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Lugging suitcases, boxes and my beloved television and PC into my parents’ two cars; as well as a cargo of other bits and bobs that I did not particularly need; it suddenly dawned on me ‘this is it, I am going away to University!’ I wasn’t nervous but I was definitely excited. After all, I was leaving Milton Keynes; a rapidly growing town in Buckinghamshire often described by others’ as concrete and roundabouts and not much else. Of course I can get slightly irritated with the negative comments about the place I have lived all my life, but even I had to admit to myself that the home of the concrete cows did not have everything to offer. Basically it needed more bars and more clubs! In fact, I could not wait to leave home, meet new people and more importantly be free to do what I wanted when I wanted!
That Sunday three years ago, it seemed as though everyone in England was off to University. Nearly every car on the M1 had quilts and pillows visible from the back window. We passed Coventry, Warwick, Leicester, Loughborough and Birmingham Universities before reaching my destination! My parents’ and brothers’ helped me move my things into my room, unpack and get settled; then we went out to a restaurant for something to eat before returning to my room and saying our goodbyes! As my family sped away, I went to meet the other five girls who I was going to be living with in the student flat. I felt cool, calm and collected and not a slight bit anxious. The night carried on in a whirlwind of meeting and greeting and constant repetitions of the same questions- What is your name? Where have you come from? And what are you going to be studying?!
The next day was registration and the Freshers’ Fair. I was dreading registration as it meant standing alone in line not knowing anyone, but as for the Fair; I was looking more forward to that. When I begun my three years at Nottingham University, I felt as though graduation was a lifetime away and that I had ample time to contemplate what I wanted to do with my life- career wise and personally. Rather unfortunately however, the three years went somewhat faster than I had expected. During Freshers’ week I was laughably optimistic. I was determined to get involved in everything and to really insure that I made the most of what was on offer, which to me meant joining as many societies as possible- Gospel Choir, Coc Soc, Soc Soc, Taikwondo, African Caribbean Society, Dance Society- the list is endless- I joined that many! Nonetheless, by the end of my first year I had stuck to Gospel Choir, and that was it.
To be fair, I had been involved in other extra- curricular activities; such as starting up a new music society, working as a volunteer and taking part in singing competitions; but always in the back of my mind was that feeling of not knowing exactly what I wanted to do once I had left Uni. I was and I still am fully aware that although I would like a performing role in the media/entertainment industry there is no straightforward and guaranteed career path lingering in the distance and so I fretted during my final year, a lot! It didn’t help that other students could be pretty annoying about my degree. They would ask me, ‘What do you study’? And I would respond with ‘Sociology’, which usually resulted in the same replies ‘Hah, that’s a doss subject’, or even worse ‘Oh, what do you want to do with that-Social work!’ In my head I would be screaming NO, NO, NO but secretly worrying about what I was going to do.
Nevertheless, I knew my degree in Sociology would not lead directly to any particular conventional follow up career in the way that a lot of my friend’s degrees would. My friend’s studied subjects like Psychology because they wanted to be Psychologists or Finance and Maths because they wanted to become Accountants, but Sociology on the other hand, is a very open degree. This just made me realise how important it is to find ways and means to develop transferable skills for the workplace, even if you have no idea what kind of job you would like to have; because chances are, once you have decided, you may have missed out on the peripheral of opportunities at university that one can make use off in order to gain these all important skills. Now that I have graduated I have really been forced to assess my strengths, weaknesses and my likes and dislikes and what I generally have to offer, to the point of going insane.
The point of this whole article is simply to stress how important it is to make the most of University in every way, not just the student unions bar! BE PROACTIVE! Don’t be hung up on the fact that you are going to have a degree because these days more and more young people are choosing to go to university, and so just having a degree is not enough. I could have made more of my time at university by working towards certain careers; except I became too concerned with agonising and only thinking about how I was going to get that perfect TV presenting job or record deal that I overlooked the array of other careers that exist in the same industry, that could act as either a platform to that dream job or even become a brilliant career in itself e.g. journalism, personal relations, advertising, TV research, editorial and publishing and even entry level jobs like being an assistant or runner!
Sometimes one has to be more realistic and less idealistic and get on with working towards building foundations; because do you know something, three years at university really is not that long. In fact it’s a doss for most students; but the process of looking, applying and going through the stages of a job interview is tedious and nerve wracking, and could be made a lot easier and the result more successful if you did less napping and took more action towards building a great CV. Students beware, there is always going to be some Harry who went to Oxford, did two internships with City banks, was captain of his university Rowing team, was class president, started a university paper, voluntarily campaigns against animal cruelty and still managed to get a 1st class degree in Advanced Maths and Rocket Science!
So to give a little more purpose to this article, I have compiled a quick and simple guide below, of key transferable skills and how they can be EASILY gained whilst at University. It is as easy as one, two three; A, B C! There is nothing complicated here.
Team work, leadership and organisational skills
There are plenty of opportunities at university to work in teams and gain leadership skills.
If you are into sport, make sure you join a sports team at your universities Fresher Fair. You could get involved in a sport like rowing, football, rugby, netball, lacrosse etc. Participation in sport shows employers that you are fit, healthy and energetic, which is more attractive than an wheezy couch potato!
Although most sports involve working with others in a team, when you join any society at university, there are other opportunities to gain important skills as well.
Why not get yourself onto the committee of your favourite society? Then you would be able to play a part in any decisions that need to be made and get involved in organising socials, promoting the society, managing budgets, holding meetings and planning new events. University societies usually require a number of positions to be filled e.g. President, Vice- President, General Secretary, Cultural and Social Secretary, Public Relations Officer and Treasurer! Each position offers the chance to experience independent responsibility and acquire the opportunity to lead and take charge.
You can build on your organisational skills by taking up one of the committee positions or by getting involved in organising a show or even by simply arranging a night out for members.
Start up your own society. Brainstorm things that interest you and believe would interest other people and set about planning your society. Every university has its own policies and rules that one has to abide by and take into consideration when starting a society. Do not dismiss ideas that seem stupid or silly or even impossible. You never know until you try. After all, there is a Neighbours Society at Nottingham University for all the fans of the Australian Soap- and from what I hear it has quite a few members!
Communication and Interpersonal skills
I cannot think of a decent job that does not require the ability to communicate with others in some way, shape or form. Communication is a way of life. It is how we express ourselves and tells people how we are feeling; and also how we convey our likes and dislikes, and what we want from people. Hence why the ability to relate to others and be personable is an important social skill.
Communication skills can be built through the constant essay writing most students have to deal with at university. Writing to a word limit means that one has to be able to get information, facts and main points across in as few words as possible. My ability to do this really improved during my time at uni.
If you are interested in writing or journalism and your uni has a newspaper, magazine or even radio station- try and get involved in one of them.
Once again, getting involved in societies is an excellent way to meet people and build on communication and interpersonal skills. This can be achieved by helping to actively promote a society, by speaking in front of students before and after lectures, handing out flyers on campus and selling tickets for student nights’ and gigs.
Time Management
Another skill that is important to have is the ability to manage your time affectively and efficiently. Get used to working towards deadlines in a sensible manner. In other words, try not to leave writing an essay to the day before it is due and do your course reading as and when it is set so as to avoid last minute crams before important exams. I know it is often hard to do, but you will get better results and your time management skills will put you in good stead for the workplace!
Related Links
Student & Graduate Careers Advice
Freshers Guide
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