Let’s talk New Year’s resolutions…

January means two things: 1) it’s a new year and 2) exams in about 2 weeks, panic!

Have I started to revise yet? No! When is my first exam? Need to find out! What subject do I even do? No clue! Maybe I should start going to lectures. Yikes!

Well I guess its time to move in to your second home. You know the place you move into for roughly four weeks of the year – two weeks in Jan and two weeks around the end of April. Yes, the beloved 24-hour library! Don’t forget your new best friend (no not alcohol – save her for after exams) energy drinks! You won’t be doing much sleeping.

I’m more than likely just reminding people about the horrors that await a lot of you in the coming weeks but have no fear, in the grand scheme of things it’s a small spec and before you blink it will be over and you’ll get to breathe again.  Once you’ve had the chance to settle down, just like anyone this time of year, you think ‘new year, new start,’ right? Or rather, ‘where on god’s green earth have the last 12-month gone?’

In my case, more the last 6 months after starting my first full-time job in July. I digress…my point is, time flies and waits for no man (or women for that matter) so the list you’ve made at the start of this year about joining the gym and to actively start looking for a job… just do it! Honestly, I don’t work for Nike, but especially when it comes to finding work take my advice! The earlier the better, getting a head start is key and GradJobs can really help by giving you a better view of what is out there. View it as window shopping – I always say there is no harm in looking. At the end of the day you may find something you really like but if not at least you know what’s out there.

A lot of students struggle to know what the right career path to take is after university. Ideally it would be in the same field that your studying and you would seamlessly transition from university straight into that dream job. For some it works out exactly like that but for the rest of us, not so much.

I was absolutely clueless as to what was out there in job world until I started looking online after my last exams. Only then did I realize how much forward planning can you give you an advantage in the grad job market.

So many people that I spoke to when I was out on interviews and assessment centres for graduate schemes had started looking a lot earlier. Especially around this time of this year when many others aren’t looking yet you have an opportunity to put yourself a step ahead of your peers.

Don’t do what I did and wait until the last minute for everything; for CV advice, job opportunities and just general help on what career path to take. I was extremely lucky to land in the role that I have, but as Ernest Hemingway would say “you make your own luck” – and GradJobs is not a bad place to start!

Written by Corey Lewis, a graduate from the University College for the Creative Arts, notable for it’s Oscar-winning film makers, world-renowned fashion designers, television presenters, celebrity jewellers and Turner Prize nominees.