Getting started

You can use the Getting Started resources to gain some initial advice and information about the support available.

Know yourself

The first thing that you need to do is reflect! Have a think about:

• What have you done so far before coming to study at the management school?
• What decisions have you made that have influenced your studies to date?
• What modules or topics do you enjoy?
• Have you got a passion (e.g sustainability) which could be turned into a career?

A great starting point is understanding your skills and attributes, along with what motivates you and your values. The University has provided you with access to a number of online tools, to help you assess your skills, set goals for personal development and record development experiences in order to help you identify what you want to do. Understanding yourself will help you write better applications and prepare for interviews.

One starting point for this would be to access your profile within MySkills.

mySkills is an online tool to help you identify, develop and record development experiences on your skills that you can then use in conversations with tutors, a careers advisor, for interview preparation and even for reflective assignments. You can log into mySkills through Career Connect. The first thing you need to do is a skills audit which will ask you to identify where you feel you are against the Sheffield Graduate Attributes. Don’t worry about the audit, this is just a point in time and we would encourage you to retake the skills audit at key stages to monitor your progress as you develop your skills and understanding of these attributes.

By regularly monitoring your progress against the Sheffield Graduate Attributes you will graduate as a self aware reflective practitioner.

Team Focus

Another good place to start would be to complete some personality tests on Team Focus, which would allow you to understand how you work and what your career preferences are based on your personality profile.

Careers Events Calendar

Now is the time to familiarise yourself with recruitment timelines and careers fairs here in the UK. Some graduate job deadlines can be very early in the academic year, so being aware of these will ensure you don’t miss out on opportunities.

You can also use this Careers Calendar which provides you with a month by month guide of things to be exploring and considering throughout the academic year.

Make sure you register on Career Connect; the university’s dedicated platform for booking onto a range of events and workshops (including employer events), finding paid opportunities and getting advice on your next steps.

Deciding what you want to do

If you’re starting your studies not knowing what you want to do once you have finished, or you have an idea but need a bit of help exploring the next steps, our resources can help. Our resources can also help you if you have a plan but want to find out more or if you are interested in continuing your studies beyond your current degree.

Explore your career options; perhaps look at what others with your degree have gone on to do, or research broader occupational areas where you can use your degree.

Don’t forget you can book a career appointment with one of our dedicated management school advisors to help talk through your ideas and career thinking. Simply log into Career Connect to arrange an appointment.

There are lots of events on Career Connect that can help you think about the sort of employer you might want to work for (for example, large versus small to medium size enterprise (SME)), or whether a ‘graduate scheme’ or ‘graduate role’ is right for you.

If you are considering further study, we have useful information on the steps to consider and some funding options available.

Thinking about starting your own business? The university’s Emerge team offers business startup competitions throughout the year, with the opportunity to win grants to fund your ideas!