SPS Employability Officer Annamarie shares updates for all Physics students on upcoming events to help you plan ahead.
We are nearing that wonderful time of the year when we all gain a little bit of daylight and, hopefully more energy.
Regardless of your subject of study, if you are in stage 2 of a BSc or stage 3 of a Master’s Programme, you can still apply for years in industry or summer internships. Gradcracker is still advertising lots of interesting roles seeking students of all subjects STEM!
Stage 0 – A timetabled session is coming up on Friday the 13th of March. Get a head start on how to build on a strong foundation and make the most of stage 1 study. Come along to find out how to identify skills to develop or acquire. Where to find valuable experiences to strengthen your CV while you study and take control of your work life planning now.
The following competition is open to all students!
ICAEW, the world leading professional qualifications organisation, is searching UK universities to find the brightest 100 students with the potential to be the next generation of business leaders and inviting you to take part!
This inclusive competition is open to all current students who are keen to undertake a short exercise with the chance to advance their career. Test your skills against your peers, and students with the top 100 scores by the time the competition closes will be in with a chance of winning some amazing prizes and exclusive opportunities.
The student with the highest overall score will win:
- A £5,000 cash prize to be used for personal development towards your future career!
- A one on one employability skills session with a member of the ICAEW student recruitment team. You will learn how to improve your interview technique, create an eye-catching CV and increase your commercial awareness amongst other skills.
Through a short online application and a quick exercise, students from all years and disciplines have the potential to win this fantastic prize as well as the opportunity to add exceptional extra-curricular experience to their CV.
Take part here: https://icaew100.com/uk
Also, spotlight on the Professional Societies, this month for Physics and the IoP. Rachael Perkins is the student in the know when it comes to getting the best out of professional society student memberships. Read what she has to say about the IoP below:
IOP – What can they do for you?
Hello fellow physics students, I’m Rachael, a fourth year MPhys student. I’m also the IOP’s campus ambassador for Kent as well as being an associate member of the IOP. This is just a little a word to tell you what the IOP can do for you from an insider’s perspective. Did you know that the physics courses at Kent are IOP accredited (except ASSA…sorry guys)? It’s true! This means that the course is guaranteed to meet the requirements for IOP membership. That’s great because membership to the IOP comes with many benefits.
First of all, associate membership only costs £15 a year. That’s cheaper than most societies on campus! I can tell you as a member myself, it’s worth it. The IOP has around 50 special interest groups, so there is something for everyone. Each group will have talks throughout the year, all over the UK. As a member, you’ll get updates about the groups you’re interested in and will be able to go. These talks are given by experts in their fields and have never failed to stay interesting. The IOP also offer tailored support whilst you’re undertaking your undergraduate degree, which continues well into your career. This support includes CV building, exam stress techniques and hosting employer panels which you can attend and ask employers directly how to look good to perspective employers. I found the latter really useful, particularly how to make a good LinkedIn profile and use it effectively.
If you want to know more about what the IOP can do for you, you can visit their website: www.iop.org or you can email me with any questions at rap30@kent.ac.uk. You can also email me and ask to put on the IOP events emailing list coming soon where I’ll be keeping you updated with any upcoming IOP events near Kent. Thanks for reading!
Rachael Perkins, IOP Campus Ambassador for the University of Kent
Stage 1 – Gradcracker still has the odd one or two opportunities for summer internships for stage 1 students. These are paid opportunities and will not take up your whole summer. For those of you who attended the first of the Placements and Employability Lectures, thank you. Remember that many schemes will open over the summer and there will be a Moodle CV checking service over the summer.
Slides for the sessions are mailed to the group at the end of each session.
Finalists. If you are still undecided about your next steps or are unsure of what action to take, then I urge you to book an individual guidance appointment with the Careers Service. They are helpful and will help you to work things through. Continuing Students. If you will be coming back for your final year in the autumn then remember that you can still apply for summer internships and years in industry. Whatever you do, plan to spend a bit of time over the summer thinking about your next steps beyond the University of Kent. Try to formulate a plan to research, apply for and be interviewed by graduate employers or research supervisors.
Stage 4 – Finalists. Keep applying for those graduate roles and if you have yet to make a start then get on with it. If you are still undecided about your next steps or are unsure of what action to take, then I urge you to book an individual guidance appointment with the Careers Service. They are helpful and will help you to work things through any issues that you are experiencing.
Postgraduates – Some of you will be at the writing up stage of your endeavours and you may also be pondering your next steps in your career. Others will still feel that they have the luxury of time before they need to consider their next move.
The 90-minute rule also applies to postgraduate students. Spending up to 90 minutes weekly, thinking about your career development and finding out a bit about the sectors that you wish to enter, remain or begin in pays dividends in the long run.
- Keep an eye on the Central Careers Service events and talks. They also have sessions where you can have a professional LinkedIn profile picture taken, very handy when you are about to begin polishing your online personal brand. Make use of them!
- If you are considering undertaking a PhD, a good place to start is FindAPhD.com. They have many useful articles, blog posts, country guides and projects to peruse!
- Use Gradcracker if you want a STEM job and want to work rather than continue in study. TargetJobs covers a little bit of everything as does Indeed.
- Polish those CV, cover letter and application skills.