I adore working with undergraduates and graduates, but I don’t like the way that universities turn you into clones of each other. I believe that you should all have lectures on ‘Personal Branding’ to help you identify who you are and what you have to offer when graduating. Think about how hard it is for companies to recruit graduates when you all look and act the same! Same degree, same classification, same CV format (usually boring) and same answers to interview questions. Usually taught by people who have never been in anything else but academia all their life!
A pattern I’ve certainly noticed is that you need to stand out from the crowd and start doing that from at least your 2nd year of studies.
What makes you unique? What is your passion? How do you express that? Do you have a goal and a clear path of how to get there? Are you proactive? Do you seek out opportunities and grab them? Are you fully present in the moment and embrace everything that uni life throws at you?
The pattern I see is that students who do this get the good jobs, get the opportunities and launch their careers straight after graduating. They are not still applying for jobs 6 months after graduating or having to accept a lesser ‘non-grad’ role just to pay the bills. Which are you? I hope not the latter, if so, a change of strategy is required sharpish!
Stand out from the crowd – don’t be a sheep! (Unless it’s a black one) 😉