Spring break can feel like a busy time, but taking some time to reflect on your goals, priorities, and future options can help you feel confident about the next stage of your degree. 

Make sure you reflect on which options will benefit you most and that you are still exploring all the resources, support, and services offered by the university. This will help you make the most informed and beneficial choices for you. 

Work through the checklist, activities, guides, and reflective questions to support you through this week. 

Checklist:

• Reflect on the Sheffield Graduate Attributes

• Complete the mySkills assessment

• Explore part-time jobs/volunteering opportunities for the easter break and summer

• Answer the reflective questions 

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

• Continue to explore your options for a Placement Year or Year Abroad

• Use the activities, guides, and question prompts below to reflect on your employability

REFLECT: 

These questions will help you reflect on which employability opportunities might be best for you. After answering these questions and exploring the links, you can start to think about how you can start acting on these choices. Make sure you are accessing the Jessop West Employability and Placements Hub or the Careers and Employability Service if you have specific questions. 

• Reflective Questions about Employability Opportunities:  

  • What types of work experience would you like to gain:

    • Shadowing

    • Internship

    • Placement

    • Work Experience

    • Part-time Work

    • Volunteering

    • Online Courses

    • Mock Assessment Centres

    • Networking Events

  • Why might you benefit from these different types of experiences?

  • How could these help you develop your employability?

  • What is the main skill/experience you would like to gain?

  • Why would you like to gain this?

  • Do you know where you can find opportunities:

    • Career Connect

    • Job Websites

    • School Employability Websites

    • Direct on Companies Websites

    • LinkedIn

    • Arts and Humanities LinkedIn group

  • Do you know how to make the most out of your experiences:

    • Establishing clear goals for your development before you start

    • Skills you used

    • Skills you learnt

    • Experiences you gained

    • Things you wish you had done

    • How do you see this experience benefitting you

  • How has my degree helped to develop my employability?

    • What skills have you used (you can use the SGAs as a framework)

    • Which transferable experiences have you gained in your degree:

      • Working with others

      • Researching and summarising information 

      • Presenting to a group 

      • Writing to a brief 

      • Considering a range of perspectives

    • Why might these experiences be useful in the workplace? 

• Thinking About Future Options

Having considered your own skills, what you want to focus on, and the different ways to gain experience, you can now look at how you can put some of this thinking into action. If you want next year to be a Placement Year or Year Abroad, make sure you have explored the information and resources about this process. Your future options have to suit you; therefore, even though everyone will be thinking about different choices and priorities, you need to do your own exploration and reflection to ensure you are making the right choice for you.  

• • Placement Year 

You may be thinking about doing a placement year. You might want to explore what placements are available to current-year students to give you an idea of what kind of roles you could apply for. The Arts & Humanities Careers Hub has a useful page to explore what a placement might look like. You can also explore the 'Placement year' page on the Careers and Employability Service site to explore placement years. Here are useful links to reflect on your option of a Placement Year:

• • • • https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/careers/experience/placements/about 

      • https://students.sheffield.ac.uk/careers/experience/placements/finding 

      • https://careers.dept.shef.ac.uk/casestudies/placements/index.php 

  • Year Abroad

Studying abroad may be an option that you want to explore. The Global Opportunities web page has really useful information about Year Abroad, Summer School, and volunteering opportunities. You can also read the benefits of studying or working abroad and explore whether this might be a good option for you. The Arts & Humanities Careers Hub has a page dedicated to international employability opportunities, which might also help you decide if studying or working abroad is right for you. GoinGlobal is also a useful website for exploring international work opportunities. 

• • Internships 

Internships can be found on Career Connect, GoinGlobal, Targetjobs, organisations' websites, and other external sites advertising internships can be found on the Arts & Humanities Careers Hub. The 'Internships' page on the Careers and Employability Service site also gives information about internship schemes. 

• • Graduate Roles

Exploring what graduate roles are available this year can help you understand what your future career options might be and what experience you might need to gain before you apply to these. You can find a list of websites that advertise relevant graduate jobs for Arts and Humanities students on the Arts & Humanities Careers Hub. You can also use Career Connect to explore vacancies, Prospects to explore job role profiles, and Targetjobs to explore job adverts. The 'Graduate Careers' page on the Careers and Employability site also offers information about exploring your options after you graduate.