Careers

Whatever you decide to do, our Careers Service prides itself on offering support for graduates long after graduation and our Alumni Relations Programme will keep you in touch with the University and enable you to utilise the services and expertise available to former students.

The Careers Service

Whether your career plans are fairly well developed or your thinking is at a more tentative stage, help is readily available to assist you with both developing and achieving your career goals from the very beginning of your time at Cardiff University.

The Careers and Employability Centre, based within the Student Support Centre, is specifically designed to meet student needs, and includes:

• An extensive and well-equipped careers library with comprehensive information, internet access, computerised guidance programmes, and DVD library etc.
• Vacancy information for student and graduate jobs readily available on the Careers Service website.
• A professional team of specialist Career Consultants each linked to academic schools and available for consultation.
• A wide range of group sessions and workshops covering career choice, job search, applications/interview procedures and assessment centres.

The Careers Service provides opportunities for students to develop a wide range of Employability Skills including aspects of self-management, team working, problem solving, business and customer awareness, communication and literacy, numeracy and IT. As well as careers advice, guidance, careers workshops and information resources, work experience is a key component of the Careers Service approach. Students are actively encouraged to gain this during their time at Cardiff. Many of our degree programmes have an element of work experience built in and we have a dedicated Work Experience Manager who actively promotes the benefits of work experience. Students can attend road show events, a dedicated Work Experience fair, workshops and 1:1 advisory sessions.

In addition, we are part of the flagship GO Wales programme which provides work experience placement opportunities during term-time and vacations. The scheme places 300 students per year in both paid and unpaid opportunities, mainly in the small and medium sized enterprise sector. On paid placement, students complete a City & Guilds Professional Development Award as a formal recognition of their skills development. 

Other opportunities to develop Employability Skills exist within the University and include the Student Enterprise Unit, Student Development Unit, Jobshop and the Student Volunteering Centre.

For those interested in being self-employed or developing an idea for a business or social enterprise, Student Enterprise, based in the Students' Union, helps find business mentors, provides free office space, runs business workshops and helps to get you started. For further information, please visit:

www.cardiff.ac.uk/racdv/students

During each academic year, a series of career fairs are held. From large scale generalist recruitment/information events aimed at students from any discipline, to themed events that target specific sectors such as Engineering & Technology, Finance and Law. Students benefit from the opportunity to meet a growing number of employers keen to recruit from Cardiff University.

Continued Support

Whether you are looking for that first graduate post, find yourself unemployed at any time or are in a job that you feel is not right for you, then the Careers Service is still open to you. We have a free dedicated service for all Cardiff graduates. This provides a first port of call to assess your career needs and ensures that you receive the most appropriate help and advice on career choice, CVs, applications, interviews and job hunting techniques. Even if you move away from Cardiff after graduation, help is still at hand via telephone interviews and our e-guidance service. 

The Alumni Relations Programme

The Alumni Relations Programme aims to keep in contact with Cardiff students throughout their lives, offering benefits and services to alumni, social and business networking events and a vibrant online community of graduates around the world. The Cardiff University magazine keeps former students in touch with what is happening at the University and many alumni maintain links - both formal and informal with their friends from the University. Wherever you are in the world, we'll always want to keep in touch. For further information, please visit: www.cardiff.ac.uk/alumni

The Employer's View

"Mott MacDonald has an established relationship with the Cardiff University Careers Service, which we have been developing over the past few years. We recruit graduates, industrial trainees and vacation students and find the careers service are always very helpful in assisting us to target their students.

We hope to continue to build our relationship with the careers service to enable us to keep recruiting from one of the best universities in the country."

Melissa Perry - Graduate Recruitment Manager, Mott MacDonald 

"RWE npower has recruited several Cardiff University graduates over the past five years into areas such as general business management and engineering. We recognise that, through their experience of high academic standards and a broad range of extra-curricular activities, they are well equipped to add value to our business from day one."

Louis Koonjean - Graduate Recruitment Manager

"Macfarlanes has sponsored the Cardiff Law Fair for a number of years and we have been consistently impressed by both the high quality of the event and the calibre of the students attending. Cardiff students demonstrate the talent, motivation and enthusiasm that employers are seeking. The Careers Service offers an extremely high level of support and in doing so enables both students and potential employers to get maximum benefit from the event."

Paul Davies - Partner, Macfarlanes LLP 

"Here at Teach First we have been continually impressed by Cardiff Careers Service. Having worked on a number of events; including Careers Fairs, a Question Time panel and one-off presentations, the careers service have always been helpful, efficient and very friendly. The students from Cardiff often seem very open to different career options. They tend to be strong applicants and we are pleased to say that we have a high application to offer conversion rate at Cardiff University."

Eleanor Pilc - Talent Officer Graduate Recruitment, Teach First

Known Destinations of Graduates

Professions/commerce    22% 

Industry    6% 

Public Sector    35% 

Employment/Professional Training    5% 

Higher Degree (MSc/Phd/Mphil etc)    12% 

Further Study    10% 

Not available/travelling    4% 

Not employed    6%

Employers Targeting Cardiff University include:

Abercrombie & Fitch

Accenture

Airbus

Allen & Overy

Arup

Atkins

Barclays

BAE Systems

Capgemini

Carillion

CMS Cameron McKenna

Deloitte

EADS Defence and Security

E.ON

Ernst & Young

Eversheds

Fujitsu

Grant Thornton

HSBC

IBM

Intel

Macfarlanes

Morgan Cole

Mott Macdonald

National Instruments

Network Rail

Powergen

PwC

RWE npower

Siemens

Welsh Assembly Government