Last updated:
09 December 2011
Look beyond your horizons
Employment and Careers
Although most often concern about employment comes towards the end of the university experience, career direction frequently informs university choice. Schools usually have a careers service working in conjunction with Connexions.
The following web sites offer a variety of advice on potential careers as well as current job opportunities:
Careers Advice - a Direct.Gov publication
The Big Choice - intended for graduates seeking employment
Careers a-z - a general careers web site, but with a higher education emphasis
Prospects - intended for graduates and offering careers advice, information about jobs and work, and a section on postgraduate study.
Milkround is another organisation operating through universities. Milkround has ‘100’s of internships, placements, graduate jobs and schemes from leading employers across all industries’ (their words).
Sandwich Courses
When running university courses I was never a fan of sandwich placements, having seen a lot of students lose motivation. Today, I am a changed person. Firstly, universities are now much more serious about the placements they find, and how they supervise students on placement. Sometimes the placement experience counts to the class of degree. Secondly, once graduated and looking for a job, having some real and relevant experience under your belt counts heavily with the potential employer, and gives competitive edge.
Many universities and courses offer work experience or ‘sandwich’ courses, where one year (usually the third year) is spent working in industry, after which the student returns for their final year of study. Although the university will normally find the placement for you, you are at liberty to look for exactly the right job yourself. Some placements take place overseas, in Europe, the USA and Australasia.
You might also be looking for a Gap Year job. The following web site specifically supports gap year and work experience during university:
Finally, many students need to work part-time in order to support themselves through university. Every university is aware of this and has a support group with information about local employment opportunities. Check the web sites for the universities you are interested in.
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