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Topic outline
- SED Careers events
- Alumni stories
- Opportunities
- Resources
- Freelancing and working for yourself
SED CAREERS WORKSHOPS FEBRUARY 2022
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SED Careers Workshops February 2021
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This workshop, on February 8th 2021, aimed to help you think about the shape you would like your future to take, and start to build a plan of actions you can take to get there.
Topics include:
- further study;
- your skills and values;
- identifying and narrowing down your interests;
- the job market and coronavirus;
- building an action plan.
The recording of this session can be accessed here.
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This session, on 10th February 2021, gave an overview of working for yourself, including:
- freelancing and owning a business
- types of business
- entrepreneurial skills
- SED-related businesses
- a Q&A with SED alumni and GradVenture prizewinner Eleni Sophia.
This is really relevant if you are interested in being a writer or journalist, in setting up your own company, or being a freelancer in any field.
A recording of the session can be accessed here.
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This session, on February 17th 2021, aimed to help you explore how to present yourself to potential employers, clients, and contacts in a variety of ways, including:
- Skills and how to describe them
- CVs and applications
- Interviews
- Assessment centres
- Networking.
A recording of this session can be accessed here.
What Can You Do With A QM English Degree?
English graduates can go into a huge variety of jobs, as you have a range of skills developed through your degree such as persuasive communications skills, creativity, presentation skills & critical analysis. According to the Institute of Student Employers, more than 80% of the big graduate recruiters don't really mind what subjects applicants have taken - so there may be more career routes open to you, than you might have thought.
According to LinkedIn, here are some jobs that QM English & Drama alumni were doing in 2019:
Rights Manager (Publishing) Hachette UK Marketing Lead KPMG Head of Government & Healthcare CBI Deputy Editor - Digital Metro UK Teacher St Paul's Academy Global Mobility Effectiveness Manager PwC Barrister Lamb Chambers Trainee Solicitor Clifford Chance Broadcast Journalist BBC Media & Campaigns Amnesty international
For more options with your subject and to find out more about jobs that you might like, visit these websites:
Creative Choices
Prospects
The Guardian
Career PlayerCareers for Undergrads: What To Do In Your First Year
- Follow your interests: become an active member of a QMUL society. Look for a position on the committee in your 2nd/3rd year.
- Get skills on-campus building experience through QProjects or QMSU volunteering.
- Familiarise with our services. You can get your CV checked and ready for applying to internships, volunteering and work experience.
- Take a look at our Qprogrammes. Our Qprogrammes give students the opportunity to gain invaluable skills that will be appealing for employers
Careers for Undergrads: What To Do In Your Second Year
- Be curious – look around & ask lots of questions about jobs you see around you or read about.
- Become more self-aware… What interests you? What do you enjoy; What are you good at? What do you not enjoy?
- Continue to build work experience whether on campus or off… even if not directly relevant to a future career, it will definitely give you transferrable skills
- Explore job options by attending career events and workshops
- Take on extra roles- sit on a committee, be a course rep or QMUL student ambassador.
- Use the long summer break to get an advertised internship, or write to companies and try to set up your own. www.studentladder.co.uk has a useful list of companies offering internships in diverse sectors from publishing to banking - remember to start looking in the early autumn of your 2nd year.
- The QMUL jobsboard advertises individual internships with a wide variety of organisations, keep an eye on this from January onwards
Careers for Undergrads: What To Do In Your Final Year
Often English students are looking for jobs in Media/Communications/Publishing roles where graduate schemes are limited. Look for individual entry-level opportunities too and think about approaching a company with a speculative application if they have no positions advertised.
- Good websites as follows:
QMUL jobsboard (some larger schemes, but lots of individual jobs sourced for University of London students. Use the criteria on the left of the screen to refine your search)
CREATIVE ACCESS (BAME students only)
- BBC careers
- If you think Business, the Civil Service, Financial Services, Marketing, Human Resources etc., is for you... identify graduate scheme vacancies and apply as early as possible. Many open in the August/September BEFORE your 3rd year! Make sure you check out Student Ladder and Target Jobs for masses of graduate scheme info.
- Not sure what to do? Take a look at Prospects.uk to browse different industries and roles
- Visit the Careers and Enterprise Centre for one to one advice & guidance, CV/application form checks and mock interviews
- Visit Careers and Enterprise for resources re interviews, practice psychometric tests, mock interview simulator and assessment centre workshops and information.
- Apply for postgraduate courses if you are interested in an academic career or your career of choice requires further study. Book a Careers and Enterprise appointment to get feedback on your application before you submit
Masters Students: Get Your Career on Track
If you want to get a graduate job at the end of your Masters (as opposed to continuing in academia), your campaign should start at the beginning of your MA programme. N.B. Do read the section for 3rd year undergraduates and follow any relevant links.
Graduate Schemes - Large Organisations
- A good place to start your research is with a hard copy of The Guardian UK300 (does not exist online – collect from Careers & Enterprise in Queens Building WG3), which highlights the top 300 UK employers, their different schemes & the all important deadlines - many of which will be before Christmas.
- Remember big corporates need people in all disciplines – so a tech company still needs great staff to work in HR, Marketing, Business Management etc. Explore beyond the obvious…
- Read these top careers tips for Masters students
Law & Teaching
- Look out for events early in the autumn term to help start your campaign, such as ‘Law Careers for Non-Law Students’ and activities run by Teach First, Ark & other teaching organisations.
Interesting areas, often without formal graduate schemes…
- Read our Getting Into… guides. Careers covered include Publishing & Journalism; Marketing, Advertising, PR & Events; Charities, Development & Human Rights; and Politics, Think Tanks & Government.
- Fine tune your CV and draft an outline cover letter
- Build a long TARGET LIST of organisations that work in the area you are interested in, prioritise the list and 1) check website regularly for opportunities and 2) approach them directly even if no roles advertised.
- Earlier in the academic year, look to still build experience/contacts: use the fact that you are still a student - it is a fantastic opportunity to write & ask for work experience, work shadowing, even the chance to come in & discuss what their job involves
- Later in the academic year, approach them for a graduate role: always do your research, find something that the organisation is doing & show how that relates to your interests; don’t forget to describe your motivation for getting in touch.
- Use an organisation’s website and/or LinkedIn, to always find a named person to write to.
- Don’t be surprised if you have to write 50-100 letters to get a useful response!
- Be persistent, follow up an approach with an email after 2 weeks.
Still not sure what to do?
- Think as widely as possible – research job areas you know about, but also research companies/organisations that attract/inspire you and look at what roles for graduates exist in those organisations… there will be many jobs out there that you probably don’t know exist.
- Book a 1:1 guidance appointment with a Careers Consultant to kickstart your thinking, book an appointment by calling us on 020 7882 8533 or drop into WG3, Queens’ Building.
Know what you want to do, but concerned your CV experience is weak?
- Even in your MA year, it is not too late to build your CV if you are prepared to work hard, whether through regular part-time work, work-shadowing, an internship, or volunteering.
- Book a 1:1 guidance appointment with a Careers Consultant to help identify gaps & craft a plan of action…
Finally, the Basics:
- Always personalise your CV & Cover letter to maximise relevance to each organisation. Consider mailing old-fashioned paper copies, more unusual and harder to ignore than an email!
- Get CVs, Cover letters & Applications checked with an Applications Advisor in the Careers & Enterprise team, call us on 020 7882 8533 or drop in to WG3, Queen’s Building to book an appointment.
- INTERVIEWS… visit QMUL Careers for more resources AND book a Mock Interview with a Careers Consultant by calling us on 020 7882 8533 or drop into WG3, Queens’ Building.
Alumni stories
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English and Drama BA, 2010
I never thought I would live in Switzerland, learn how to speak French, or really enjoy a career as an investment professional! I made plans but I was open to deviations along the way. In the words of Joseph Campbell, “we must be willing to let go of the life we planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”
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English BA, 2018
Eating disorders are serious mental illnesses and are often misunderstood and misrepresented in society and the media. I really wanted to be part of a charity that was dedicated to helping everyone regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity or background.
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English and Film Studies BA
Characters are what matters the most when you’re writing a book. If you don’t understand your characters deeply, feel and care for them, then no one else will.
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English MA
My current research is very much informed by and carries on from my MA dissertation. Following on from my research into literary linguistic and formal experimentalism, I am now exploring the limits of discourse and language, and am interested in novels that have silences, gaps, or absences at the centre of their narrative – the expressive potential of this but also its limitations.
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English MA
One of the best things about studying in London, and specifically in the East End, is that I was studying with, and being taught by, a diverse group of people. East London has a rich history of migration and revolutionary resistance which makes it an exciting and inspiring place to live and explore.
Opportunities
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Deadline Sunday 30th May 2021; for details and to apply, click here.
Reuters is looking for two summer interns with excellent news judgment to work with our online news team. You’ll be working closely with our editors to select and curate news for social media users.
You’ll learn how to craft succinct and accurate headlines and get a front-row view of the role Reuters plays in the evolving ecosystem of news. If time allows, there may be opportunities to work with other parts of the online operation and the wider newsroom.
We are excited to work with emerging talents who can tell stories about finance, politics and people from new perspectives and in different formats. As a global business we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals.
The position will involve shifts that will include weekends. We anticipate our interns starting in June/July 2021, the internship will be 2-3 months.To be a Summer Intern, you will likely:
Be in your final or penultimate year of study
Have a clear commitment to a career in journalism
Be able to write precisely and accurately
Have an interest in digital news production
Have an international outlook
Have an ambition to deliver journalism with real impact
Have an understanding of how to use social media to report and find sources
Please note, the deadline for applications is Sunday 30th May 2021.
What’s in it For You
At Reuters, our people are our greatest assets. Here are some of the benefits we offer for your personal and professional growth:
Global Career: As a global company, we can offer a truly international career and progression opportunities
Learning & Development: we have a dedicated training team focused on the continuous development of our employees
Benefits: we offer competitive salary packages and market leading benefits
Perks: Work alongside Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists and a team who provide unmatched, award-winning coverage of the world’s most important stories
About Reuters
Reuters is the world’s largest multimedia news provider. Founded in 1851, it is committed to the Trust Principles of independence, integrity and freedom from bias. With unmatched coverage in over 16 languages, and reaching billions of people worldwide every day, Reuters provides trusted intelligence that powers humans and machines to make smart decisions. It supplies business, financial, national and international news to professionals via desktop terminals, the world's media organizations, industry events and directly to consumers. Reuters: The Real World in Real Time
Do you want to be part of a team helping re-invent the way knowledge professionals work? How about a team that works every day to create a more transparent, just and inclusive future? At Thomson Reuters, we’ve been doing just that for almost 160 years. Our industry-leading products and services include highly specialized information-enabled software and tools for legal, tax, accounting and compliance professionals combined with the world’s most global news services – Reuters. We help these professionals do their jobs better, creating more time for them to focus on the things that matter most: advising, advocating, negotiating, governing and informing.
We are powered by the talents of 25,000 employees across more than 75 countries, where everyone has a chance to contribute and grow professionally in flexible work environments that celebrate diversity and inclusion. At a time when objectivity, accuracy, fairness and transparency are under attack, we consider it our duty to pursue them. Sound exciting? Join us and help shape the industries that move society forward.Accessibility
As a global business, we rely on diversity of culture and thought to deliver on our goals. To ensure we can do that, we seek talented, qualified employees in all our operations around the world regardless of race, color, sex/gender, including pregnancy, gender identity and expression, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, citizen status, veteran status, or any other protected classification under applicable law. Thomson Reuters is proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer providing a drug-free workplace.
We also make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for sincerely held religious beliefs in accordance with applicable law.More information about Thomson Reuters can be found on thomsonreuters.com.
Freelancing and working for yourself
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If you are interested in setting up your own business, or in freelancing in journalism or any other sector, the Enterprise team at Queen Mary can help you. They provide support for students and recent graduates through funding, one-to-one advice, exciting events and workshops, workspace, access to experts and entrepreneurial networks.
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This is a recording of the Careers & Enterprise workshop session held on Wednesday 8th February 2023, covering freelancing and working for yourself.