Intro Week is a great opportunity to learn about the support available at the university. There is a lot of information to take in, but your main priority should be to settle into university life. Keeping the focus on 'Explore' throughout the week will help you find societies, support, services, and opportunities that suit you best. 

Try new things, explore all the opportunities, and find out where you can get support about things that are important to you. 

Checklist:

• Log into Career Connect and update your profile 

• Familiarise yourself with the Sheffield Graduate Attributes 

• Complete the mySkills assessment

• Attend the Intro Week Events at the Student's Union 

• Explore the Societies and decide if you want to join any 

• Look at the Give It A Go events and decide which ones you might want to attend 

• Explore part-time jobs/volunteering opportunities 

• Find out where you can ask questions about your employability and future careers

• Use the activities, guides, and question prompts below to think about your employability 

EXPLORE:

These web pages are useful resources for you to explore in your first week to help you know what support is available and how you can make the most out of your degree experience. You can keep coming back to these web pages and services throughout your degree - your focus at the moment is exploring, so no pressure to use or access all of this information and services. 

• Careers and Employability Service 

  • Jobs

This section can help you explore your future career options. You can see your mentoring options, starting points, and information about your employment rights. 

• • Applications 

Explore this section to understand how to prepare for future job applications. Here, you can find lots of information about CVs, cover letters, applications, and interviews. 

• • Study and academic careers

This section covers your further study options, what an academic career would look like, and what employability support is available for researchers at the university. 

• • Experience and development 

You can explore volunteering, internships, and placement opportunities. This section also has a lot of information about the different ways you can develop your skills during your time at university.  

• • Services and support

Explore this section to find the support and services available to you. This section covers some useful resources to address questions, challenges, or anxieties you might have about your employability.

• Career Connect

  • Update your profile

Your profile will cover some basic personal information and help you create an outline of your career aspirations. Don't worry about having detailed answers here; keeping it general can help you continue to explore all of your options. 

• • Sheffield Graduate Attributes (SGAs)

These are a set of desirable attributes created by the university in collaboration with a range of employers to help define the skills that you might be developing through your degree. This can be a helpful framework for identifying your own skills and understanding your strengths and areas for development. Exploring these early on in your degree can help you make the most of your experience. 

• • mySkills Assessment 

Using the SGAs, this assessment helps you evaluate how confident you feel in using each of the SGA skills. Doing this in your first week and regularly during your universe experience will give you an accurate diagram of your skill development. Sometimes, your skills may fluctuate, and your confidence may vary, but this questionnaire is a great way to reflect and think about your needs and wants in developing your own employability (and your confidence!). You can also use the pathways from the mySkills questionnaire to develop skills and your confidence using these skills. 

• • My Development Experiences 

This section of your mySkills profile can be used as a 'live' CV. Updating this after you learn or develop a skill will help you record the experiences you have and help you reflect on what you have learnt. 

• • Events and Vacancies 

Explore Career Connect as your home for booking events and finding jobs, internships, placements, and graduate roles. Knowing how to explore these pages will be very useful throughout your university experience. 

• The Student Union Website 

  • Activities and Societies 

Exploring what kind of activities, events, and societies you can join will help you see what opportunities might suit you best. Trying something new is a great way to meet new people, do something different, and have experiences to write about in applications. 

• • Advice and Support 

The SU has lots of resources and information covering a wide range of topics. This includes academic support, money advice, housing support, and work and employability. Exploring what kind of support the SU can offer can be helpful for any future challenges you might face.  

• • SU Officers 

All officers are elected to represent the students at the university and are elected each academic year. The officers cover a range of roles and represent both general and specific groups of students. You can find their profiles, goals, and contact details on the SU website. You can get in touch with them if you have any specific issues or ideas.  

• School of English Hub

  • Undergraduate Page

This page will help you feel confident about where to find key information about your course. Knowing what information is on this page can help you know where to find answers to any future questions, issues, or challenges. 

• • Study Abroad & Departmental Exchange Page

Exploring your options for studying abroad and across departments can help you feel confident in making decisions about these opportunities as part of your degree. You don't need to decide now, but knowing where to find this information and what your options are can make it easier to make your degree the best experience for you! 

• • Student Support Page

Familairising yourself with this page helps you know what support is on offer and how to access it if you need it. 

• • Student Wellbeing Service Page

Knowing how the Student Wellbeing Service can support you can be very useful for your future self.  There is so much support for you to access, and knowing what/where to find it is really important. 

• Arts and Humanities Careers Hub

  • Events and Arts & Humanities Employability Bulletin

Explore employability events and opportunities for Arts and Humanities students. This can be a helpful way to find experiences that are more relevant to you and your degree. 

• • English Careers Hub

This page is dedicated to the School of English students; you can find specific information, advice, and contacts. Exploring this information can be great for knowing how you can explore your skills as an English student.  

• • Working Abroad and International Employability

You can explore your future options for international employability opportunities. There is no pressure to make any choices now, but exploring your future options can be useful in helping you make the most out of your degree!

• • Placements and Internships

This page helps you understand your future options in your degree. You don't have to decide now, but knowing what opportunities you have can help you tailor your degree experience to your needs!

• • Where to find graduate jobs as an A&H Student

This page is not going to be very relevant for you right now, but exploring these websites can help you understand what kind of jobs are out there and what appeals to you (and can help you know if you need to gain any specific experience).