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Prepare for Career Success at University

Find out how to make the most of your time at university and ensure you have the skills and experience graduate employers want.

8,499 enrolled on this course

Students relaxing on the university green
  • Duration

    3 weeks
  • Weekly study

    3 hours

Choosing the right degree and university may feel daunting enough, without worrying about what you’re going to do after graduation. But with the graduate job market becoming increasingly competitive, it’s vital to start thinking about your long-term career and employability now.

This free online course will show you how to make the most of the time you’ll spend in higher education, with the ultimate aim of improving your prospects when you graduate.

Use higher education to develop your skills and experience

Over three weeks, you will:

  • increase your own awareness of your skills, values and interests;
  • understand the importance of employability skills and experience in your graduate job hunt;
  • understand how you can best use higher education to develop these skills and experience;
  • and formulate a skills development action plan.

Learn with Goldsmiths Careers Consultants

You will learn with Vanessa Freeman, Deputy Head and PhD Consultant with the Careers Service at Goldsmiths, University of London and Helen Kempster from the Careers group.

What you learn through the course will ensure that you’re well-prepared both for your transition into university and your future career.

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Skip to 0 minutes and 5 seconds Hello, and welcome to this Future Learn course, “Prepare for Career Success at University.” My name is Helen Kempster and I’m a senior careers consultant here at Goldsmiths, University of London. As a careers consultant, I’ve got a lot of experience working with prospective university students, current students, and graduates to help them realize their potential. The aim of this course is to help you prepare for university and also start thinking about your future career. I know that when you’re choosing a university and a course, you’re not just thinking about the course. You’re thinking about the future prospects as well– where might that course take you, what sort of job options might be available to you.

Skip to 0 minutes and 37 seconds This course will help you to think about that and also really to help you make the most of the opportunities that you’ll have whilst you’re studying at university.

What topics will you cover?

  • Understanding values, skills and interests, and how these may relate to future career plans
  • The importance of employability and skills development
  • The skills that employers are looking for, and the opportunities available in higher education to develop these
  • The graduate labour market, including typical roles and destinations

Learning on this course

On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.

What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

  • Improve self-awareness in terms of recognising skills, values and interests.
  • Discuss the importance of employability skills in the graduate labour market.
  • Explain how higher education can develop employability skills.
  • Reflect on how best to use higher education to develop skills and experience.
  • Produce a skills development action plan.

Who is the course for?

This course is primarily designed for 16 to 18 year olds who are considering entering university. It is also suitable for anyone who is thinking about entering higher education or making a career change in the near future.

Who will you learn with?

I am careers professional with over 20 years experience providing advice and guidance to university students and career professionals.

I'm a Senior Careers Consultant at Goldsmiths, University of London, part of The Careers Group. I work with prospective and current students, and graduates, to help them achieve career success.

Who developed the course?

Goldsmiths, University of London

Part of the University of London, Goldsmiths has a world-class reputation. Study creative and inspiring courses and learn from leading minds in the arts, humanities, social sciences and computing.

Learning on FutureLearn

Your learning, your rules

  • Courses are split into weeks, activities, and steps to help you keep track of your learning
  • Learn through a mix of bite-sized videos, long- and short-form articles, audio, and practical activities
  • Stay motivated by using the Progress page to keep track of your step completion and assessment scores

Join a global classroom

  • Experience the power of social learning, and get inspired by an international network of learners
  • Share ideas with your peers and course educators on every step of the course
  • Join the conversation by reading, @ing, liking, bookmarking, and replying to comments from others

Map your progress

  • As you work through the course, use notifications and the Progress page to guide your learning
  • Whenever you’re ready, mark each step as complete, you’re in control
  • Complete 90% of course steps and all of the assessments to earn your certificate

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