Final year undergraduates
The final year of your degree can be a very busy period for academic commitments (with course assessments, dissertations and final exams), but it's also a time when you'll be seriously considering your next steps after graduation.
We've created the Next Steps Planner to help you as you come towards the end of your degree.
You can also use the links below to find useful pages on our website about exploring your career options, job hunting and how we can help you.
Online courses
These three short online courses from FutureLearn and the University of York are available free of charge to students and graduates with University of York credentials (university or alumni email address). Alternatively you can access them for two weeks without paying.
Part 1: Finding Your Why - explore your personal strengths and motivations, to make informed career decisions
Part 2: Think like a Recruiter - insights into how recruitment works, and how to be successful with your CV and interviews
Part 3: Understanding and interacting with SME employers - this course will introduce you to SMEs’ unique opportunities, helping you understand their hiring processes, workplace culture, and career growth potential.
York Award
Don't forget, you can apply for apply for York Award in your final year. It can help you to reflect on, and articulate, your development and achievements while at York, which can be useful when applying for work or study.
Frequently asked questions
For more FAQs and common job misconceptions, visit our myth busting page.
There are many reasons why this could be. To start, check out ‘Where can I search for jobs' on our Graduate jobs page to make sure you're looking in the right places. If you're still having no luck, stop and think why that might be. Are you:
- Looking on the wrong job sites? Websites like Indeed pull together job adverts from across the internet, but there can be so much there that it's really difficult to find exactly what you're looking for. Instead, try searching job sites that specialise in vacancies for the sector or type of work you want to do. You can find sector-specific websites on our job sector pages and on the job profiles on the Prospects website.
- Searching using the wrong words? Quite often a job might not have the title that you expect. Read the understanding job adverts page or try browsing LinkedIn or York Profiles & Mentors to get an idea of what job titles people actually have.
- Looking for jobs usually found through the hidden job market or via recruitment agencies? Many jobs are never formally advertised which is why networking and sending speculative applications can be an important part of your job search. Some jobs - especially in the sciences - are often advertised using specialist recruitment agencies, so you may not find them on general job sites. Read more about recruitment agencies and science recruitment agencies.
- Searching for jobs in the wrong location? Demand for jobs varies across a country. For example, in the UK you will find a lot of jobs in the publishing industry in London but comparatively few elsewhere, and you'll find more science and research focused jobs near university cities compared to elsewhere. Read more about labour market information and how it can help you in your job search.
If you're not sure what to do next, talk to us at a drop-in or book an appointment.
It’s true that work experience is important and if you have nothing at all to put on your CV, you might find it difficult to get the graduate job you want. But it’s unusual for someone to have nothing to put on their CV.
To start with, read our advice about writing a CV when you have little or no experience. You'll probably find you have more than you first thought.
If you know that you need more experience, then arrange some! It’s never too late to start networking or arranging job shadowing. Getting work experience isn’t something that stops after you graduate. If you can’t get the job you really want, think about what you need to get there and make a plan. That could mean applying for a lower level position and building up additional experience in your free time.
We can help you think about these things - come along to a drop-in session or book an appointment.
That's probably not true. While there are early deadlines for many graduate schemes, the same isn't true for the vast majority of other jobs that graduates go into. Read more about the timescales for applying for jobs and find out about the difference between graduate schemes and graduate jobs.
If you are certain that you want to apply for a specific grad scheme and the deadline has passed, you may have missed it for this year, but that doesn't mean that you can't apply next year and spend your time until then working in another graduate job or combining part-time work with gaining work experience so you are ready to put in a strong application in the future.
We can help you think about your next steps, so talk to us at a drop-in session or book an appointment.