Postgraduate students

What is employability?


Simply put, this is whether you are likely to have the right skills to get the jobs that you want when you graduate.

In other words, whether you have the skills that employers are looking for in the people that they hire. Your degree studies will have given you technical skills and knowledge, but employers are also looking for 'softer skills' - skills that mean individuals will integrate into the existing dynamics of a business or organisation and become and effective contributor in as short a time as is possible How to get 'employability skills'.

The good news is that you will already have some! Through studying your undergraduate and postgraduate courses, you have had lots of opportunities to develop skills that employers want:

  • working with others in teams and as well as under your own initiative;
  • deciding on the direction of your projects;
  • conducting research and identifying key information support your point;
  • planning your time and balancing conflicting priorities to make sure deadlines are met

These are all great examples of skills you need to succeed at University AND when in employment. Similarly, if you have worked whilst you've studied or through your holidays you will have had experienced different ways of working in different environments which will give you lots of examples to draw upon for application forms and at interview. However, if you have not yet done this, there is still time....

Look to secure vacation work or work experience/shadowing in the sector/area you are interested in working in - this will not only provide experiences to put on your CV and applications, it will help you stand out as it shows your future Employer a level of motivation and commitment to your chosen career path.

What should you be doing now?


Firstly you should find out about the timelines of Graduate Recruitment. Companies compete to recruit the best graduates and so start taking applications early in the final year, and often stop taking forms around Christmas time, so beat the competition and be ready to apply early in Semester 1!

There is still time to get involved and increase the opportunities you have to learn and develop the skills that employers will want to see on your CV and applications:

In your student life here at KU there are a number of options to explore:

  • Recreational clubs/societies/sports, volunteering;
  • Entrepreneurship programme and competitions
  • Seeking positions of responsibility as course & hall representatives are all great ways to pick up skills
  • The JobShop online vacancy board will provide access to local part time work, internships and work experience for you to apply to whilst you study.
  • Identify specialist websites, publications, discussion boards for your chosen career path and look for opportunities to network with others to learn more about skills needed in that sector, and ideas of what you can do to obtain these skills, and sign up for newsletters to increase your knowledge of what is hot in that sector.
  • Think about the impact your dissertation topic may have on your career choice – it is a great opportunity to take your studies down a route that could be helpful when making applications.

If you are considering a number of options, start by identifying when you need to make these decisions, and spend a bit of time researching your options and the doors that they may open.

How Careers & Employability can help


There is support available for you through a dedicated Careers specialist within your faculty – your 'Employability Coordinator', or EC as we call them for short, is a member of the Careers & Employability Service, but they sit onsite at your Faculty Student Office so should be easy to find.

Your employability co-ordinator will be running a series of events throughout Semester 1 and 2 to help you maximise your potential when applying for postgraduate jobs:

  • Workshops covering key stages in the recruitment cycle: building a CV; completing application forms; preparing for interviews; what to expect at assessment centres & with psychometric tests.
  • Practical sessions to help you put theory into practice: CV labs - a step by step walk through to construct your CV; Speed interviewing - get a taste of what an interview feels like from the people that could be interviewing you! Psychometric tests & feedback - online numerical & verbal reasoning tests to help you prepare for the real thing.
  • Jobs fairs, networking events and seminars bringing Employers and industry experts on campus providing insights into careers, job market awareness, and how to succeed in your career goals.

In addition, you can visit the Careers & Employability offices at Cooper House where you will find a bank of computers for you to use (at no cost!) to conduct your careers search, and an information library covering career and post graduate study options, and how materials to help you prepare for the different stages of recruitment

Through JobShop, we also provide access throughout the year to local employers looking for part time & vacation staff, and typically have in excess of 150 jobs available to graduates and post graduates to apply to at any one time Don’t know what to do?

If you want a job when you graduate you need start thinking about this as soon as possible so that you do not miss important deadlines. There are loads of websites that will help guide your thinking and may give you some good ideas for further research.

Don’t worry, there is still plenty of time, but to keep your options open, you should start thinking about this sooner rather than later - if you are not sure where to start, contact your employability co-ordinator for advice.

Use your holidays productively - temporary or vacation work is a great way of testing out different types of working environment - For example:

Would you rather be office-based or outdoors?
How different is accounting work and marketing?
Would you rather work contributing as part of a team, or be responsible solely for your own output?
And what is the real difference in working in the public and the private sector?

Temp work can be enlightening to see what suits you and your preferences and what does not! You could also consider a year out to experience different working environments and cultures by either working at home, travelling overseas, volunteering etc. Your future employer will not mind as long as you can demonstrate this has been a productive time that helped you gain skills and focus for your career goal.

Talk to others - family, friends, tutors, colleagues - they know you well, and will undoubtedly know about lots of different types of jobs and roles that may give you some further inspiration