Congratulations – completing your degree is a fantastic accomplishment, you’ve worked so hard to get here. Here in Careers we are not ready to say goodbye, not yet anyway…you still have access to support from our team for up to two years after you complete your course.

You may not know what you want to do next, this is absolutely fine! In fact, this is probably one of our most frequently discussed topics! If you know what you want to do, then we can help you to identify opportunities, support you to prepare your applications and coach you through the interview process. You may have secured a graduate job and want to talk about starting well, or maybe changing direction a few months in…. There are lots of ways that Careers can support you whatever your next step might be.

• We have some ideas on our Finalist pages on how to get started, finding opportunities, making applications and, of course, responding to offers! If what you need is not covered here, book an appointment with one of our fantastic Careers Consultants.
• Why not join us for our Finalist sessions running this term such as Graduating soon? What’s next?, Worried you’re not going to get the grade you wanted?, Feeling anxious about your career choices: easy steps to get your started or Making a great start, and settling into, your new job… – your first 100 days. From July we will deliver our Alumni Programme of events, all of which can be booked via MyJobsOnline. Join us for any of our events even after you complete your course, our alumni programme is tailored to graduates, and run exclusively online in the evenings to accommodate your working day.
• Check out our digital tools including GraduatesFirst, a suite of job assessment preparation tools including psychometric tests, CV and interview preparation tools, GoinGlobal, for anyone considering working or studying abroad*, and Forage, if your CV needs a boost, these virtual internships may be just what you need. As an undergraduate you currently have access to LinkedIn Learning and Future Learn courses.
• We share graduate vacancies on MyJobOnline – these are updated all the time, and you can sign up to receive alerts straight to your inbox. You can take our skills assessment anytime on MJO and also book one-to-one appointments with our careers consultants and check out our workshops and events – we run our activities both in person and online, including evening events and appointments too, be sure to sign up for an Alumni MyJobsOnline account, this will ensure your account graduates with you – you can do this with your personal email address.
• Grow your professional network, LinkedIn can be a great tool for this, why not join us in the UoR Careers Alumni Network and connect with our community there. If you’ve not set up your LinkedIn account yet, then start today, build your profile, connect to your peers and to your lecturers and tutors, you never know when those connections might come in handy! The Alumni search tool can be a great way to make connections in sectors or companies you are interested in.

University of Reading Careers are here to help you develop and succeed personally and professionally, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

* you MUST sign up to this with your personal email address BEFORE your university email address expires

Vicki Aldmington is the Careers Consultant supporting School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy, and the Institute of Education. Vicki leads on the careers support programme we offer to our finalists on transition to graduates, and up to two years beyond degree completion.