Professional Development after Graduation

For  students who have recently graduated, facing the competitive job market isn’t as daunting as it previously was.

Universities Minister David Willetts states, “confidence in the UK economy is growing and businesses really value the skills graduates can bring to their companies”.

This confidence means that there will now be a predicted 1,400 more graduate vacancies available by the end of 2014 than last year – meaning employers are now more actively looking for individuals who stand out from the crowd.

This doesn’t mean their standards are low however, as demand to stay competitive rises, so do expectations on employees.

So how can your CV stand out amongst millions of other students applying for exciting fresh roles?

Continuous professional development

The first few years of being in the world of work will teach you more about yourself than you can predict.

Your first fulltime job should teach and cement your soft skills such as organisation, time keeping, leadership, communication, and team work.

However, an employer can’t take this off the page from your CV, and, until they meet you face to face, your CV is the only key you have to an interview.

Continuing your own professional development through training is a great way to prove to prospective employers that you have the dedication and commitment required to excel and stay ahead of the game in a workplace.

This could be a professional certification, for example developing your leadership skills in project management, or rising to meet demand for IT roles.

Or it could simply be attending a training day at a local event in a subject that interests you.

Networking

No matter what field you’re interested in working in, there will be opportunities to network with fellow colleagues and peers.

This may be through social media platforms such as Google+ or LinkedIn, the latter having thousands of groups specifically for different fields and specialities where you can ask questions, read topical debates, and speak to people at different stages of their career.

Or, you could network by attending industry events – people who are proud of their work are more than happy to talk and share their experience – you just need to brave and ask.

A degree will have taught you to be wise in a particular field, but it’s wiser still to acknowledge that everyone, no matter what age, still has things to learn – especially in such a fast paced and changing world where the boundaries of the workplace are always being pushed, manipulated, and expanded.

Learning doesn’t stop with university – you’re now more empowered to take control of what direction you’d like it to take.