My career-planning experience

My name is Immar and I'm in my second year of LLB (Hons) Law. I aspire to work in the legal field where I would like to lecture and teach but still work with clients.

It can be hard to know where to begin with career planning. In this blog, I'll share my experience with the Career and Employability Services at my uni and how the support I receive impacted me. :smile:

What led me to reach out to the Career and Employability Services
Last October, as I began my second year, I was told that I needed to start serious career-planning, get some work experience and begin looking at securing a placement.

My lecturers provided information but I found it all very overwhelming and I felt as though I didn’t really understand a lot of it. I think this is because I hadn’t reached a mental stage yet where I was thinking about my career choices as I had only just started my second year: I was too busy thinking about my academic success rather than my success after graduating from university!

Feeling overwhelmed and anxious led me to reach out to the Career and Employability Services for the first time.

Contacting the support service
I contacted the Career and Employability Service because I needed guidance and support with my career-planning.

As I was unsure where to begin, I initially set up a meeting with one of the Careers Advisors. They were very helpful and gave me a rundown of all the routes I could go down with my degree. They also explained some of the alternatives and what routes I would be better off with.

During my appointment, they asked me a large variety of questions and assured me that I still had plenty of time left to pick my career and that it was never too late. They also gave me the pros and cons of each career field which broadened my understanding of each respective field.

Why I found it useful
I found attending the careers appointment useful and helpful because they explained the information in a way which was easy for me to process and comprehend. Furthermore, it also gave me peace of mind because I was able to actually understand what careers I could go into after my degree other than the traditional ones like a solicitor or barrister.

Allowing myself to sit down with one of the Careers Advisors and ask all the questions I had from further education to qualifying roles gave me a much deeper understanding of what is required from me whilst I am still studying.

They also gave me recommendations on how to find work experience opportunities, what to add to your CV and what characteristics employers value.

How the support I received impacted me
The support I received from the Career and Employability Services did change my university journey and experience because I now go into classes with a clearer focus, and I actually understand my purpose for attending the classes.

To put it simply, reaching out to a Careers Advisor helped me find a purpose in relation to why I chose this degree and what I can gain from this degree. This is because there were certain career fields I did not know I could go into with a degree in LLB (Hons) Law. It still surprises me that I could be a professor yet also still be able to work in a law firm!

Do you want to begin discussing your future career prospects? Discover the wide range of resources, appointments and events the Career and Employability Services has to offer.

Have you used your uni's Career and Employability Services? How did it help you?