You’ve finished your January exams, great work! Now you’ve taken some time to recover, it’s a great time to start thinking about your next steps after university.

Speaking from experience, I know this can be a daunting task. In my first blog, I spoke about how to get started with some initial research for your first steps after University. The problem is, there is so much information out there, I found myself wondering where the best place was to start my job hunting, and what advice to listen to. In the end, I felt really unsure about how best to tackle the choices presented to me.

Feeling overwhelmed? Don’t panic…

It’s okay to feel this way. I did, and I’m pretty sure most of your friends do too, no matter how much they appear to have it all together. There is a lot of information out there, and it can end up being a bit of an overload.

There are so many options out there, where do you even start!

You may be thinking “How do I filter through the all the websites and endless information?”. If you have researched what you want to do, or you have some idea, it’s a great start; however, if you still have that uneasy feeling of where to even start, listen up! I could have the answer.

Are you aware that the university can help you? Fortunately, you have an award-winning Careers service right on your doorstep; located in the Bridgeman Student Service Building, right next to the EHB.

You may have already been, great, go again! If you haven’t, I’m going to give you some advice I wish I could have given my stubborn third-year self.

This is the perfect time for you to utilise the university’s facilities whilst you still can, and you can start by visiting the Careers Network. They care about your future, and they are there to help you.

You can book an appointment or go to a drop in session, just talking to one the Careers Consultants can really help, they are experts after all.

Get to know your departments’ career consultant.

You can find the consultants on the Careers Network website.

I didn’t utilise the university’s Careers Network whilst I was at university, but having worked with the team, I really wish I’d stopped making excuses and gone to visit them sooner.  Now I’m telling you, learn from my mistakes!

They can give you great advice really quickly. I walked away from an appointment feeling reassured, I had a new positive outlook and I felt motivated to tackle the world.

Take advantage of the time you have here and the facilities that are provided.

When you finish, you don’t want to regret not seizing the opportunity.

Have a great term and keep an eye out for my final blog at Easter time!

Here are some other links you might find useful:

Schools Page – great place to find course specific careers links and ideas

Graduate profiles – see what alumni from your course have gone on to do

Careers toolkit – work out what you like and what you might be good at

About the author:

Hi, I’m Sarah, I graduated in 2017 with a BA in Fine Art. Since graduating, I have found that life after university planned out differently from what I imagined, and you know what, the real world is hard.

I am currently working as an intern at Loughborough University’s Careers Network. I’m assisting with a new project to help my fellow 2017 graduates find full-time graduate level employment.

From my current role and my own personal experience I would like to help you guys prepare for life after university, which is why between now and Easter, I’ll be writing three blogs full of things I wish I’d known about employment after university when I was a finalist.