The Transition from Student to Employee

Being a final year student at University, the prospect of what to do after graduation is one that is constantly looming over our heads.

As well as acing that report in Brand Management or revising for an important Marketing exam, we now have several aspects of our working lives to juggle. The attitudes of many students have now changed. We hear worrying reports about a shortage of jobs in the industry, so how do we put ourselves in the best position to get employed after graduation? The buzz word of being "a rounded individual" is being constantly thrown at us, but what does it actually mean? Our particular University has us on a designated module called "Career Development and Planning", but does doing that get us a killer job in Sports Marketing? Well, Maybe!

When looking at our timetables before we started, it was fair to say that we as students approached this module with caution."We are Sports Marketing students, we want to learn about Sports Marketing!" was the initial feeling.  After an introductory lecture, we were straight to the office of the course leader to change to a different subject. 

However, we are now six weeks in, and its fair to say opinions have changed. As students, we were aware of being "a rounded individual", but now we have an action plan to become rounded individuals. What we have been taught is what we should be doing between now and graduation to put us in the best possible position to land our dream jobs.

Whereas in the past everything seemed so linear, the adage of get a good degree therefore get a good job is not necessarily the case anymore. With the help of this module, it has given us a realisation before it is too late.

So what exactly does one have to do to make themselves more employable? Its difficult to know where to start, with everything from creating an online presence to researching industries and gaining valuable insights being very important. But for me personally, it doesn't matter if I don't learn anything from here forward, because the realisation mentioned earlier could possibly turn out to be the single most important thing I will learn all year.