Employability in the UK

A central worry when it comes to those furthering studies is whether doing so will land them a job. In an uncertain climate such as now, no one can really tell how the nature of certain jobs will remain viable. What I’ve come to understand, though, is that the norm for the issue of employability tends to revolve around fresh graduates who lack sufficient experience or skills in the organisational scheme of things. So a good solution? Develop and discover those highly sought-after skills.

As a first year undergraduate, I’m quite accustomed to finding extracurricular activities and opportunities to try out. I’d give you examples but that’d just be one less thing you’d ask if we meet. Basically, I joined societies and events that centred around my personal interest. One very obvious one was SSSMUK. Besides personal interests, I joined activities or clubs that I decided were important for developing key skills such as leadership and communication. Although some people may argue against joining interest groups due to some possible schedule/priority clash, University is a pretty good time to work on self-discipline to make more mature decisions. By taking that first step out of your comfort zone in a relatively low risk environment, I feel that the benefits outweigh the possible detriments.

We’re all studying to upgrade ourselves but we need more than that degree upon graduation. The question then becomes what makes you different from other fresh graduates.

You’ve probably heard a lot of nagging about improving yourself and taking chances, but what does that mean in the context of studying overseas in Manchester? For one, there’s a Volunteer Hub portal with a pretty good filtering system that helps students to discover volunteering opportunities that may bring you closer to the target audience you wish to reach out to in your dream job (e.g., less fortunate, smaller corporations etc). With even overseas volunteering experiences, you won’t be short of options to gain more insight into specific domains you haven’t tested yet.

Another fine way that I mentioned earlier is to join societies and push yourself out of your comfort zone. And your passion speaks in your actions and who knows, maybe even after a blunder like not completing your Visa processes properly, you may still end up as President of the society that tries to immortalise your mistake. Don’t be afraid to stand up after getting pushed down! Be thick-skinned and make an effort to go after your goals!

In the first SSSMUK Podcast, I had the pleasure of discussing with Rebecca the SSSMUK VP and Ryan, a second-year student with personal experience in securing internships on well, securing internships. Ryan had obtained internship opportunities that were unfortunately rescinded in lieu of the Covid-19 situation. He shared his steps into getting to that front doorstep, and it definitely wasn’t smooth-sailing. It took him many hours to complete just the application process and e-interview sections. For each application. Along the way, he indicated significant improvements to his overall skill set when tackling interviews. Surely when faced with the strange situation itself, you’ll grow the greatest. Without giving up, he managed to secure a summer internship, and he attributed his success to his determination and not giving up in the face of rejection, even when it comes in waves from different directions. I won’t speak too much about it, as you may catch our conversation on the first episode of the SSSMUK Podcast on our Instagram (@sssmuk). His persistent attitude and drive to accomplish his goals may serve as a reminder that setbacks are acceptable unless you’ve permanently placed them as liabilities to prevent you from furthering yourself. And if you find that you’re doubting yourself because of certain obstacles or negative experiences, you can surely share the same sentiment with some members of SSSMUK. We’re open to conversation and if there’s any advice you need, we’ll do our best to render it (:

Thank you for making it to the end! Hope this post has encouraged at least a few of you to start considering how to enhance your employability by maximising your time in University.

Hope you and yours are keeping well!

Written by: Randell, President