Career Planning in the Time of Covid-19

Normally spring is full steam ahead for the final year students. As a Careers Service we would be seeing students and posting blogs about applying for jobs, putting the finishing touches to CVs and preparing for interviews. But these current times as we know aren’t ‘normal’.

However, there is still a lot you can do in terms of career planning and this blog has top tips for staying resilient in these challenging times. So in no particular order here are some tips that could help.

Who’s recruiting?

We will post any positive news we hear from recruiters about opportunities. Last week we posted some great news from Gradcracker who are advertising jobs, internships and placements for STEM students and graduates. These companies we speculate might need people for other business functions such as HR, marketing and finance, so even if you aren’t a STEM student its worth checking those companies out. Go to the Gradcracker website for more details and then use that to locate company websites. https://www.gradcracker.com/

Also, check out all the vacancy sources and register with these so opportunities pop into your inbox. https://www.brighton.ac.uk/careers/resources/index.aspx

Being more flexible in career choice 

If you are final year  you may have a strong idea in your head about what you want to do. However some industries are going to feel the pain more than others. So maybe think about getting a graduate job in another field and work towards your original goal when things pick up.

Around 70% of graduate jobs are for any graduate and areas that are likely to be recruiting include those with a statutory obligation to provide a service and are deemed to be essential. Areas such charity and voluntary work, local and national government (Civil Service), education, health and social care, food retail, transport and logistics are all worth a look. Have a look at the job sectors on Prospects for more details. https://www.prospects.ac.uk/jobs-and-work-experience/job-sectors

Many graduate jobs require and will help you build skills in management, problem solving, IT and teamwork amongst others so any experience is useful to the next stage of your career.

And who knows, you might find you really enjoy the job and decide you want to remain there?

Update your CV

Make sure your CV is up to date and that you know how to tailor it. Quick ways of tailoring are:

Make the personal profile/career aim/summary is as relevant as possible to each job.

Key modules and your dissertation are listed, especially if they are relevant to the job.

All the key skills in the Job Description are mentioned on the CV. Companies often use ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) so if you don’t put the key skills on the CV your application is likely to get rejected at the earliest stage. https://www.brighton.ac.uk/careers/looking-for-a-job/careers-advice/how-to-write-a-cv/index.aspx

As always we are happy to help and want you to get in touch with us if you need help and advice. https://www.brighton.ac.uk/careers/contact-us/index.aspx

We will keep on posting more blogs soon that will provide more advice on helping you be prepared.