Careers advice

The Careers Advisory Service is available at any stage of your studies for advice and information on your options after you graduate. These options may include employment, further study or time out before making a career decision.

The careers advisers at the University of Kent are not here to tell you what you ‘should’ do; our role is to provide a full range of information, advice and guidance to help you come to your own decisions. We believe that choosing a career is a process, not an event, that all aspects of your time at University contribute to that process and that it should begin as early as possible.

This support includes:

• an extensive website which includes introductory information on 90 popular graduate careers and also covers topics such as career choice, employability skills, work experience, and postgraduate study
• an online vacancy database with a wide range of local and national employment opportunities
• a well-stocked Careers Information Room, providing reading material on occupations, employers, job-seeking skills and much more
• personal advice and guidance from careers advisers including in-depth vocational guidance interviews and a ‘drop-in’ service to help students with quick queries
• careers education programmes and information linked to specific degree subjects
• talks and seminars on general topics related to choosing a career and opportunities for graduates
• help with developing employability skills through work experience, including career- related vacation experience
• talks and workshops on job-seeking and selection, with advice on making successful applications and honing your interview technique
• visits and talks from graduate employers
• help with CVs, application forms and interview preparation
• information on graduate destinations
• an Alumni Careers Network that puts you in touch with Kent graduates for a first-hand insight into careers.

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Jobshop

Paid work through temporary or part-time jobs helps to meet your living costs and gives you the opportunity to gain practical experience and work-related skills while you are studying.

UMSA links in with the Kent Union Jobshop, a job agency which advertises vacancies in areas such as translation, office administration, mentoring, silver service, website development, retail and charity fundraising. The vacancies are accessed via online registration with the Kent Union website.

The vacancies are displayed in the Jobshop centres on the Canterbury campus or Medway campus, where you can drop in for advice, or on our regularly updated website so that you have access to them 24:7, and you can register with us online.

Jobshop staff provide information on National Insurance, CVs for part-time work, finding a summer job, international student status and other employment advice. Generally, we advise students to take up to 15 hours of paid work a week during term-time.

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Paid work at University

Paid work through temporary or part-time jobs helps to meet your living costs and gives you the opportunity to gain practical experience and work-related skills while you are studying.

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Volunteering

Volunteering is a great way to learn new skills, build your confidence, meet new people and improve your career prospects. There are hundreds of volunteering opportunities in the Medway area, involving a huge range of activities where you can enhance your employability. While at university, you can gain your Kent Student Certificate for Volunteering (KSCV). The standard KSCV involves 25 hours of volunteering and you can work your way towards the Platinum KSCV, which is a credit-bearing module.

Kent Union can arrange for placements locally to where you live, and by arranging your hours with your placement you can be sure it fits in with your studies.

These are some of the specific ways of volunteering.

• Student media – magazines, Canterbury Student Radio (the UK’s first student run community FM radio station), or Kent Student Cinema which runs alongside the Gulbenkian Cinema.
• Societies – join and help run some of the many student societies.
• Course reps – most courses have student representatives who give input into how the programmes are run on behalf of the other students on the course.
• RAG (raise and give) fundraising – a chance for you to do completely off-the-wall things while raising money for charity, or get involved in planning major events.

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Enterprise module

Enterprise module (CB612) and Year in Industry Business Start-up Scheme (YIBSS)

In the second or third year it is possible for anyone with a wild option to take the CB612 module on how to set up a new business. As part of the module you produce a business plan for a theoretical new enterprise to a standard that would meet the requirements of most lending banks or potential investors.

It is also possible to actually set up your own business while at Kent. As well as supporting students with innovative ideas, we also run the Year in Industry Business Start-up Scheme (YIBSS). The aim is to provide support and resources to you, as a student, to develop and roll-out your business ideas.

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Further information

Jobshop and volunteering
Kent Union Activities Manager,
Virginia Woolf Building, University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent CT2 7UG
E: kentunion@kent.ac.uk
www.kentunion.co.uk
www.kentunionjobshop.co.uk
www.kentunionvolunteering.co.uk

Careers advice
Careers Advisory Service, University of Kent,
Canterbury, Kent CT2 7ND
T: 01227 823480/823481
www.kent.ac.uk/careers

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