How we help students and graduates with their career plans - and we can help you too

This year’s Graduate Outcomes survey shows our students going on to do great things:

• 88% of our undergraduate graduates are in employment or further studt
• 91% of our postgraduate graduates are in highly skilled employment

So, how do we support our students and graduates? We caught up with Daniel Fox, our Head of Student Development, to find out about everything our Careers Service can do for our students and graduates.

What opportunities does the Careers Service offer our students?

Our Careers Service offers a huge range of opportunities for our students. We have a termly programme of events and fairs that students can access both on campus and virtually. We can help students gain Career Mentors and Frontrunner internships working for Essex, as well as supporting students to find a wealth of extracurricular opportunities through our Chart My Path portal. We also offer application support, CV review, and careers guidance appointments to help students get prepared for their next steps.

The Careers Service also has partnerships with a broad range of employers who have a variety of work experience opportunities available along with graduate opportunities.

These can be found on the Jobs Board and explored further at events we run across the year.

Explore our four activity themes on our website:

• Get a job
• Get help with your applications
• Get experience
• Get career ready

Can graduates get support from the Careers Service too?

Absolutely! Essex graduates automatically qualify for careers support for life and can access 1:1 support and careers events for as long as they want. They also get access to our online careers resources and are kept up to date on the latest opportunities.

How can students and graduates get in touch?

Students and graduates can email us on careersinfo@essex.ac.uk, and they can also contact us via Facebook and LinkedIn. We also have a live chat on our webpages.

What’s your advice to students who already know which career path they want to take? How do they fulfil their ambitions?

The graduate job market is very competitive, so the more relevant work experience you gain whilst studying, the better – this can really help you stand out from the crowd and secure a graduate role after your studies.

It also helps to invest time in networking to build links with professionals in your desired sector. Plus, most large employers will have graduate recruitment schedules they work to, so it’s really important that you know when application windows will open as some employers start recruiting graduates quite early: during the traditional second year of study, for example.

We encourage you to get involved in university life to develop your confidence, experience, and transferrable skills: for instance, you could join SU societies, enrol in sports and arts activities, and try volunteering. Chart My Path will guide you towards activities you can get involved in and the skills you can develop.

We can support you around all of this, so please do get in touch and make the most of the help available to you.

And your tips for students who don’t know yet?

Don't wait until you graduate to start thinking about your next steps. It is helpful to work on developing your CV and applying for graduate jobs during your studies.

If you are at the very beginning of your degree, you could start by doing some career research. We have lots of information about graduate careers on CareerHub, or you can drop in to see our information team in the Careers Services Zone (ground floor of the Silberrad Student Centre at our Colchester Campus, or at the Info Point on the second floor of The Forum at our Southend Campus) to get some help with your research.

If you aren't sure of your career plans, or have recently changed your mind, you could arrange to have a meeting with a Careers Adviser to talk through your specific situation and think through your options.

Most graduates do not work in their degree subject area after they graduate, so it’s important to be open minded about the types of opportunities you’d like to pursue. There are more options than you may think!

Get in touch with us as soon as possible. We can support you to develop a career plan and work out what direction you’d like take after your studies whoever you are and whatever you want to do. You should also look out for our regular emails from the Careers team, which are full of the latest opportunities for our students.