New Students

Making the most of your first year at university

It's great to start developing new skills and gaining experience right from the start of of your university experience.

These experiences will help you gain employability skills - planning, organising, customer care, teamwork, and communication.

They will also give you valuable opportunities to explore a variety of careers and interests. 

Arrange a careers appointment

This can be an excellent opportunity to:

• explore all the opportunties below
• review your CV
• consider your career ideas
• plan how to get into your chosen career.

Please email careers@stmarys.ac.uk to book a careers appointment. 

The Careers Service is based in the library in H3. 

St Mary's Careers Service - handy visual guide to what the Careers Service can offer you.

Ways to get active and involved 

Student clubs and societies 

Belonging to either a club or society is the perfect way to make new friends and try new activities. And getting involved in running an existing one or even setting up a new club or society altogether offers the opportunity to develop teamwork, administrative and leadership skills.  

Jobs within the University

• Programme Representatives - voluntary role representing the views of fellow students to academics and the Student Union at various meetings and forums throughout the year.
• Student Ambassadors – paid opportunity representing your subject and the University at open days and recruitment events, and other university functions. For further information please email: studentambassadors@stmarys.ac.uk
• Other paid opportunities working on-campus - you can find various part-time work opportunities at the University.

Jobs outside the University 

Jobs on CareerConnect  is an excellent place to find part-time work, temporary roles, summer internships, and volunteering.  You can also use local agencies or make direct approaches to possible employers. See our Careers​ ​Resources and Search for ​J​obs pages for further information and guidance on how best to do this.

Volunteering 

This is an excellent way for you to gain skills and experience and gain insight into a particular area of work. Check out our Volunt​e​ering​​ pages for more information.​​​

Short courses

These can be a great way of gaining a skills set in a different area, more information on what is on offer and how to apply can be found on the short courses overview page. 

Sport 

Sport offers you opportunities to prove your teamwork and leadership skills or provide evid​ence of your determination to achieve goals. You may have the chance to gain new qualifications such as coaching certificates or the National Pool Lifeguard Qualification.

For more information contact Sport St ​Mary's or the Student Union sports clubs.