Anisa is a postgraduate student studying the Legal Practice Course, and exploring her career options as a Law graduate.
My time as an undergraduate
Looking back on my time as an undergraduate student at City, I wish I had utilised all the resources and wisdom the City Careers Hub is able to offer. It was only during my second year I realised how important it was to use these resources and make the most of them.
During my second year I began to apply for internships and different work experience placements. This meant having an up-to-date CV and Cover Letter but also preparing for gruelling assessment centres. Assessment centres usually consist of group activities, tests, and an interview.
Improving my CV and Cover Letter
On entering university, I was unsure on how to set my CV out and what I needed to include in my cover letter. Contacting the team at City Careers was therefore very helpful and I was able to do this during lockdown.
I booked an appointment online to have my CV and cover letter reviewed. This was a very easy process in which I just attached my CV and cover letter and a couple of questions. I then received a recorded response.
This was helpful in setting out what I should/shouldn’t include in my CV and Cover Letter and cater my cover letter for the role I was applying for. This gave me a lot more confidence when it came to submitting my application and a lot more awareness of what makes a good application.
I also found a very useful resource on the City Careers Hub where you are now able to review your CV using a new online tool known as V Mock. Templates are also available. This was super helpful recently where I just wanted to refine and update my CV.
Interview Preparation
Following on from some successful applications, I was invited to an assessment centre. Being my first assessment centre, I was very nervous, particularly about the interview.
To put my nerves at ease, I thought it would be good to have a mock interview. I was able to do this with a member of the Careers team and found it very helpful. I was taken through typical interview questions asked at a legal assessment centre. After conducting the interview, I was able to talk about how to break down each question.
I found this very useful as it taught me to really think through my answers before delivering them and allowed me to really learn to answer the objective of the question, rather than go off topic. I was also able to benefit from a confidence boost as I had more awareness of the kind of questions asked but was also given further resources.
I was given a sheet with more questions so I could go through them in my own time but also general tips and advice on keeping calm and doing some further research. This really put me at ease during my real interview and I was able to perform well.
The careers and employability support at City (and other universities) is a great way for students to get guidance and advice on their career plans, improve their employability skills and gain valuable work experience. They have a variety of resources available, and when you start at univeristy I would really encourage you to make the most of them.
Find out more tips for developing your careers skills in my next post (coming soon)!
Already a City student? Here’s a few resources you can explore:
- Writing and improving your cover letters and applications
- All about assessment centres
- Guide to interviews
- Internships, placements and work experience
If not, we’ve got you covered… National Careers Service has loads of helpful posts on writing your CV or cover letter, interview advice and more.
