As you prepare to finish your university course and graduate into working life, you may be wondering what you can do to properly prepare yourself for life after your qualification. From creating a skills wishlist to pursuing future education such as a masters in business administration, there is a wide range of paths for graduates to take.
Let's explore some of the steps you can take to keep up to date and in line with your peers - from updating your network to setting some S.M.A.R.T. goals, what does it ultimately take to succeed in a post-qualification environment? Additionally, how do you keep connected with your peers, so that graduation feels less like a goodbye, and more like an opportunity to position yourself for future success?
Set a Skills Wishlist
It's important to remember that just because you're graduating, your learning journey hasn't yet finished. As you proceed to take on more responsibilities in future roles and positions, you may find specific areas of interest that you may not have specifically covered at university. When completing your studies, it's a great idea to keep a little set of notes with a wish list of skills that you'd like to pick up after graduation. It's a great way to get yourself prepared for future study or just upskilling in general.
Providing yourself with that additional layer of skills, whether it be through advanced technical knowledge or soft skills such as communication and organising, can provide you with the tools to help you stand out from your peers. Additionally, demonstrating a willingness to learn may also make you much more appealing to employers, both internal and external.
Ensure Your Resume is Current
While you have been studying at university, you may have applied for a few jobs. It's important, but now that you have finished your course, that you sit down and spend some time updating your resume with your current and newly acquired skills. With the average hiring manager only reading a resume for an average of 6-7 seconds, having your resume up to date is critical if you're looking to get hired.
It's important that you document the skills that you have so that potential employers can get a very good understanding of what you can bring to a role. What you have chosen to study and why you've chosen to study are helpful to an extent, but being able to list your achievements and how they stack up with a role you're applying for can be a great way of demonstrating that you meet the key criteria of a role. Ultimately, you should make sure you document and keep your resume up to date.
Set Some S.M.A.R.T. Goals
If you're a recent graduate, you may not necessarily have much structure in terms of your next educational outcomes and goals. This can be largely attributed to the fact that workplaces can often be fluid and ever-changing. A large business might encourage personal growth, but a smaller business may not necessarily have the time to foster the individual journeys of employees. This is reflected in recent studies, finding that one of the key reasons employees leave positions in small businesses is because of a lack of career progression.
It is at this point that you should consider setting up some S.M.A.R.T. goals. These are goals that you can use, to help guide your self-education and future learning. Additionally, you can use these goals to tie into the skills that you acquire within the workplace and demonstrate your knowledge. This can be particularly helpful for pay rises and annual reviews.
S.M.A.R.T. goals consist of five key components. They are:
Specific: A goal will list exactly what it needs, and it's not overly vague.
Measurable: A goal will have a measurable metric so you can track performance.
Achievable: A goal needs to be realistic. What's achievable for you, in the time that you set?
Relevant: A goal needs to be relevant to the work that you're doing - or aligning with your broader career goals.
Timely: When setting a goal, give yourself a fixed time limit. Don't set something that's open-ended - you'll have no incentive to complete them!
Review Your Own Goals - Regularly
It's important that once you set goals and start working on them, you also spend the time to periodically review them. Take some time out on your own, a few times a year to sit down and assess if the goals that you have set are still relevant to your individual career.
Have changes in your personal life had an impact on what goals are important to you? In particular, your personal situation may have changed and as a result, you may need to update your goals. That is OK - just make sure you update your goals so that they stay relevant to your particular interests. If your goals are still current and valid, hold yourself accountable - as yourself what it's going to take to complete your goals.
Having self-set goals can be a great way to empower yourself, when pursuing additional study or when working through life beyond university. Being able to be a self-starter can be a great way to empower yourself, no matter what roles you land in.
Stay Connected - Join Industry Networking Groups
When you graduate, you might find yourself initially isolated, particularly if you're not part of a graduate program. If you're not working with ex-university peers, you may find that it's a great opportunity to engage with a new group of industry professionals and join an industry networking group.
Typically, these networks consist of individuals that work in your sector or maybe even within the business. This can enable you to reach out towards a broader set of peers that you may not have previously been exposed to within the workplace. Over time, this connection to industry groups may enable you to discover new career opportunities that aren't always listed online. It can be a very powerful tool for staying up to date with skills and techniques that are seen as relevant and of interest within your particular industry.
Enjoy Your Time as a New Graduate
Finally, ensure you find some time to enjoy being a new graduate. Finishing university can be very tricky - while many people start university courses, only a rarified few make it through to the end of a course and successfully graduate. Be sure to celebrate your successes with family and friends - and take some time aside to really cherish the opportunities that you've had through university.
You've done a really great job of getting this far, and it's a fine first step in your broader career journey. Be proud of yourself - you've done a great job!
