Lifestyle

20/20 – Day 15: 20 considerations for the future before you leave university

It’s impossible to plan the future perfectly.  No matter. The more you do to provide for your future, the greater scope you’ll have with each new day.

Whether you’re still in your first year or you’re soon to graduate, start thinking about a life after your degree.  Nobody knows where you’re headed, no even yourself, but there’s plenty you can do to help the process.  Get the dice working in your favour.

  1. Why did you choose to study your subject? If you were asked this question, would you have a reasonable answer ready?
  2. Is your degree relevant to the field you want to go into? If not, pay attention to what you can bring to a job or career and what experience you have gained from your study.  Many core qualities and skills can be developed from a university education, so be prepared to explain and sell yourself over these transferable skills, no matter what your degree is.
  3. Work experience. Whether paid, voluntary or otherwise, any stints working are good to show off. Not so much a paper round when you were younger, but anything more substantial than that could play a part in strengthening your case.  Bar work, SU work, shop work, office work, placements, charity work, student work…jobs may not be directly relevant to those you apply for in the future, but many of the roles will have given you transferable skills.
  4. Societies/activities to mention, or join.  Playing a role within a club or society brings many transferable skills.  I don’t advise joining a vast number of clubs and societies for the sake of it.  Join one or two societies that you have most interest in so you develop contacts, experience, confidence, and much more.
  5. Professional associations.  Most associations have cheap membership options for students.  This is a great opportunity to find valuable information and join with people who already work in the areas of work you’re interested in.
  6. Create a great CV.  Don’t rush a document off a couple days before you need one, spend some quality time crafting something good now.  Check my series of posts on Employment Nirvanafor more information.

    You can't control the future, but it still depends on your help.

    You can’t control the future, but it does need your help.

  7. Tweak your CV and update it if you already have one.  Perhaps you made a pretty good CV in the past.  If so, keep going!  Make sure it’s kept relevant to your needs, as well as adding your experience and achievements as you go along.  Don’t leave it to chance.
  8. Look at jobs currently on offer for ideas. You may not be applying right now, but do you know what type of jobs are available?  If you don’t take a look, you won’t know how feasible your plans really are.
  9. Look at jobs currently on offer to see what they’re looking for.  Another benefit of browsing jobs you’re not about to apply for is so that you know what skills and qualities employers are looking for.  If you see a common trait that you haven’t yet mastered or experienced yet, you’ve got time to bring things up to speed.
  10. Check graduate schemes as soon as you can.  There’s no point in waiting.  The jobs won’t wait…
  11. If you know what your dream job/career is, pursue it NOW! Don’t wait, get involved.  Just because you’re not getting paid to learn about your chosen line of work doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bother putting the effort in.  The moment you start chasing for leads and opportunities is the moment you step closer to what you want.
  12. Go to careers office and use them.
  13. Check careers & graduate sites for information, help and leads.
  14. Consider transferable skills in everything you do.  A small feat for you may be just what an employer wants.  Don’t overlook your talents!
  15. Clean up your online profiles.  And if you don’t want to remove the gory details, at least protect yourself by updating your privacy settings so you’re…well, private.
  16. Clean up your offline profiles. You don’t live in an online-only world, unless you believe we’re all in the Matrix or something.  Real-world issues need just as much consideration as those online.
  17. What do you *want* to do when it’s all over? Ask yourself this question and give a genuine answer.  Don’t kid yourself with ideas of what you’ll probably end up doing and what would roughly satisfy you.  Be bold by deciding what you’d choose if you had every option freely available to you.
  18. How will you achieve this? You’ve been bold in your answer to the above question.  Now have a plan to make this happen, no matter how outlandish it seems.
  19. Personality. What would you change and what would you keep the same?
  20. What do you seek beyond career, money and fame? We all crave different things in life.  Those cravings change as we change.  Before you graduate, what matters to you beyond money and the usual ‘big dreams’?
Title image: original by tiffa130 (cc)  /  Bottom image: quinn.anya (cc)

Enjoy yourself without getting drunk

Some students won’t want to follow the tips below.  I know at least one person who is usually grateful for the advice posts I publish, but who’ll look at this post and think, “Are you mad?  My purpose for going out is to get drunk!”

photo by Matt Dinnery

photo by Matt Dinnery

But not everyone enjoys the prospect of going out and getting drunk.  Some want to enjoy themselves and get carried away.  It happens.  Some even think student drinking is a necessary evil.

Drinking alcohol isn’t ‘necessary’.  It doesn’t have to be evil either.

If you do want to have fun (and even a drink or two…or three) without getting slaughtered, read on!  If you’d rather keep getting drunk, enjoying memorable nights that you don’t remember, you can look away now. But there’s no harm in considering it, is there? 🙂

  • Read one of my previous posts about alcohol, “18 Tips to Tame the Spirits“.
  • Sing along to the music.  Dance to it. Let the music take you!
  • If you feel happier socialising with a drink in your hands, make it a soft drink.
  • Mirror others. If everyone around you is going crazy, go crazy with them!  It doesn’t matter if you’re the only sober one.  Nobody will care or notice by this point.
  • Don’t feel guilty by not drinking alcohol.  If you plan to be completely sober, don’t worry about how you’ll look.  Just decline alcohol and any mild attempts to pressure you into having “just one”.  Friends are unlikely to keep on at you all night, so ride it out.
  • Have an excuse ready. If you can’t be bothered to argue, say something like you’ve had to take headache tablets so you can’t drink alcohol, or you’ve got important work to do early the next morning.  So long as it’s believable, not subject to question, and not the same excuse you give every time, you’ll probably be fine.
  • To be sure it’s alcohol-free, buy the drinks yourself. Alternatively, help get the drinks in when someone else buys a round.  Some people, even friends, can’t resist spiking a drink with more than you asked for.  Bypass that and be in control of your drink from the moment it’s handed over the bar.
  • Don’t talk about how much or little you usually drink.  As soon as that line of questioning starts, it’s like a negotiation.  If anyone asks you, politely explain that you aren’t drinking tonight.  If they insist on questioning beyond that, I’d question how good a friend they really are…
  • Don’t race.  If you have a drink in your hand, you don’t have to drink it quickly.  Sip it slowly.  You don’t have to accept a drink every time it’s a new round (and you don’t have to be involved in a round of drinks anyway, if that’s easier).  If you’ve still got a drink in your hand, decline another.  You can’t exactly be accused of not drinking! And even if you’re bought another drink against your wishes, you don’t have to drink it…
  • Don’t talk about drinking habits (yours or others) while you’re out. The more you bring attention to it, the more it becomes an issue.
  • Go for low alcohol. Have a shandy, a non-alcoholic cocktail, or a drink with a very little alcohol content.  You’re taking it slow that night…nothing wrong with that!
  • Eat plenty food and drink plenty water before (and during) an outing. Without food and water, you’ll probably get drunk quickly.  So have a proper meal and stay hydrated for the sake of your body, as well as your alcohol levels.
  • There are more non-drinking students than you think.  Today, you’re likely to find at least a few teetotalers at uni.  There may be loads.  You’re certainly not on your own if you don’t drink at all.  So don’t sweat it.
  • Don’t speak up! Don’t tell people you’re not going to drink.  Don’t tell them you’re not going to drink much.  Don’t tell them anything about how much you may or may not drink.  It’s nothing to do with them and it’s just starting a conversation about it.  Don’t go there.
  • Most people don’t care. A certain amount of worry is given to alcohol consumption at uni.  But many people say they don’t really think about how much other people want to drink.  The few people who do like to pile on the pressure give everyone else a bad name.
photo by Matt Dinnery

photo by Matt Dinnery

Does teamwork win out, or a one-person mind-machine?

Even if you don’t watch University Challenge, you probably noticed the show’s growing presence over the last few days.  This year’s final was broadcast on Monday and some people went crazy.  The reason?  Gail Trimble, of Corpus Christi College, Oxford.

The whole UK (it seems!) has been awash with hype on who is possibly the best single contestant University Challenge has seen.  Ms Trimble has become the topic of conversation rather than the whole team from Corpus Christi.

Trimble has divided the public.  Is she smug or sexy?  Tremendous or troublesome?  Awesome or awful?  Arrogant or affable?  Right down to the flick of her hair when she answers correctly, it seems that people have been obsessing in a way that’s not generally expected when it comes to University Challenge.

university-challenge

As for me, I wanted Manchester to win the final, because I have admired their fantastic teamwork over the course of the series.  They nearly crushed Corpus Christi (or the Trimble Treadmill), but a late surge from Corpus Christi was just too fast-paced for Manchester.  I didn’t feel that bad about the great comeback, because I would attribute much of it on Corpus Christi’s other team members, rather than Trimble alone.  Teamwork, ftw!

University Challenge is a team game, so I’m over the moon that Manchester got to the final and convincingly held their ground, despite losing in the end.  Even Corpus Christi gave a team effort when it mattered.

Here are 11 ways they managed it:

  1. Don’t dismiss ideas out of hand. Sometimes it takes crazy thinking to get the most out of a team.  Shut them up quickly and you shut them up for good.  What’s the point in that?
  2. Listen to everyone. Manchester’s team captain (Matthew Yeo) gave everyone an equal hearing.  It’s a team, after all.
  3. Don’t have favourite members. Just because you gel with someone and appreciate the ideas they have, now is not the time to limit your focus.  If you see further value in another person and you want to engage further with them, do that independently of the team you’re working in.
  4. Enjoy what you’re doing so you relax more. Life’s too short to take it that seriously.  Manchester would confer and, at the same time, have a laugh as they did it.  And as soon as Corpus Christi won University Challenge, Manchester applauded them.  That said, they were led by Henry Pertinez who, apparently, originally studied at Corpus Christi…!
  5. Debate in a friendly tone. Don’t just argue.
  6. Recognise each member’s strong points…
  7. …but don’t allow anything but definite knowledge to shut out people’s views. Someone else’s guess could be right.  University Challenge has proved that in the recent past, including when Gail Trimble disagreed with a team member’s correct answer and gave a wrong one instead (no disrespect to her teamwork, just a recent observation).
  8. Engage positively with all members. Congratulate them on the best answers/ideas.  Give credit where it’s due.  Encourage more participation.
  9. If applicable, don’t be afraid to ask for help outside the group. Sometimes you can all be at a loss.  It’s fine to be uncertain.  See if you can work together to find the best person to enlighten you all. [Note: That doesn’t work on University Challenge, but it’s something you should remember for your own team work.]
  10. Don’t hold a grudge. In University Challenge, there’s no time to get annoyed when someone interrupts and answers incorrectly.  Okay, they’ve lost the team 5 points, but the game goes on.  They will likely redeem themselves later and may have already been worth far more than 5 points anyway.  It’s the same elsewhere.  Even a couple of minor mistakes aren’t the end of the world.  Keep it in perspective.
  11. Lead…don’t command. A true leader is encouraging rather than pushy.  Get it wrong and people may not want to pull their weight.  What’s the point if they’re not going to feel rewarded in the process?

That’s teamwork…but how intelligent are the University Challenge contestants?  Just because Trimble answered so many questions correctly, University Challenge in general doesn’t test a person’s intelligence.  Trimble is clearly intelligent, but that’s not the point.  I enjoy seeing how many questions I get right each episode, but I don’t feel clever when I get a lot correct.  It’s just a good set of questions for me.  That’s why teamwork is the best thing to look for on a show like this.

Alcohol – 18 Tips to Tame the Spirits

Almost every university student drinks alcohol at some point.  Not everyone enjoys it, but most get on with drinking it anyway.

It doesn’t matter how detached you may be from the rituals and initiations that some clubs and societies put upon their new recruits.  Even some of the stronger spirited (no pun intended!) objectors can be pressured into drinking more than they’d like on occasion.

photo by stranded starfish

photo by stranded starfish

But there’s no need to get completely bungalowed […if you’ve never seen the fantastic Michael Macintyre, you’re missing out].  Whether you’re a teetotaller, an occasional drinker, or simply in need of slowing down your current excessive intake, take the following tips into account and give your liver (and your shrinking bank balance) a break:

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