Career coaching: Jordan

You graduated in 2021, can you tell us a bit more about what you are doing now (career related)?

I am about to start my new role as a Graduate Coordinator in the Student Recruitment and Admissions Team within External Relations at the University of York. In this role, I will be travelling across the country to schools and colleges, speaking to young people about higher education, the University of York, their career plans and the broad range of options available to them. In particular, I will be working within a team that is dedicated to raising aspiration, promoting social mobility and closing educational inequalities by widening access to Higher Education to underrepresented groups. This role is a fixed-term 12-month contract with a view to a more permanent position and it will offer me such great experience and room to acquire vital skills doing work that aligns with my core passions and interests. 

Where were you in relation to your career planning/making applications before you graduated?

I had started to consider my options during my third and final year of study, with the public sector and third sector (particularly local government and anti-poverty charities), my key preference and pursuit. I even applied for the NGDP scheme for graduates keen on local government but failed to make it past the second stage of the application process. However, I was still rather unsure as to specifically what I wanted to do for my future career, especially the types of roles I would target as I had rather limited knowledge on these matters.  

We hear you have engaged in career coaching; what did you do, and how did it help? 

I wanted help with figuring out the exact career path I wanted to pursue, but particularly I wanted advice and support on which roles may be available to me, and how I would go about submitting a successful application. In the coaching sessions, me and my coach would discuss tips on improving my graduate employability, such as expanding my professional network by becoming active, and effective, on LinkedIn for example. My coach would also signpost me to vital online information around the jobs and sectors I was interested in, with tips on producing successful applications. The coaching helped improve my confidence in presenting my own skills and abilities and in honing my passions into particular roles and organisations. When I faced rejection from jobs, my coach also helped me with imperative advice on dealing with rejection in order to stay resilient and move forward. 

Would you recommend careers coaching to other students and graduates?  

I absolutely would recommend career coaching to other students and graduates. I did have reservations at first. I thought that career coaching was about making one more vain, robotic and ‘floggable’ to potential employers. I also was concerned it would be generic or unhelpful advice that any student could simply access online. However, from my experience, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I found the career coaching service so informative, helpful, accessible and student/graduate-focused. The key reason why I would recommend the service was how bespoke the service was. I got to know my coach really well, and they offered me incredibly tailored advice and support, with really useful signposting to information online, and fantastic advice on specific job applications either by email or by verbal discussion.