July Update: Life After Southampton Hub and Employability
Congratulations to all of our fantastic committee members, sub-committee members and volunteers who have graduated in the past week. We’re thrilled for you, and wish you the best of luck in the future.
But what comes after graduation? That long summer and the prospect of job hunting can seem daunting, and we want to make sure you get the most out of your Hub volunteering experience. So what do we recommend?
Tip #1: Use the careers service! As Southampton alumni, you still have access to Careers at the University of Southampton and they’re an excellent resource. So if you didn’t use them at university, it’s not too late to benefit. You can see their whole range of alumni services here.
Tip #2: Use family, friends and peers to critique your CV, cover letter or job application answers. It’s good to do this before you start applying and check in with others whilst your applying. They might be able to pick up on things you don’t, for example not talking about your skills well, or formatting issues.
Tip #3: Remember that CVs should be tailored to the role you want in the personal statement and in the experience you choose to prioritise. This also goes for job application answers. Save them, as you’ll start to collect lots (write them on a Word/Google doc first before uploading) and adapt your bank of answers for the role.
Tip #4: Get a LinkedIn profile! LinkedIn is great for looking at other peoples’ career journey, seeing job postings, following companies you’re interested in, and showcasing your experience to potential employers.
We also spoke to Pippa Smith, Programme Director for Worthwhile, Student Hubs’ graduate scheme which matches graduates with placements in socially impactful organisations. As someone who sees hundreds of applications from graduates, she says:
“Always try to construct a narrative of your experience so far. What did you learn from each part-time job or volunteering opportunity? How did it lead you to applying for this job?
“Use STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) in your cover letters and job applications too. It’s great that you ran an event or volunteered on a committee, but to make it come to life explain the context or goal, what the task was specifically, what action you took towards achieving the goal, and what happened in the end. Use numbers if you can to really show your impact.”
That’s all our top tips. So to Southampton Hub graduates, good luck and try to make a difference to your local community as active citizens, even if it’s as small as recycling. Worthwhile and Student Hubs are currently recruiting for graduates, so check out our roles too.
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In a staff update for Southampton Hub, Clara Johnston, Southampton Hub Projects Officer, will be working for our Kingston Hub as a Programme Manager from August. We’re thrilled to still have her in the Student Hubs team to support Kingston Hub with their youth programmes.
Last week we said goodbye to Natalie Rowell, Southampton Hub Volunteering Support Officer. Natalie is taking a well-deserved holiday and is looking to move into another role in the social impact sector. We wish her the best of luck for the future.
That’s it for July! Keep up to date with our Facebook, Twitter and website in the meantime for any updates, and we look forward to seeing you all in August.