Student Futures

Your career starts here.

Supporting your career

We’re committed to helping you build the skills and confidence you need to succeed.

Through volunteering, part-time work, and on-campus roles, you'll develop valuable skills that will help strengthen your CV and applications. And our support doesn’t end at graduation – you'll get lifetime access to our careers services for any help you need with applications, LinkedIn, career decisions and more.

You can begin to develop your professional knowledge and skills through virtual internships, giving you immediate content for your CV. 

You can also apply for more formal summer internship schemes which might take place over several weeks, either in person or virtually.

Many of our courses include vocational, professional and clinical placements.

Volunteering is also a great, flexible way to build professional skills. 

Guide to building experience while you study

Work placements offer you the opportunity to gain valuable work experience, build your professional network, and apply the skills you've developed at university to the workplace. 

A placement year is a full-time period of work experience with an organisation that is taken between your second and third years and lasts between 10 and 12 months.

Find out more about the Roehampton placement year

Throughout your degree you will be encouraged to learn about yourself and your interests, values and motivations. You can start to build your self-awareness using self-assessment tests on our recruitability portal Shortlist.me.

Work experience will also help you understand the skills and job sectors that interest you.

In addition, exploring resources like the What can I do with my degree? series on Prospects.ac.uk and the Target Jobs career pathways can help you expand your list of options.

You'll also be able to meet with a Careers Consultant for one-to-one support on your options and next steps.

There are many different ways for employers to advertise job opportunities, and therefore many different ways for you to find them.

Online jobs pages are a quick way to find vacancies specifically for new graduates. Using a recruitment agent can offer a direct route and a way to bypass long application processes. Going direct to employer websites can reduce the competition if the vacancy isn’t being advertised more widely. 

And you can create your own opportunities by building relationships with alumni and industry professionals, which can open doors to jobs that were never advertised. 

Guide to job hunting

When applying for jobs you might be offered face to face, telephone or video interviews, be invited to panel interviews or day-long assessment centres, and be faced with strength-based, competency-based and scenario-based interview questions.

We can help you prepare for all of these. Our recruitability portal Shortlist.me will help you build the confidence that comes from proper preparation. You’ll get immediate feedback on your performance and have the opportunity to repeat the activities and significantly improve your interview skills.

If you'd like 1:1 support with interviews, book an appointment on Handshake.

Postgraduate study offers a unique opportunity to deepen your knowledge in a specific field and expand your professional network. 

You might choose to engage in further study because you love the subject, or because you need additional qualifications for the career you have chosen. 

It is important to consider exactly why you want to pursue a further qualification and find the right path for you. 

Resources like Prospects – Should I do a Master’s degree? and Find A Masters Postgraduate Funding Guide will help.

All our graduates are eligible for 20% off postgraduate study at Roehampton.

"The support from the Careers and Placements team was outstanding, providing guidance at every stage, from applying for the internship to reflecting on the skills I gained. It truly made the process seamless and enriching."

Isa, BSc Business Management and Finance graduate

Read more graduate career stories

Your journey with us

Undergraduate Postgraduate International Graduate

Undergraduate

Our careers support evolves with you, from skill-building and internships to networking and interviews. Learn what you can do in each year of your degree to build career momentum and confidence.

You'll be taking some time to settle in, but remember that you are likely to have more spare time in first year than in later years – and it's never too early to start thinking about your career! 

We'd recommend you sign up to our careers and job vacancy platform, Handshake, and look at part-time job opportunities, volunteering and employer 'insight days'. You'll also be able to register for part-time work through URJobs.

It’s also a good time to use our CV resources on Handshake and Shortlist.me. If you can, join student societies and attend College and Student Futures events to meet new people, learn about career paths and develop professional skills. On Handshake you'll also find our guide to setting up your LinkedIn profile, which is a great place to start to build a record of your activities and achievements this year. Don't forget to follow Student Futures on LinkedIn.

It’s also time to consider a semester abroad in Year 2. Explore where you could study (funding can be available too – go for it!).  

You'll be thinking more seriously about work-related experiences in your second year. Even if you’re not sure what to do next, you could consider a placement, internship and work experience. 

Guide to building experience while you study

You might want to try a virtual experience on a site like The Forage, or take on a position of responsibility in a student club, society, or a community group. You can take some time to reflect on your interests and values, and use resources like What can I do with my degree? to help with career options. 

Learn to articulate your strengths and get ready for interviews using our recruitability platform, Shortlist.me.

In your final year of study, depending on your career plans you may want to start applying for graduate schemes and jobs. It’s a good idea to start looking at job adverts to understand the key requirements. Do you meet all of these? What could you do this year to fill any skill gaps?

Use our recruitability platform Shortlist.me to finalise your CV, learn about your skills and strengths, practice recruitment tests and crucially, start to practice interviews and get immediate feedback. Don’t forget to join LinkedIn and follow Roehampton Student Futures if you haven’t already for regular job vacancies.

You might also be considering further study, which could be a Masters or other non-academic professional qualifications (as a Roehampton graduate, you get 20% off our postgraduate courses). 

If you feel the pressure in final year and want to focus on your studies, remember that you have many years ahead to launch your career and you have lifetime access to the Student Futures team's appointments and events.

Postgraduate

On a one-year Masters programme you are immediately in your final year of study. Depending on your circumstances and preferences, you may want to start job hunting straight away, or you may prefer to focus on your academic studies and consider jobs at the end. 

Either approach is fine. If you’re ready to start job hunting, read our guide. We'd recommend attending careers fairs, finalising your CV and creating a LinkedIn profile if you haven’t already.

You can look at ways to 'sell' the skills you have developed during postgraduate study to future employers on CVs and at interviews too.

Students hugging at the Graduation ceremony

Graduate

When you graduate, you'll still have access to the full Student Futures careers service.

Guide to job hunting

If you can, help support future students by offering a short talk, a workplace visit or letting us know about vacancies at your organisations. Email us at careers@roehampton.ac.uk.

We'll also ask you to complete the national Graduate Outcomes Survey a year after your graduation. Your next steps are so important to us, and help inform our careers support and course content. We'd love to hear about what you do next!

Be inspired

Take the opportunity to learn from our employer connections and alumni community.

We collaborate with academic departments, Roehampton's Students Union, employer partners and Roehampton alumni to organise fantastic events for students and graduates throughout the year.

Many of our courses offer the option to take a professional placement year. The Student Futures Team will support you in researching and applying for placements.

Find out more about doing a placement year

Why do a Placement Year? Tamsin shares her placement year experience at Disney.

Employers: Connect with our students and graduates

At Roehampton, we connect organisations with talented students and graduates from a diverse range of subject areas.

From work placements and guest lecturing to employer events and advertising graduate roles, we offer a variety of initiatives to connect you with emerging talent and help your business grow.   

Access to student and graduate talent

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