and maybe start a blog; you could post about your learning process, trends that you see within industry and ideas that you have.
If you want a good example of the above, visit this website and blog: http://www.concretegeek.co.uk/. I came across Charlotte on Twitter and we’ve had a few conversations around the blogs that she has posted on her area of expertise and also thoughts about issues around engineering. Her website is well thought out, brilliantly presented and has a feel of maturity about it; it obviously was not put together a couple of weeks ago as part of a frenzied “I’m graduating in a month and need to get something on the web now” process; I’d guess it has been given a couple of evolutions, a lot of consideration and thought over time.
Her blog posts are well written, thoughtful and show consistency. Similarly on Twitter, Charlotte comes over as professional, conversational and knowledgeable. She is also organising CPD events for the IStructE within her university while as you would expect she has an up to date LinkedIn profile.
If you are studying think about how easy Charlotte will find it to write her CV when looking for work because she has been doing all of the above. If you are an employer you may actually wonder if she’ll need one or just take the suggestion that people look up “Concrete Geek” on the web…
The thing with the ideas above is that they will build your knowledge and profile to the outside world and take you beyond being just another Graduate, which is just what Charlotte has achieved. While going through that process she has created and demonstrated a profile of someone who has really thought about what they are doing, where they are going and want to do. More importantly, it will have given her access to people who can, and will, help her down the line.
As a final thought, if you are entering year one or are near the start of your course and concerned about the future, don’t be. You have a few years to go and in that time the work situation will change while industry will have adjusted to the new economic climate. That means that the world will be a different place to what it is now (for better and hopefully not worse!) and you will have best prepared yourself for it.
Best of luck and enjoy! If you can would like to add any thoughts, comments or advice please feel free to add them below and broaden out the discussion.
