King’s Careers & Employability runs different kinds of appointments for students and graduates. But what are they all about? Let’s talk about what a careers guidance appointment is like and how you can maximise your experience when meeting with a careers consultant at King’s.
The many ways King’s Careers can help you build success
As a virtual careers service, King’s Careers & Employability has various ways to help you, wherever you are on your career journey. Our KEATS pages are the first point of information, support and guidance that you have access to anytime, anywhere. Next, we encourage you to look into events and workshops to support you in your specific career actions, whether that’s to develop your CV or starting your career planning process.
If you feel that you would like further, one-to-one guidance in addition to using our other services, we have bookable appointments via King’s CareerConnect. There are several kinds of appointments that you can select and book to, depending on your current situation. Today, we’re talking about the careers guidance appointment. The following blog paragraphs have been written by King’s Careers Consultants.
What is a Careers Guidance Appointment and how can it benefit students?
A careers guidance appointment offers you the chance to speak to a Careers Consultant one-to-one to explore your career thinking, questions and goals. It can give you the space to explore your ideas, work through your thinking and decision making, and support you along your career journey. It will be of benefit to you no matter where you are in your career journey – if you are just starting out (or are not even sure where to start!), if you have some ideas or if you have a clear idea and are looking to put your plan into action. It’s a chance for you to take some space and time to gather your thoughts, and identify next steps you can take.
What can students expect the experience to be like?
Really importantly, the experience will be focused around you, helping you figure out what is best for you at this point in time. You can expect the careers consultant to ask you what you would like to talk about and focus on, in the time that you have together. The consultant may use a combination of ‘coaching’ or ‘guidance’ techniques to facilitate the session. This involves asking you open questions to help you explore your ideas and questions, and get you thinking, but you will be in the driving seat and doing most of the talking.
A careers consultant is an impartial advisor, so don’t expect them to tell you what you should do, or have all the answers, though they should direct you to good sources of information and help you make sense of the opportunities offered through King’s. They are they to support and empower you in your own careers exploration: after all, you are the expert on you!
What is the best way to make the most of the appointment?
Before you book a careers guidance appointment it’s a good idea to think about what it is you want to explore with the consultant. It can be something specific (e.g. I’ve been offered two jobs but can’t decide which one I want to take) or broad (e.g. I want to explore ideas for what I can do when I graduate) – as long as you know what you want to talk about!
If you have general questions about things such as recruitment processes, deadlines, what graduates from King’s go on to do, or what’s on offer from King’s Careers & Employability, for example, it’s best to take a look at the KEATS pages and events we offer instead. You will probably find answers to your questions there, that you can look at in your own time, rather than book an appointment.
Careers guidance appointments are geared for you to explore your personal career journey: we really enjoy meeting our students and helping them build their success.
Do you feel like you could benefit from a careers guidance appointment? During the Autumn term, there are virtual appointments available every day between Monday and Friday and you can book an appointment for up to 48h in advance. It is wortht noting that we are very busy during this time of year. If at first you don’t find a free time for an appointment, you might need to re-visit the booking platform a few times more during the day and refresh in case there are cancellations.
Interested in booking an appointment? For this, visit King’s CareerConnect.
Our other blogs on the Appointments series:
How to make the most of a Careers Guidance Appointment?