Getting Back in to the Swing: making your CV shine

As a newly fledged second year, I have been charmingly welcomed back to uni life with a bundle of presentations, flyers and emails about the dreaded c-word.

Careers.

It was barely mentioned during first year, but now I’ve found myself faced with the tricky business of getting work experience during term time while still fitting in Forum Thursdays and Ocean Fridays. It’s so easy to become overwhelmed with all of the info being thrown at us; my friends have been booking places at careers fairs, attending presentations and frantically searching for that elusive internship (that we try to get every summer, right?), but I have decided to get some valuable experience in other ways during my time at Nottingham (while still having some fun!). So, here are a couple of tips to help get you back into the swing and help you bulk out that CV, without inducing a nervous breakdown.

1. Get stuck into the societies. Want to be a writer? Submit an article for Impact. Want to produce TV? Join NUTS. Want to be a lawyer? Grab a friend and join the debate society. You get the gist…

Getting involved with societies can help you to develop skills that will help you in ANY job, even if you don’t quite know what you want. You can get experience in a fun, informal way and meet tonnes of new people in the process.

2. Don’t panic if you don’t yet know what you want to do. There is still plenty of time (regardless of what your department says!) and the only way you’ll know what you like is to throw yourself into as much as possible and then go from there.

3.  Get a part-time job. At Nottingham we are lucky to have a temporary job service called Unitemps, which often advertises temporary vacancies that only last for a few hours/days/weeks. Doing this means that you don’t have the tie of a permanent job, but you can still earn a little cash on top of broadening your experiences. It’s a win-win situation, and helps the handbag fund.

Now, I know it’s difficult to get back into the mindset of work work work after three months of relaxing and gossiping at home (…just me?), but the little steps suggested above will help you to get some good experience that will make any CV stand out that little bit more.

Edited by Caroline Chan

• careers
• internships
• jobs
• Nottingham
• placement
• student
• summer