University of Manchester Careers Blog

Written by Kareem Belfon, Student Communications and Marketing Assistant at the Careers Service.

I have many regrets in my life. I regret not using a screen protector on my phone before bringing it on a night out and, inevitably, smashing it to pieces. I regret not learning another language as a child. I regret not finding out about the existence of halloumi fries earlier in my life.

I also regret the way I organised my time when I was a student, especially when it came to preparing for life after graduation. Here’s a list of things I would tell myself this time last year about managing my time.

• You should put aside an hour or two a week and dedicate it to careers related research and preparation. Think of it as the ‘Invisible Module.’ Spend as much time working on this module as you would any other.
• You’re an English Literature and Linguistics student – you have about 6 contact hours a week. There’s DEFINITELY time to pencil in some ‘Invisible Module’ sessions into your timetable. An hour of writing applications here, an hour of volunteering there. Easy.
• You shouldn’t feel guilty about taking time out of the library to do some careers related research. It’s just as important as acing your exams and making sure all of your coursework is complete.
• Planning life after graduation shouldn’t just be something you do in your final year. Put in the ground work in first and second year and you’ll be in a much better position come semester two of your final year.
• Please, PLEASE do some interview preparation as early as you can. You’re going to apply for a job and have the interview from hell, which could have easily been avoided if you did a bit of research into how to handle job interviews. You’ll also have nightmares about this interview every so often. Yes, it was that bad.

  

• Make the most out of quieter periods in the semester and use that time to get work experience, apply for jobs, do some research into job roles and improve your LinkedIn presence.
• You can’t be productive while watching Netflix on another tab. It literally can’t be done. I’ve tried many, many times. But trust me, it cannot be done. Just turn it off and get on with it. You’ll thank me later.