If you are a final year student I am assuming you form part of the majority of people who are not too sure what they wish to do after graduating. With deadlines for the large organisations’ graduate schemes drawing close, I am beginning to feel a little over-whelmed. Do I want to apply for these jobs? Will it be a waste of my time? Or might I miss out on some amazing opportunities? If you are just finishing up after 18 years of education and aren’t too sure what the next step should be, then continue reading as I try to round up some of our options.
The vast majority of students go straight into full time employment whether it be after the summer or straight off the Waterfront stage. However, it is so important to choose the right way to start your career, as a graduate we have plenty of options, we may not have considered them just yet.
One of those options is to take a gap year as you may decide that after those many years of education you deserve a rest and rightly so! This is a great choice especially if you want to solely concentrate on your degree and achieve your target classification. Allowing you to not have to allocate time to get your CV up to date or to prepare for those tedious recruitment processes. You may get a visa and gain some life experience abroad or perhaps you might work part time in a job not related to your career choice. This allows time to plan your future career after you have your degree in the bag. This would suit you if you are not sure what you want to do next or if you want to gain experience in a particular area.
If you decide you would rather do something else or continue to study after graduation there are loads of options here too. You might realise throughout your final year that this particular area of work is not for you, there is no need to worry as there is no requirement for you to follow this career path blindly. What’s important is that you stop and take count of your strengths and where they would be best utilised. You may decide that a post-grad course would direct you better in terms of what you want to do.
Whether it be at graduate fairs, in the numerous career services or even online you will recognise the major organisations offering graduate programmes, which are great as they offer investment to the potential high flyers. These highly competitive schemes usually last one or two years and provide you with experience in many different sectors within the company, enabling you to get a more fine-tuned view of what type of work would suit you best in your future career. This would suit you if you are highly ambitious and are comfortable in the corporate world.
It is important to remember that this is not the only option as a graduate looking for a job. The truth is that majority of graduates start their career on different routes. Such as working for a smaller business, these roles may be less rigid allowing you to develop skills across a range of functions developing your career quickly, especially if you are willing to work hard. Some disadvantages of this type of work is that training and promotions may be less structured than in larger organisations and starting salaries less attractive. This will suit you if you are a learn quicker, creative and flexible.
Whatever you decide to do, remember to identify your values and passions, don’t rush to any decisions and never stop learning but always remember that the most important thing is to be happy in your work or study.
