Why do it now?
Whether you know exactly where you’re headed or haven’t got a clue, the end of the second year is the best time to put your career plans into perspective. As careers adviser Chris Packham from the University of Leicester explains:
‘If you’ve got ideas about your preferred career then now is the time to find out what you need to do in the third year to achieve that. This is really important because a lot of graduate training schemes recruit from the beginning of the third year in the autumn term.’
Some of the most competitive graduate programmes like the Civil Service Fast Stream and NHS management training schemes will have closing dates around the end of November early December. Similarly if you’re interested in further study and courses like the PGCE you will need to be ahead of the game in order to meet early deadlines.
‘Even if you don’t have a particular idea of what you want to do at the end of your third year, now is a good time to be thinking about work experience,’ says Chris. ‘This summer vacation is the last one before you graduate and it’s a good opportunity to get some experience which will enhance your job applications in the third year.’
Where do I start?
‘Students should start with their university careers service,’ suggests Chris. ‘Careers services are good places to visit because there are a lot of resources and information that you can return to again and again whenever you want.
‘We also recommend that students use a tool like Prospects Planner which is another useful way that students can match their interests and preferences to some possible career options,’ Chris adds.
What makes a career plan?
Having identified some possible careers and narrowed your options now comes the difficult part, actually drawing up a practical plan that can help you work towards your goal. So what exactly does a career plan involve?
‘Any career plan should have some objectives,’ says Chris. ‘A good objective might be to think about what situation you want to be in this time next year when you graduate. Identify where you want to be in a year’s time and develop some action points, or steps towards achieving that objective.’ It is also important to remember than one type of career plan won’t necessarily fit all, as Chris explains:
‘Different graduate careers may have different ways of getting into them and, in particular, different timing points. Law is a classic example of an instance where you have to plan a year ahead of most professional routes because you need to apply for your training contract in your second year.’
Though the actual contents of a career plan will vary from individual to individual, one thing is guaranteed; whatever industry you hope to enter, getting some plans in place now will pay dividends for your career in the long run.