Make a good start to the year- intermediate years

Welcome back! For some of you, this is your penultimate year at Uni; if you’re on a 4-year course, then graduation will still feel a long way off. But either way, intermediate years are a great time to explore your career plans, gain work experience, and sharpen your job-seeking skills. And for some of the more competitive forms of work experience, such as summer internships or one-year placements, you may need to apply this side of Christmas.

If you’re the first generation in your family to go to University, your parents won’t have been through this experience, so you might not be familiar with what to do when. The Careers Service’s Transitions project provides careers support for UK undergraduates from non-traditional backgrounds (such as first generation; students receiving full grants; mature students; local / commuter students). One area we like to help with is finding internships and placements – and getting one of these is the biggest thing you can do now to secure a place on a graduate scheme.

Many of the graduate employers who come to our Jobs Fairs,  or who deliver Employer Presentations on campus, are not just interested in attracting finalists to their graduate schemes – they’re equally interested in recruiting intermediate year students for their summer internships or one-year placements.

To land one of these work experience opportunities, you’ll need a great CV and some brilliant application form answers. The Careers Service runs talks and workshops and offers one-to-one support with all the stages of the recruitment process – from your written application to psychometric tests, interviews and assessment centres.

So what should you do now?
  • Check the What’s On Diary and our What’s On Weekly emails to find out which employers are here when, and what talks and workshops are coming up to help you apply .
  • Check who’s coming to the Engineering and Technology Fair on 5th November, Business andFinance Fair on 6th November, Science Fair on 21st November, Legal Fair on 20th November – read all about theses and more fairs on the It's Your Career website.
  • DON’T assume there are no employers interested in you – Engineering and Science firms recruit non-engineers and non-scientists for roles like Finance, HR, Marketing, Management; Business and Finance firms welcome engineers, scientists, arts and humanities and social sciences graduates; and students from any subject can apply for work experience with a law firm and convert to law after graduation.
  • If you’re considering a year-out placement (Degree with Employment Experience / Year in Industry), look at the Placements website www.sheffield.ac.uk/placements .
  • Search myVacancies (shef.prospects.ac.uk) for employers recruiting for internships and placements, and plan carefully to make sure you hit all the deadlines.

Any student can book an appointment with a careers adviser to discuss their work experience and career ideas, by ringing 0114 2220910 or calling in at the Careers Service. For “non-traditional students”, if you prefer, you can contact Pete and Rachel on transitions@sheffield.ac.uk to arrange a chat.
Careers Service

Careers Service

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