Undergraduate career journey

Second year of your degree will help you to consolidate your first year learning and begin to think more about what areas of research or practice you enjoy the most. Take some time to reflect on your first year experiences and use that to help you plan for what you’d like to achieve this year. 

• Think about what skills you currently have and what skills you may want to build by doing a skills audit as explained on the knowing you skills page.
• Start to practise your networking by attending a careers fair or employer event. 
• Develop your Plan: Me to help you map out what you want to get involved in and when would be the best time for that. 
• Consider what to do over the summer holidays – work experience, a more research focused UROP, a Studentshapers project where you work in partnership with an Imperial department, volunteering, or having some time out. Note down any application timelines so you don’t miss out. 
• Consider joining or engaging with relevant professional bodies which can be found through the department-specific information in what can I do with my degree.
• Thinking about working internationally? Explore different countries and roles via Going Global. 
• Make the most of your i-explore module by learning how to explain what you learnt during it in a CV. Visit our CVs and resumes pages or attend a Careers Essential: CV and Cover Letters bookable via JobsLive.
• International student? Know your rights and understand how your visa status can be explained to potential future employers. 
• Interested in running your own project in collaboration with a charity over summer? Apply for funding from the Professional Projects Fund and build both skills and that feeling that you’re really helping. 
• Step up and take on a role of responsibility within a student society or extracurricular activity you’re involved in. This will look great on your CV. 
• If you need extra money, visit our Part-time work webpage for ideas on how to find and get flexible work that will fit around your studies.
• Wanting to develop transferable skills such as project management, decision-making and assertiveness? The Attributes and Aspirations online course can help you.
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In your third year you’ll get the chance to choose more modules you’re interested in and as a more senior student, you can start to get involved in other college activities to build your CV and networks. Employers and researchers target penultimate year students to get involved in internships and research opportunities with the hope they will be interested in applying for full time roles/PhDs in the future.  

• Make sure you know the application timelines for internships run by big companies, UROPs and other forms of work experience, including (if applicable) your Year in Industry/Research or your six month placement . Many are between September and December.
• Attend a Careers Essential: Postgraduate Study session or find out more on our Further study and funding webpage.
• Meet employers by attending a careers fair or employer event.
• Interested in working in a smaller organisation or a start-up? Find out more on our Working in Industry webpage and start to find the organisations themselves from our What can I do with my degree webpages. Try making a speculative application to gain work experience.
• Attend a Careers Essential or Careers Lab to learn about the basics of applications and interviews.
• Thinking about getting a mentor to help you understand your future? Explore how the Imperial Alumni Mentoring programme could support you.
  
• Continue to develop your transferable by exploring the Attributes and Aspirations online course. Skills like adaptable, time management and goal setting can help you progress.
• Once you’ve tailored an application, book an appointment with a careers consultant to confirm you’ve done it well. 
  

Your final year is going to be busy, with assessments coming thick and fast and that final push which could involve a large project or dissertation. Big employers, funded PhDs and many of the competitive master's programmes will begin advertising before or during the autumn term. Smaller organisations and start ups may advertise roles later in the academic year, or they may not advertise at all meaning you’ll need to network and approach them speculatively if you’re interested in working in their business.  

• Update your tailored CV and application documents for each role you apply to using tips from our CV and Resumes webpage and our CV and Cover letter guide. 
• Not sure what to do? Make an appointment to speak to a careers consultant. 
• Practise your interview technique using the Shorlistme interview tool. 
• Revisit your networking techniques both online and in person using our Networking webpage. 
• Wondering whether generative AI can support your application process? Find tips and ideas on how to use it successfully on our Generative AI webpage.
• Browse through the previous tabs on this page to see if there are any ideas or links that you might have missed. 
• Need to ask for referees for applications? Talk to your personal tutor or visit our Referees and references page to learn more. 
• Trying to decide if a job/postgraduate study offer is right for you? Revisit any previous career planning tools you’ve used, like your Plan: Me, and then use our Evaluating job offers webpage for further guidance.
• Considering taking a year out after you graduate? You’ll find advise and guidance on our Taking a year out webpage. 

The Careers Service remains available to you for three years after you graduate, allowing you time to explore and experiment with what could be your first steps into a career. Here is how to make the most of that. 

• If you have left Imperial, register as an Alumni for full access to JobsLive to find careers appointments, events, seminars and job vacancies. 
• If you have remained at Imperial to do postgraduate study, visit the careers journey for Master's or the careers journey for PhD  pages to continue your career development. If you’re doing postgraduate study at a different university be sure to ask what extra support they have for you there. 
• Join the Imperial Alumni association to stay in touch with Imperial and take advantage of the many benefits they offer. 
• 15 months after you graduate you will be asked to complete a national survey about what you have gone on to do after your degree. Be sure to keep your details up to date.