The Careers and Employability Team are on hand and ready to help you! All services are available online or by telephone. On this page you will find information on accessing our service and if you need any further information please email us.
The Careers and Employability Service helps students to explore, develop and shape their futures, the service is available to all current and prospective students, as well as to graduates of the University of Suffolk within three years of their graduation.
The commitment to careers and employability across the curriculum is an important characteristic of the courses offered at the University of Suffolk and students are encouraged to get involved in exciting opportunities that can greatly enhance employability. If you are a graduate that has not previously accessed FutureMe and created your alumni account, or you have any problems logging in, please visit Alumni Access to FutureMe, or email the Careers team. There are also work experience opportunities for students with the Micro-Placement Scheme.
How to prepare for life after university
At the University of Suffolk, you will have the opportunity to consider your future career, reflect on your previous experiences and prepare to find employment. The Careers team offer confidential advice, mock interviews, and provide the opportunity for students to realise their vocational potential. Support is available to develop important careers related skills and knowledge, such as CV design and interview techniques. In addition to our face-to-face services, students and alumni also have access 24/7 to our interactive online career development learning platform, FutureMe.
We hold careers events and fairs, workshops and presentations which enable students and potential employers to network, and these events are arranged each academic year.
Up-to-date information about jobs, internships and graduate careers is also available through the Online Jobs Board, and our variety of social media accounts listed at the end of the page. If you want to know more about internships, take a look at the stories from our students and graduates that have completed internships and Micro-Placements.
- Book your careers guidance appointment.
- We are using the Microsoft Teams chat function please download the Microsoft Teams app before your appointment. See our guide to using Microsoft Teams . You can also Skype or telephone for a 1:1 careers guidance appointment with us.
- Quick Response E-Guidance - Email your query to a Careers Adviser and we are committed to reply within three working days.
- See our events to explore career options
- Access to Online Resources FutureMe - hosts a wealth of careers information and employment vacancies. FutureMe compliments our careers support with online interactive tools for you to access whenever, and wherever you need them, so you can move your career forward with confidence.
- Due to the ongoing health situation and Government advice we have made adjustments to our bookings and are currently unable to offer face-to-face meetings.
If you are a student or graduate within the past 3 years, you can book , electronic (Microsoft Teams / Skype) or telephone 1:1 guidance appointment of up to 1 hour in length via our booking page. You can also email the relevant team or call Infozone on 01473 338833.
Our paid Micro-Placements Scheme will enable you to take on real responsibility by working on live projects, or with services/facilities delivered within the University. Micro-placements are designed to provide live work experience to develop transferable skills and enhance employability. In turn, micro-placements provide a fantastic opportunity to embed your experiences into University services.
Finding the right career advice and support during uncertain times with FutureMe Award
‘The best way to predict the future is to create it.’ – Peter Drucker
Free 5-stage online programme designed to transform your employability skills available for students and alumni
Please note that If would like your FutureMe Award to appear on your Higher Education Achievement Report (HEAR) when you graduate, you will need to complete the Award by 31 July of your final year. If you complete the Award after this time, or if you are already a University of Suffolk alumni, you can still complete the Award and print a certificate of completion, but it will not appear on your HEAR.
Whether you know what you want from your career or are unsure of your direction, reflecting on your motivations, preferences, strengths and working style can be useful when considering your desired career path:
- applying for roles
- seeking careers progressing to new roles in your current employer
- setting up your own business. If you have an idea for a new business but don't know where to start you might want to consider the Engage programme for current students and alumni
- working as a freelancer
- thinking about becoming a mentor or mentee
- thinking about becoming a course rep or student ambassador
- exploring postgraduate options
- searching for internships, work shadowing, work experience and volunteering opportunities
- searching for your first graduate role
About FutureMe Award
You can sign up with your student email address but if you are graduating in the current academic year (2020) please sign up with your personal email address so that you can have access to the careers service and online via FutureMe when you become an Alumni.
FutureMe is your Career learning platform available 24/7 for you, is about developing personally and professionally, understanding yourself, exploring your options, making informed decisions, and getting to where you want to be.
Future Me Award was designed following DOTS (SODT) framework principles.
Although there are different theories and developmental approaches to careers education, the most widely used framework in the UK has evolved from the dynamic relationships between Self, Opportunities, Decisions and Transitions (DOTS – SODT). This framework states that four components are fundamental to career learning development:
The DOTS Model (Adapted from Law and Watts 1977/1996)
- Self-awareness (the ability to identify and articulate motivations, skills and personality as they affect career plans);
- Opportunity awareness (knowledge of opportunities and the ability to research these);
- Decision-making (being able to weigh up personal factors to make a sound plan);
- Transition learning (understanding of how to seek and secure opportunities).
If you wish to be effective, these elements need to be dynamically articulated to ensure that all areas are briefly investigated to enable you to implement fully informed and sound career plans.
Are you ready to begin? Don’t leave your next career step to chance…. Explore the resources and take control of your career today.
The Award is structured in 5 sections called Programmes on your status tracker.
We hope that working your way through this programme will be an adventure in the best possible sense.
Let’s break down the award:
Begin by familiarising yourself with the FutureMe Award Structure document which is a quick guide for your 5-stage programme. It aims to provide you with information about pre and post self-assessment, accessing the programmes, tasks and actions required to complete the award and reflect activities. As well as screen duration to help you with your time management.
- Complete FUTUREME Award - Stay on track with your career with a 5-stage online programme here
- Access SELF-AWARENESS Programme
- Access OPPORTUNITY AWARENESS Programme
- Access DECISION MAKING AND PLANNING Programme
- Access SEEKING AND SECURING OPPORTUNITIES Programme
- Access REFLECTION Programme
- Complete FUTURE ME Award - Assess your progress
‘I decided to do the Future me award as it is an opportunity to develop myself both personally and professionally. Developing skills and being prepared to start a career is what I aim to achieve and by completing this award I feel more prepared and confident.’
Camelia Atomei - Recent Graduate
Events and Tourism Management Programme University of Suffolk
Top Tips before you start
- You can track your progress through the Award, undertake the Award in whichever order you prefer and save your notes as you go.
- Each of the Programmes contain a range of Tasks. You all have individual preferences, so you may find some materials more helpful than others. Use what works best for you.
- You will find tasks that are mandatory to complete the Award, though most give you a choice of options. Mandatory tasks are marked with a star.
- You can choose from a range of options within the tasks.
- The actions within each task are tracked automatically, so as soon as you click on the launch link and complete the action it will be marked as done.
- Learning opportunities are offered in a variety of formats eg. videos, articles, top tips, and interactive activities to allow you to fit them more easily into your learning style.
- We’ve provided you the minimum time FutureMe Award will take to complete the core content. These estimates include time to watch videos and complete activities in the central section of each task (main task content), but not to complete the supplementary activities provided throughout the Award eg. Taking your notes when completing tasks and actions, final reflection, which we think should be at your own pace. Please note that these time estimates are indicative only.
- Download your report in each programme. This status report provides an up-to-date picture of your programme activity. The information shows the tasks you have to complete to finish this programme as well as a breakdown of your progress on each task and all associated actions.
- Engage with FutureMe Award and select tasks and actions based upon the recognition of your own development needs.
The Careers Teams at the University of Suffolk can support you with:a
- Use this link to schedule a 1-2-1 session with a member of the Careers Team
- Join our free Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram Career Team pages and share your experience with Future Me Award.
- Together, we can create a tribe of FutureMes!
- If you are willing to be a FutureMe Award case study - which can help inspire others, please email careers@uos.ac.uk.
University of Suffolk
Student Services - Careers Team
Anna Flatt