Career Planning

Welcome to the City St George's Careers Service. Our friendly and experienced Careers Consultants are here to help current students and alumni with careers advice, support and guidance.

For Clerkenwell Campus Students

Our teams encompass careers, employability, and student development activities, including careers resources and appointments, skills sessions, employer events, community volunteering, professional mentoring, the Micro-Placement Programme and the Course Buddies scheme.

Career appointment

You can book up to five appointments within any 45-day period. We offer 10-, 20-, and 40-minute sessions covering a wide range of career development topics. Appointments can be held in person or online, and you can choose your preferred option when booking. If you book a 40-minute appointment, you’re also welcome to bring a friend, parent, or guardian along for moral support. Visit the Appointments with a Careers Consultant page to find out more and book your session.

Alongside appointments, we have a range of other tools to support your career development. Explore our Graduate Attributes, get feedback on your CV using the CareerSet CV checker and browse upcoming events and workshops to build your skills and confidence.

Explore your career options

Studying for a degree opens up a wide range of careers and pathways for you. Did you know that less than 30% of all graduate jobs require a specific degree? However, sometimes having so much choice might be a little overwhelming and it can be difficult to know where to start.

That’s where City St George’s Careers Hub can really help you! Careers Hub lets you explore the type of jobs that might interest you. Perhaps you already have a good idea what you want to do?  Then why not utilise the great range of information and premium CV, interviews and practice tests we have to give you the best chance of success when it comes to securing that job?

Applying for postgraduate study

  • Book an appointment with a careers consultant to discuss postgraduate study and review your personal statement.

After you graduate

You can still use City St George’s careers support for 3 years after you graduate. When you graduate, you’ll receive an email with new login instructions for CareersHub.

Contact us at Support@City if you’re having trouble logging in.

For Tooting Campus Students

Career Consultants Fiona Telford and Jane McKenna look forward to supporting you. Explore the various ways to access our services by watching this short video:

What do we offer?

  • Relevant, timetabled workshops as part of your course.
  • One-to-one guidance discussions to help you with career decision making and queries. Book an appointment with a Careers Consultant
  • Guidance on preparing CVs, covering letters and job applications.
  • Practice interviews and tips on how to handle assessment centres.
  • Support to help you identify your transferable skills.
  • Access to a range of resources including careers information and jobs board.

We encourage our students to start thinking about their career options early on and to develop their employability skills during their time at St George’s, both independently and through curriculum-based activities.

Once you have started to explore your interests and options and have a few ideas, you can take action to develop your understanding further and plan your next steps.

Attend careers events and network with alumni and other people in your chosen industry to deepen your understanding of the skills and attributes you need to be successful. Do some work experience or take up an internship to get hands-on experience. Investigate the many ways there are to find a graduate job.

Now is also a good time to book an appointment with a careers consultant to discuss your plans.

The real skill in planning is to stay open-minded and flexible, and to give yourself the time and permission to explore, try things out and change your mind. Say ‘yes’ to opportunities – you never know who you might meet and what you might learn!

Current students can access support online and in person to help make and carry out an action plan, and to create opportunities to get exactly where you want to be.

Work experience and internships

Gaining professional work experience during your time at university is one of the most valuable things you can do to increase your employability as a graduate. You will:

  • develop professional skills
  • increase your knowledge of the realities of a role, working environment and sector
  • meet lots of people with valuable insights to share.

All this will help you make informed choices as a graduate.

This could be insight weeks in Year 1, summer internships, research studentships, or placements as part of your course. Volunteering in relevant organisations, can also be valuable, particularly in healthcare settings.

Current students can access lots of events, workshops, vacancies and information online to support successfully gaining relevant and high-quality work experience.

Networking

Make the most of social media, careers events and other networking meetings to approach employers directly and find out about their area of work and suitable opportunities.

Join and use LinkedIn to connect with employers of interest, and explore career paths of people you find interesting and inspiring. Current students and graduates can join our alumni community on LinkedIn.

Practise making your ‘elevator pitch’ beforehand so that you are not lost for words whenever you start a professional conversation. This is a thirty-second introduction of you, your professional background, and what you’re looking for professionally.

Remember to look on your early attempts at networking as the beginning of a learning curve. Employers do recognise that you are human — you don’t have to be perfect first time!

Current students can access workshops and information online, as well as book face-to-face discussions to prepare and make the most of networking opportunities.

Graduate jobs

Having a plan of your next steps at the beginning of your final year is important and allows you to make the most of opportunities. Graduate opportunities start to be advertised a year in advance. Will you be ready?

Work experience and networking during your earlier years at university will have helped you understand your next steps. Attending career events and workshops will help you further.

There are many ways to find a job. Use job boards and online sites not only for ‘live’ vacancies, but also to discover new roles or potential employers you could investigate. Looking at job descriptions will give you a feel for the sorts of skills employers are looking for.

A large number of jobs are never advertised. You could contact an employer directly using a well-targeted speculative CV.

Current students can access one-to-one career guidance appointments to discuss next steps – whether you know what you want or if you have no idea. You will create relevant and tangible actions plans to help you move forwards, wherever you are in your thinking.

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs)

Tooting Campus has developed a wide range of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) using the FutureLearn platform. These high-quality learning resources offer a chance to learn through discussion with a cohort of global learners and practicing professionals.

A full list of our courses can be found here.

Explore your Options

Finding a job or a career that you enjoy and suits you takes time. It's a project with various stages. One of the hardest tasks can be to understand and choose between the many opportunities available.

We encourage and support students to start exploring through research, networking, gaining work experience, and taking opportunities to develop skills and knowledge.

Current students have access to a wide variety of workshops, online tools and information, and one-to-one career guidance to help with exploring options.

Where to start?

Firstly,explore your skills and strengths and the sort of person you are. Ask yourself what knowledge, skills and experiences you’ve gained through your degree. Also analyse what experience you have built up from extra-curricular activities, such as clubs and societies, volunteering, hobbies and interests, independent travel or your part-time job. As far as employers are concerned, every experience counts, so don’t overlook anything.

Then take time to explore your options by looking at the different roles, sectors and further study available to you, and the skills and experience required.

Exploring through networking adds huge value to these steps, as you can find out the reality of the options you have read about. Use professional networking sites like LinkedIn to explore the career paths of others, such as other alumni or those working in organisations of interest to you.

Each step will take you closer to identifying where you might want to be.

The service is a member of The Careers Group, University of London and students of Tooting Campus, City St George's, University of London can also access central events organised by The Careers Group.

How to get in touch

The Careers Consultant team offer one to one appointments on Teams and in-person (subject to availability of careers consultants.) On days when a careers consultant is on campus, they work from the Careers Room in the library of the Tooting campus. When consultants are not on campus, appointments may still be available on Teams via our booking system.

The service operates Monday-Friday during normal office hours. Current students and alumni can book appointments and these are available face-to-face or via Teams. Appointments are generally 30 minutes long, although longer sessions are available upon request.

To discuss any aspect of your career plans with one of our careers consultants, current students can book an appointment via Canvas or email us.

Current Students

We offer bespoke, confidential and impartial one-to-one careers guidance to undergraduate and postgraduate students from the start of your course through to graduation and beyond, and at whatever your stage of professional development.

The careers service works closely with Master’s and PhD students, to support early career researchers at Tooting Campus.

What we offer

  • Career guidance. We offer 30 minute one-to-one careers guidance sessions to support you in your career planning and decision making, to build your confidence, and to help you identify valuable next steps on your career journey.
  • CV and application advice. We can review your applications with you, support you in presenting yourself and your experiences to best advantage, tailor your applications to a particular role, and help maximize the impact of your application.
  • Practice interviews. Motivation questions, competency questions, role-specific questions, Multiple Mini Interviews (MMI) – we can focus wherever you feel is most valuable and work on the content, structure and delivery of your answers.
  • Interactive workshops. Career education workshops are tailored and delivered within programmes. Topics may include understanding the graduate job market, learning through reflection career decision making, making successful applications, making an impact at interview, and more.
  • Careers fairs. Delivered in partnership with the academic programmes, these are opportunities to explore career paths in different areas and specialties, meet with employers, and have valuable conversations to inform your career thinking.
  • Online support. Tools, information and links are available for current students on Canvas to help explore options, plan your next steps, and apply for opportunities. We offer specific information tailored to each programme, plus general careers support and resources relevant to whatever your career choices and direction.

International Students

Tooting Campus Careers Service offers a wide range of support to international students, whether you intend to find employment or further study in the UK, return home after your studies, or go to another country altogether.

If you are a current international student, you can find more help and advice on visas and job hunting both in the UK and globally on Canvas and our website.

The careers service is not authorised to give any advice on work permits or visas. You can contact the Tooting Campus's Senior Compliance Manager (Visas and Immigration) who will be able to provide advice about visa options after you graduate.

Resources

Disabled Students

Tooting Campus Careers Service works with all students and recent graduates to help move you toward your career aspirations. We support students with disabilities, providing tailored information and advice.

Current students can access a range of information and resources on disability and employment, disclosure, and legal rights online on Canvas.

Resources

Alumni

All Tooting Campus’s alumni have lifelong access to the careers service after completing their course. Please see our alumni pages, and email us for more information.

We are always keen to hear from Tooting Campus graduates who would like to take part in careers events, or to talk to current students informally about your job role, your organisation and the work sector since graduating.

We would love to publish alumni career stories as case studies to help current students who are considering what to do next. Please get in touch.

Employers

We are always keen to hear from organisations that would like to participate in our careers events, either by giving a short presentation to our students or by having a presence at one of our larger events. For more information or to register your interest, please contact us.

If you would like to advertise a job to all University of London students, please go to our jobs site, JobOnline, and advertise for free to reach hundreds of students across the university. You can also email us about vacancies.

Prospective Students

We provide support for current Tooting Campus students and recent graduates but we are unable to provide pre-entry careers guidance for those considering applying to the Tooting Campus.

We hope you do make a successful application to Tooting Campus and, once enrolled on your course, you'll have full access to our wide range of services.

In the meantime, you may find your school, college or other current educational institution has support available on university options. If not, the resources/contacts listed below should help.

Resources

  • This guide to applying for university from Prospects is a great starting point.
  • If you already have a career path in mind, you can refer to the relevant Prospects job profile or sector overview.
  • UCAS also provide useful tips for those considering studying at undergraduate level and the different industries that graduates go on to work in.
  • Unistats provides information about full- and part-time undergraduate courses, and is aimed at prospective students.

Merging City and St George’s Resources

As we bring together resources for City (Clerkenwell) and St George’s (Tooting) students, some content may be specific to one campus and not the other. For the most relevant information, try using specific keywords or exploring content related to your department. If you need help, our support teams are available to guide you.

Clerkenwell students can contact campus.news@citystgeorges.ac.uk
Tooting students can contact studentlifecentre@sgul.ac.uk.