Now that our final year students are heading towards their final exams, we are offering our students the opportunity to come and speak to us about what do in the future. Here is some of the advice we are offering.
The most important thing to start considering is what do you like doing? Do you like working on your own or in a team? In an office or out and about? Do you want to use your degree? What particular aspects of your degree do you enjoy? Where do you want to work – in a big city or even another country? What do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
The Careers Service has a very useful website which is a great source for helping you think about what you would like to do. http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm
A useful section is called I want to work in…and gives information on all kinds of careers: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin.htm
Another website which gives lots of information on careers is the Prospects website: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/types_of_jobs.htm.
If you have an idea of what you would like to do, try and talk to someone who works in that area. If you do not know anybody come and speak to us as we may know an alumni who is working in that area. We have a LinkedIn Page (www.linkedin.com/in/keyneskent/) and we are linked with almost 400 alumni. Or use Kew-net (http://www.kent.aluminate.net/) the University’s mentoring platform to search for alumni who are working in the area you are interested in.
Work experience and internships are incredibly useful when thinking about what you would like to do. It gives you a taste of what life is like in an area, without the need for you to commit to a specific job. Generally when you do work experience or internships you are given the chance to see more than one area of a business, which can help you decide what route you would like to take.
There are a couple of OKish free websites which offer aptitude tests. These websites ask questions and then give some ideas of careers you might want to consider:
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/explorer.htm
A really good step is to make an appointment to speak to Jenny Keaveney, the Careers Adviser for Social Sciences with the Careers and Employability Service: email: J.A.Keaveney@kent.ac.uk or telephone: 01227 827600
Remember…
Once you have graduated you can still have help from John or Katie about any employability issues or if you want someone to look through your CV/application. To contact John email: j.d.peirson@kent.ac.uk or Katie email: k.marshall@kent.ac.uk
The Careers Service is also available to all students after graduation for three years.
Don’t worry about having false starts when choosing a career, finding out you don’t want to do something is just as important as finding out what you do want to do.
An education in Economics provides you with a number of transferable skills. These include problem solving, analysis, data analysis, numeracy, oral and written communication, working in groups, IT, critical thinking, managing your own learning and performance.
Only you can make this decision. Get as much advice and help as possible, but you are the only one who can make the final decision.