As you know, Adele, Alice and I have been contributing to this blog since it started September last year. The blog started as part of a family of blogs by the University of Manchester, each aimed at a different audience. Having monitored the blog hits over the past 7 or 8 months, we feel this blog isn’t as desired by students as some of the other blogs, and the decision has been made to close this blog.

We’re not just abandoning you, however – we’d like to refer you all to our sister blogs  where you’ll find all sorts of news, views, information and opinion on undergraduate issues and also our Graduate blog which later on in the season will have useful information specifically for Finalists like you.

Thanks for staying with us, as we look forward to seeing you on the undergrad blog!

Jenny, Alice and Adele.

It doesn’t matter  whether you have a set life plan or no clue – advice and guidance will be available every day 11-3pm for everyone – don’t think you’ve left it too late! Just drop in

There will also be a variety of sessions on a range of things such as job-hunting, making successful applications, and enhancing your employability.

See the full programme of events.

The event includes: a keynote lecture from Imran Hakim (from BBC2′s Dragons’ Den with investment from Peter Jones and Theo Paphitis, Imran turned his product, iTeddy, into a multi-million pound business with worldwide sales); panel sessions and your very own pitching exercise.

This is your opportunity to hear from successful entrepreneurs all running their own businesses and ask the questions you really want answered.

Come along and find out what you need to do to succeed if you decide you go it alone.

Places are limited, so reserve your place today!

Many students get frustrated when they look through graduate directories, or on vacancy searches as a lot of the jobs available seem to be in finance or business, and there doesn’t seem to be much else.  This is not the case though – alternative careers do exist.

If you’re interested in what’s out there other than the private sector, come along to the Voluntary, Not-for-Profit and Public Sector fair.  Running  this Wednesday (4th March) at the Academy 1.  This careers fair will help you to not only find out what else is out there, but also how to get into it!  More information can be found on the Careers Service website.  You’ll also find the Manchester Student Volunteers team there, as well as careers consultants and information staff to give you advice and guidance.

March is also Creative Industries Month.  If you’re a creative type and are interested doing something in the creative sector, we are having a whole month of events devoted to the creative industries, ending with the two day Insight into Broadcasting and Journalism course.  This is a very popular course with only 100 places, so get your form in soon if you want to attend!

So if you’re considering doing something different, or just want to know all your options, there’s lots for you to get involved with this month!

Jenny.

Interns are paid a salary of £10,000 and receive free city centre accommodation and free travel card. Interns will also received a masters qualification from MMU and a mentor.

30 second Application videos (Details here) need to be submitted to by the 13th March 2009.

Top firms such as PwC, as well as key employers from education, science and engineering will be promoting their summer placement and graduate opportunities for 2009, as well as offering guidance and support with your applications.

The event will run from 1pm – 3pm so pop along with your cv or general recruitment query and find out more.

This networking event provides the chance for you to find out from the professionals what it takes to get into environmental sector. All our panellists have volunteered to come along and share their enthusiasm for their work, as well as their knowledge as practitioners. It is open to anyone looking to pursue a career in the environmental sector and is suitable for those with both technical and non-technical degrees.

There will be professionals from the private, public and voluntary sectors, and from a wide range of discipline areas which we hope will include:

. Environmental consultancy; project management
. Sustainability management; resource efficiency
. Environmental law
. Environmental advisory
. Environmental science; contaminated land
. Geotechnical engineering
. EIA; environmental audit; environmental surveying
. Urban ecology; wildlife officer; coastal project officer
. Volunteer coordination
. Recycling; waste management
. Research officer; magazine editing

IMPORTANT: Our panel are taking time out of the business on a voluntary basis to attend, so we cannot guarantee that specific individuals will be present on the day.

If you are interested sign up is from today.

What’s that got to do with your career? well, not a lot. But, it’s an excuse to talk to you about finding a career that you love. There are a number of factors which affect how you feel about your job, some of these will be out of your control but controlling others are well within your grasp.

Its easy to think something is your dream career because other people doing the same degree as you are going into it, because someone else said it was a good idea or because you think it’ll make you a lot of money. But what’s right for other people might not be right for you.

So how do you go about finding something right for you? There are a number of things that could help.

• Prospects Planner – part of this on line programme gets you to think about what you want out of a job:
  • Do you want to work Monday to Friday only, or are weekends ok?
  • Do you want to work outside or are you happier indoors?
  • Do you want to work with people, or would you prefer it if this wasn’t a major part of your career?
  • and many more!
• Work Experience – often the best way to work out if a job would suit you is to give it a go! If you can’t get a paid internship or placement, consider work shadowing – it’ll give you an idea of what the job is like day to day.
• Talk to friends and family – what do they do? and what do they think of it?
• Go to company presentations. Often its the recent graduates who go back to universities to do presentations – what do they say? See our calendar of events to see what’s going on!

It’s also really important to remember that you might not get your dream job straight from university, it might be necessary to take a different job in your dream organisation, or a more junior role to gain experience. Don’t see this as a setback as it’s a step along the way. Keep that dream job in mind and you’ll be falling in love before you know it!

Advertised Vacancies

Although many small to medium businesses will not have formal graduate schemes set up, they may still have vacancies suitable for graduates. Keep an eye out for adverts in local newspapers and sector specific journals. Many of the skills that are required for these jobs are used regularly while studying for a degree. This is even truer if you are or have been involved in extra curricular activities such as sport and society committees or volunteering. Spend a little time thinking about all the transferable skills that you have gained and use this as a basis to sell yourself to employers.

Non-advertised Vacancies

Alternatively, if you know the company or companies that you would like to work for, you might want to think about sending in a speculative application. This could be a request for work experience, a placement or even a full time job. More information about finding jobs through networking can be found here.

And Finally…

Above all, don’t limit yourself to major grad schemes – look around for other jobs that interest you. If you have any questions or would like some help with applications, make sure you come and see us.