You’ve only just started at university, and so job-hunting seems a long way off. But the more you think about your future now, the less you’ll have to worry later.

A degree will not be enough to guarantee you the graduate job of your dreams. Recruiters want well-rounded candidates who can demonstrate qualities such as motivation, interpersonal skills, problem-solving skills and organisation. So getting involved in extracurricular activities is crucial.

Now is also a good time to start thinking about where your degree might lead you. And whether you know what you want to do or not, it’s never too early to start getting some work experience.

Extracurricular activities

To gain those all-important ’transferable skills’ it’s important to get involved with university life.

You will find that most universities have a club for just about everything, so don’t hesitate to try something new. If you’re a sports fan, you can join college or university teams. If you’re into music there will be plenty of chances to join a choir or band. If you’re a good writer, volunteer for the student newspaper.

You may be able to do some voluntary work, or join a student committee. As for paid work, you could work in the union bars, cafés or shops. There may even be a ’job shop’ in your students’ union where local employers advertise vacancies.

Whatever extracurricular activities you take up, make sure that you can demonstrate what you’ve learned from these experiences. Working as part of a committee demonstrates teamwork and problem-solving skills. Perhaps you can demonstrate tenacity by increasing the number of members of your society, or communication skills by working with a community group. If you build your CV now, you’ll find graduate-job-hunting much easier when the time comes.

Consider your options

Don’t panic – you are not expected to know exactly what you want to do with your life by the time you hit 20. However, it can’t do any harm to start exploring your options.

Your course may already be an indicator of what graduate career you are heading towards, but if not, it’s time to start doing some research.

Visit careers fairs to collect information about various industries, meet company representatives and chat to graduate employees. Or browse through the information at your university careers service.

Many graduate career areas are hard to enter, and require relevant work experience before firms even consider you as a potential candidate. Now is a good time to think about arranging relevant work experience.

Find out more

• Monthly job-hunting planner
• What graduate job would suit me?
• What career skills do I have?
• Career events calendar