Welcome Back! - Let's Spring Into Action!

We hope you all had a refreshing break over the holidays. At this time of year we traditionally think about our hopes for the future, new growth and rejuvenation. This year is no different – let’s take some time to think and plan for 2020/21 with our step by step back to college progression bulletin.

Step 1 | Join our team

We adapted how we work and because we can’t meet you in our on-campus hubs, we’ve made a new careers service home on Microsoft Teams! Joining the Your Careers Service – Student Team couldn’t be easier – open teams and look for the ‘Join or create a team’ button, then pop in our code: 1ihvsof

You’ll find lots of useful resources on there and we’ll add to it all the time. For anyone thinking of Higher Education progression we have a video guide to Planning for your Progression. 

Step 2 | Attend an online event 

In addition to the workshops and guidance that we will set up as part of your classes, we’ll be running open access events over the next 4 weeks through our Your Careers Service – Student Team. Join the team and you’ll find links on the General Posts thread to join.

The events will occupy a regular weekly slot and be themed. On Tuesdays we’ll be focusing on employability:

• Tuesday 21st April - 2pm - 4pm - Building a CV & Cover Letter
• Tuesday 28th April - 2pm - 4pm - Job Searching
• Tuesday 5th May - 2pm - 4pm - Application Forms 
• Tuesday 12th May - 2pm - 4pm - Interview Skills 

Tuesday Employability sessions: Join Microsoft Teams Meeting

On Thursdays we will be holding open access group Question & Answer sessions from 10am – 12pm. This is an opportunity to chat with the college's Careers Staff to ask any questions and get information, advice and guidance on your progression, specifically:

• Career choices and making career decisions
• Accessing up to date careers information
• Choosing suitable courses
• UCAS and HE applications
• CV building and job interview preparation.
• Identifying volunteering opportunities  

Thursday Careers Service Q&A: Join Microsoft Teams Meeting 

Step 3 | Do your research

Whatever your plans may be its important to do your research. We have lots of links to useful resources on the Careers Service page of the student intranet, and can provide you with tailored lists of information resources if you email a query to careers@serc.ac.uk. Plus if you click the links below you’ll be redirected to some general resources we love:

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/campaigns/apprenticeships 

https://www.prospects.ac.uk/ 

https://www.nidirect.gov.uk/services/career-z-list 

If you are looking for our usual list of Jobs, opportunities and events, for one week only we’ve left them out, but continue to post everything we find on our Facebook page – please like, share and follow to stay up to date.  

Step 4 | Talk to us 

There’s nothing like a face-to-face chat to put your mind at ease and as people who talk for a living, we can’t tell you how much we miss meeting with you all in person. But our digital advice service is the next best thing! We are delivering advice and guidance appointments by email, phone and video chat. It couldn’t be simpler – email your campus careers officer and we’ll set it up:

Bangor Campus including Holywood 

• Louise Mulligan lmulligan@serc.ac.uk  07557259926 
• Julie Wilson juliewilson@serc.ac.uk  07790341875
• Shirley Moore smoore@serc.ac.uk  07790347492 

Ards Campus 

• Carmel McManus cmcmanus@serc.ac.uk  07583103394 

Lisburn Campus

• Leonora Little llittle@serc.ac.uk  07790341404
• Nora Sherry nsherry@serc.ac.uk  07790343872 

Downpatrick Campus, including Ballynahinch and Newcastle

•  Ruth Annett rannett@serc.ac.uk  07790349241