We are in difficult times right now and we understand that the current Covid-19 situation is making many students and graduates feel uneasy and worried about their future, both in the UK and abroad. Over the coming weeks we hope to have a variety of new blog posts and resources to help you in this time. In the meantime, we thought we’d give you a rundown of some career research you can do online right now if you want to.
We also completely appreciate that career research might not be your main priority right now which is completely fine too. Give yourself permission to do what makes you feel good, concentrate on your own wellbeing and just take care of you! The resources will be waiting for you when you need them. They are available 365 days of the year regardless of whether there is a virus outbreak or not.
But if you do want to do some career research or preparation – read on to find out how.
MyFuture is your friend
MyFuture is our hub for everything careers. In more normal times it is where you can book appointments and view upcoming events but even in these strange times it is still a great place to get familiar with.
For current students – you just need to log in with your single sign-on. If you are in your final year, this is the case until your account gets switched to a graduate account. This normally happens in August.
For graduates – you still have lifetime access to MyFuture. If you are having trouble getting into your account, contact us via careers@bath.ac.uk and we can help. If you can, please email from your @bath.edu address. If this isn’t possible we’ll need to ask some question to verify your identify before we can make changes to your account.
So hopefully you are able to get into MyFuture – lets rundown the key places to look for career research help:
Career Essentials
For doing research – try our Career Essentials linked from the top toolbar. This will take you to our Get Started guides where we have brought together key information and support across a variety of themes. Whether you want to spend some time deciding what career options you are interested in, or try brushing up on your interview technique – we have got you covered!
Resources tab
If you want to even more in depth, try the resources tab. Here is where you can search through our catalogue of over 400 resources to find specific information. Try searching with keywords or use the topic tab on the right-hand side. You’ll find all sorts – from webinar records, links to external websites we think are great and eBooks available from the library to help your career planning.
Try some library databases out
Outside of MyFuture, the library offers some great databases you can use for career research. We’ve summed up which ones you can use for what in this handy page on MyFuture. These are great for really getting under the skin of a specific industry.
Note: Library databases are only available to current students.
Give e-networking a go
Sites like LinkedIn and Bath’s own Bath Connection can give you access to alumni and others who are in the sector or job you are interested in. By looking at job history on profiles you can get an idea of the experiences and steps that people have taken to get to where you are aiming for.
You can use LinkedIn’s alumni function by going to the University of Bath page on the site. Here you can search through profiles of all Bath’s alumni. Go to the University of Bath page
On Bath Connection you can search through alumni experts in a similar way to LinkedIn. You will also be able to see what support each alumni is willing to give to other students and fellow alumni and get in touch with those of interest to you. Although do bear in mind that in these uncertain times you may not get a response if you do decide to make contact. Find out more about Bath Connection.
Do your own thing
Don’t be afraid to do your own research outside of the resources we provide. We have excellent resources covering essential career related skills but we can’t possibly cover detailed insights for every career path. So if there is a particular sector or job you are passionate about, go and find out more!
Some suggestions for what you could try:
- Finding the professional body for the sector. Often these will have discounted or free membership for students. Find out more about professional bodies
- Have a go at developing skills that are relevant to the job areas you are interested in virtually. We hope to have some blog posts covering this soon but you could try online learning like a MOOC
- You could also try reading around the area/sector/industry you are interested in. See if there are key texts or other resources available in the library or online to help widen your knowledge
Further help
The Careers Service is still here for you albeit in a virtual format. You can find out the latest on how we are able to support you on our website. Go to our service update page.
So if you would like some help with resources or have some specific questions that you can’t find the answer to, get in touch and we will do our best to help you.
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