Choosing a career is extremely difficult, especially when you consider that you'll be spending a third of your life working, so it's important to make the right choice.
However, choosing which career is right for you is only half the story; you also have to get the right grades and have the right balance of experience on your CV.
Getting work experience during your time at university is really important, especially when you consider how much competition is out there for graduate jobs.
"There are around 400,000 new graduates each year. However, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters, just under 21,000 graduate vacancies are available."
Two-thirds of the graduate recruiters that took part in the latest research study by Highfliers said that, "graduates who have had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations' graduate programmes."*
This is serious stuff, but there's no need to go and drown your sorrows just yet! The main thing is to make sure you get as much experience as possible (and don't forget to claim back the tax that's rightfully yours!).
It is also important to know your rights. To find out more about your work experience rights, please see the AllAboutCareers.com 'National Work Experience Campaign', which is currently supported by more than 40 universities.
Just to let you know who we are: AllAboutCareers.com is a social careers information website that provides careers information and advice across 24 industry sectors. The website's innovative 'Noticeboard' creates a personalised careers information feed for each user, which provides you with new articles, important dates, jobs and placements that are all specific to you.