From my personal experience at Bristol University I have noticed that students don't seem to be particularly aware of or at least do not take full advantage of an ideal facility for improving graduate job prospects - the University Careers Service. There is a misconception amongst students that the careers service is only for the overly-keen, or for those with a specific career choice already in mind, or that it is only relevant for those in their final year of study. However, the careers services are available for all students, regardless of their subject or year group and can be an absolutely crucial source of assistance.
Many graduates leave university with concerns about the quality of their CV, their interview techniques and how to properly fill out applications. On a broader level there are also thousands of graduates who leave university without the any idea of the specific area of work they might like to enter into or with minimal knowledge of which specific employment areas their particular degree might qualify them for.
The career services offer mock interviews and trained staff can identify areas to improve upon, whether in terms of specific information you ought to research and take on board prior when applying to certain employers or in terms of tweaking your general interview demeanour to portray yourself in the best way possible. Moreover, they often provide close guidance for editing your CV, identifying where it can be enhanced in both its presentation and linguistic detail as well as offering guidance as to how it might be tailored for the specific tastes of different employers. Finally, and perhaps most importantly for graduates who feel rather bewildered by what career path to follow, most career services will have a record of the employment trajectories of various alumni and will be able to guide you into a career based on the precedent of past graduates with similar qualifications.
The Guardian highlights a prime example of how university career services can be helpful far beyond simply providing employability advice. The paper cites the example of Newcastle University students, Robert Grisdale and Jack Payne, who set up a self-service bike scheme while working on their course and with the encouragement and assistance of their careers department turned it into the successful professional venture, ScratchBikes. The boys themselves emphasise the importance of the support they received, saying "The careers service supported us all the way and without them we probably would not have taken the idea any further than our required university module."
The quality of careers services will undoubtedly vary from university to university, but graduates only stand to lose out if they neglect to use these facilities and engage with all that they have to offer. If you do take advantage of their guidance and support then your employability prospects will certainly be bolstered and that elusive graduate job could be closer than you think.
