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Career planning Leadership

7 Ways to Get Involved with Careers at Queen’s

Peter Moor, BA English graduate lists seven ways to get involved with the Careers Service at Queen’s.

Trips

This has to be the best bit about the careers service – the different trips on offer!  I went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip to New York and Washington D.C as part of the Global Leadership Programme. For just £250, we went away for a week to learn leadership skills and all about the future of work. Each year, around 30 students go on the trip to a different exotic destination so this year it’s Toronto. There are also different trips to the likes of Germany, Brussels and London – all of which give you invaluable experience of what it’s like to work in different places across the world.

CV clinics

To get any form of work placement or graduate job, you’re going to need a mighty fine CV. The careers service offers regular CV clinics to make sure your CV is the very best it can be. These are free and have been so useful for me gaining different work placements. They’ll even have a nosey at your LinkedIn profile, making sure it is up to scratch.

Interview Practice

When you’re going for that graduate job, the likelihood is you’ll be put through your paces with a range of interviews. A good way to gain confidence in this area is to meet with one of the careers consultants to give you some hints and tips! Also, the Student Guidance Centre, where the careers services are based, have a room available if you ever need to do a video interview by webcam.

Careers Fairs

If you have no idea what area you want to go into then the Careers Fairs are perfect. Every few months, you’ll find a fair with representatives from all the big graduate employers. It’s a great opportunity to network with the people that you could one day be employing you! They’re also really good for finding work placement opportunities. A lot of degrees now include a paid year out in industry so these fairs are the best way to find the company you want to spend a year working with.

Social Media

One way to get involved Queen’s Careers service is to follow them on their social media on FacebookTwitterInstagram and LinkedIn. You’ll find tonnes of useful advice and reminders for any events coming up. As a student, you’ll also have access to their online portal MyFuture to book onto any careers related event.

On-Campus Jobs

On the MyFuture portal, you can find lots of different part time jobs on offer at Queen’s. These range from being a campus tour guide and student ambassador (my job!) to helping with catering on campus. All of these roles are really flexible so if you have exams or assignments due, then you don’t have to do any work if you don’t want to. It’s also a good source of income to top up that student loan.

Categories
Career planning

How to use the careers development services at Queen’s

BSc (Hons) Human Biology student Hannah Badger on how Queen’s careers team can help you find your purpose and follow your passion.

Where can I find it?

The Student Guidance Centre (situated beside Elmwood Hall) houses a number of services to support you throughout your academic journey. This includes the Careers, Employability and Skills team at Queen’s. They’re a team of people united in the goal of helping you find your ideal career, improve your employability and assisting you in gaining the skills employers want.

What is the SGC Hub? 

On the ground floor of the Student Guidance Centre is The Hub. Here you’ll find the student assistants who can show you how to use MyFuture, inform you of skills workshops and fairs and assist with any careers-related queries. Additionally, you can find lots of takeaway resources from CV checklists to sector specific information (from the University and industry). The ground floor of the SGC is an open area and students are welcome to come in to relax or study when presentations aren’t taking place.

Who can I speak to? 

Every student in the University has access to a careers advisor who they can meet for careers-related help and advice. Face-to-face support can come in the form of a CV check or careers consultation. Most students receive this face-to-face support through appointments booked on MyFuture. However, throughout the year, careers advisors go to locations across the University, such as the McClay Library, to offer on-the-spot CV checks. Your subject-specific careers advisor will also send you a newsletter every month informing you of relevant opportunities.

Meeting Employers

A number of large careers fairs are held throughout the year in Whitla Hall, allowing students to interact with employers. These fairs usually have a theme, whether that is work experience or placement, graduate recruitment or global opportunities. The opportunity to speak to employers directly is invaluable. From my own personal experience I’ve discovered companies, got specific details of recruitment processes and found opportunities I didn’t know existed – both in Northern Ireland and further afield.

Smaller careers fairs also run over the course of the semester – usually they’re subject/area specific and held within your school. The companies that attend would like graduates with your specific knowledge and experience. The larger fairs can be a little overwhelming, but the mini-fairs are less daunting.

Gaining Experience and Skills

Development Weeks are another aspect of university life promoted by the CES team. Each year, you’re given three weeks to take part in workshops or skills enhancing experiences that you may not have the chance to take part in while you’ve got scheduled class. There’s an extensive range of programmes and with little difficulty you can find several programmes of interest to you. The majority of activities are also Degree Plus accredited!

Online Access to the Service

The careers service can also be accessed through the Careers, Employability and Skills (CES) website or MyFuture. The CES website is loaded with information from sector relevant careers resources to room bookings for Skype interviews. Additionally, MyFuture can be used to browse upcoming events, sign up for workshops, book careers appointments and apply for jobs.

For those of you on FacebookInstagram and Twitter, CES has their own account which they use to advertise and promote various opportunities throughout the year as they arise.

It’s been a long journey from the start of my degree until now. My final semester. The decision between further education or employment has become very real. It can be difficult to get your head around it all – there are so many options out there – but your careers advisors are there to help.

As a way of a final note, all of the resources, help and guidance you receive is for FREE so why not see what Careers, Employability and Skills can do for you.