Bitesize Careers

• Any year
  • Investigate the various ways of gaining Future-Ready Skills Award, (previously DegreePlus). The Future-Ready Skills Award recognises and accredits Queen's students for the skills they develop through undertaking extra-curricular activities such as part-time work, volunteering, taking an active role in a club or society. There are lots of activities to choose from including many of the ones listed below.
  • Find out more about opportunities to study and work abroad
  • Attend Careers fairs and employer events.  These happen all year round and will be advertised on MyFuture.
  • Find voluntary work through Volunteer SU and Volunteer Now.
  • Find opportunities to develop your entrepreneurial skills through Enterprise SU. 
  • Look at our Careers Programmes for a range of opportunities to develop your skills
  • Project Children – 8 week paid internship in the US. Internships are provided in many fields. Application deadline is in spring.
  • InsideSherpa provide virtual work experience programmes in a variety of sectors and for a variety of big names including Deloitte and KPMG.
  • Organisations such as BUNAC, CCUSA, Camp America and Projects Abroad advertise a variety of paid and voluntary vacation-time opportunities throughout the world. 
  • Development Weeks - there are lots of activities you could engage with to broaden your knowledge and skills. You could also bid for funding to run an event for other students.
• Level 1

  Get some kind of experience - very few employers offer 'relevant experience' opportunities to first year students (there are a few exceptions below), but any experience e.g. part-time work, voluntary work, involvement in clubs and societies helps to develop your skills in ways that are valued by employers.

  • Think you might be interested in Banking and Finance?
    • Most of the major graduate employers in this sector run "Spring Insight” schemes for first year students. These are a great way to get to know a business and to get fast-tracked into their placement and internship programmes. Examples include: Citi, Deloitte, EY, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, KPMG, Schroders. Find others through websites such as RateMyPlacement.
    • Apply for the Stock Market Challenge (usually takes place in late February/early March. Booking will be via MyFuture)
    • The Bank of England runs an internship scheme for First Year students.
  • Randox Apex programme is targeted at first year students offering work experience throughout your degree. This programme is typically launched during Semester 1. Look out for Randox coming onto campus.
  • Interested in Teaching? Teach First run a Taster Programme for Level 1 students.

  Start to think about the long-term - there are more 'relevant experience' opportunities available for second year students, but if you don't know what you want to do longer term, it'll be difficult to know which experience is 'relevant' to you.

   

• Level 2 / Penultimate Year

  Look for relevant work experience:

  • IAESTE - paid work experience abroad for students of Science, Technology and Applied Arts in 2^nd year and above. Placements related to degree programme. Application deadline is in autumn.
  • Interested in research? Some research organisations offer internships and sandwich programmes e.g. CERN, Diamond (UK Synchrotron), ESRF (The European Synchrotron), Science & Technology Facilities Council
  • Interested in Teaching? Teach First run an Insight Programme for Level 2 / penultimate year students 
  • Large companies in other sectors may offer year-long placements and summer internships. MyFuture, Ratemyplacement, Prospects, Targetjobs and Gradcracker are useful sites for finding these. Many of the deadlines are set around December so it’s best to start applying in autumn.
  • Interested in Banking and Finance?
    • Apply for the Stock Market Challenge (usually takes place in March. Booking will be via MyFuture)
    • A lot of the big companies run summer internships as well as year-long placements e.g.  Citi, Deloitte, EY, HSBC, JP Morgan, Morgan Stanley, PwC, Standard Life, and a few run year-long placements e.g. Deloitte, First Derivatives, KPMG and PwC. Apply early in the autumn term!

  Thinking of postgraduate study abroad? - If you are considering undertaking postgraduate study abroad, it's best to start planning in your penultimate year

• Final Year
  • Apply early for graduate schemes and / or postgraduate study.
  • IAESTE - paid work experience abroad for students of Science, Technology and Applied Arts in 2^nd year and above. These opportunities are also open to final year students. Application deadline is in autumn.
  • Interested in research? Some research organisations offer summer internships to recent graduates e.g. CERN, Diamond (UK Synchrotron), ESRF (The European Synchrotron), Science & Technology Facilities Council. Some of these may be open to final year students.
  • Plus above opportunities for any year.
• PGT / PGR

  PGT:

  • Apply early for graduate schemes
  • IAESTE - paid work experience abroad for students of Science, Technology and Applied Arts in 2^nd year and above. These opportunities are also open to PGT students. Application deadline is in autumn.
  • Interested in research? Some research organisations offer summer internships to recent graduates e.g. CERN, Diamond (UK Synchrotron), ESRF (The European Synchrotron), Science & Technology Facilities Council. Some of these may be open to PGT students.
  • Plus above opportunities for any year.

  PGR:

  • Discover Careers support for PGR students
  • Plus above opportunities for any year.