Hello and welcome back to another blog post! This week’s blog post was a suggestion from a fellow blogger https://maisjohnson.com/ and today I’ll be giving some (hopefully) useful tips for university students and graduates! Shall we begin?

It’s never too early to start looking at career opportunities

If you’re someone who likes to plan ahead for the future then it’s never too early to start looking at career opportunities and what job role you might want to pursue. In fact even when you decide what you want to study, then start looking at what job roles are available from it. The last thing you want is to study a subject with a very small career field making it harder to find a job. If you’re someone who would like to make something yourselves and you see yourself as being your own boss then it’s also never to early to start researching about how to start up a business and then maybe start by creating a blog, or a website and social media accounts for your business? Gain an audience while you’re still studying and then focus on expanding your business more after you graduate!

Extra reading will help a lot!

If you are studying something at university that is new for you then extra reading is essential! I had never studied nutrition previously before and I often found myself feeling lost in the lectures. So I decided to do some extra reading in my first year and it helped me a lot! So I definitely recommend this! Even if you are very familiar with your major it’s still good to read and be well informed of maybe new studies or books out there that can help you!

Try to space out your assignments and prioritise them by deadline

Having more than one assignment due in the same month can be so frustrating and it’s so very common! So one thing that helped me a lot was spacing my assignments. For example if I had two assignments due in May, one in the beginning and during the end of May, I would probably start planning for the first assignment at the end of March and have the whole of April with a proper plan and writing out my assignment. While I am currently writing out my first assignment I would spend an hour on various days planning the next assignment so that once May comes around the first assignment it ready to be submitted and the second assignment is all planned out and all you need to do is write!

Sometimes your careers department help, sometimes they don’t

Every university has a careers department and every student has mixed feelings about them. Sometimes they are really useful for some people and for others they are no help. Regardless, you should definitely get to know your careers department better and they might not be able to help you secure a job but they can certainly help you fix your CV and job applications so that they’ll likely get picked for interviews! Remember, while you may think the careers department may be of no help, they are professionals in their job and probably know better than anyone else what an employer looks for so definitely send in your CV and job applications and let them help you with that!

For all new graduates don’t be disappointed in yourself if you’re not doing well with job hunting at the moment

2020 has been a very crappy year for all of us and this pandemic has been nothing short of frustration and disappointment. The job market now is in a very tough situation, there are many unemployed people and it’s become the hardest for graduates to find a job. If you’re someone who’s recently graduated and looking for a job don’t blame yourselves for the situation you’re in, it is not your fault there is no way you could have predicted or even prepared yourself for this. It took me about more than 10 months of proper full time job searching to get myself a full-time job and to be honest I was just lucky to have met my manager because I can tell you now I was absolutely crap at that interview! But your time will come and it will shock and you will feel so happy that you finally made it after such a long and hard journey , but it pays off in the end and it just ends up as just another bad memory. So don’t give up and don’t lose hope in yourself, someone will come to realise your potential and offer you an amazing career opportunity!

Use Linked In to connect with employers

For those of you who may not know LinkedIn is a social media platform for employers, businesses and employees to connect and is a useful tool to have! With LinkedIn you can connect with employers and they can learn a little more about you. Now this doesn’t alwasy guarantee a job, but if you keep your profile up to date and if you connect well you may see some career opportunities heading your way!

Take some time out to have a break!

This last piece of advice is for both university students and graduates. It’s essential to take some time out to have a break! It wil be good for your mental health and it will remind yourself that you’re doing so well already and that you deserve that break! So close your laptop every once in a while and go out for a walk or eat something delicious!

I hope those tips helped in some way and if you have any other tips for people than leave them in comment box below!