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The Student’s Guide to Career Planning and Employability
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The Student’s Guide to Career Planning and Employability

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December 2025 | 216 pages | SAGE Publications Ltd

Ready to kickstart your career? The Student’s Guide to Career Planning and Employability is here for you! Dive in, discover your strengths, gain new experiences, and navigate the job market with confidence.

Taking you from self-discovery to landing your dream job, this book will empower you to:

  • Uncover and develop your unique talents and skills.
  • Start planning early, seize every opportunity during your studies and explore exciting career paths.
  • Boost your employability with hands-on activities and real-world experiences beyond the classroom.
  • Master job applications, write standout CVs, and ace those interviews.
  • Network effectively and understand how digital tech like AI can help or hinder your job search
  • Learn from real graduates and employers who’ve been there, done that!

Perfect for university and college students, this book is your ticket to making the most of your education and standing out in today's competitive job market.

Liz George is the Employability Partnership Manager for Arts and Humanities at the University of Southampton.

Tom Lowe is a Principal Lecturer & Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) at the University of Westminster.

Student Success is a series of essential guides for students of all levels. From how to think critically and write great essays to boosting your employability and managing your wellbeing, the Student Success series helps you study smarter and get the best from your time at university.

 
Part 1: Starting with knowing yourself
 
Chapter 1: Introduction to Careers exploration and thinking about your future
 
Chapter 2: The importance of knowing what help and advice is available
 
Chapter 3: Getting started and beginning your journey in Career Planning
 
Chapter 4: Researching and generating ideas of jobs, occupations and career suggestions
 
Chapter 5: Your degree, its skills and its transferability to the job market
 
Part 2: Developing skills and experience beyond your degree
 
Chapter 6: Importance of tangible experiences beyond your degree
 
Chapter 7: Placements, internships, volunteering, employer briefs and projects
 
Chapter 8: Extracurricular activities (Sports, Societes, Student Union and Committees)
 
Chapter 9: Part-time employment
 
Part 3: Your future choices
 
Chapter 10: Your choices after your degree in a nutshell
 
Chapter 11: Navigating the job market, explaining graduate programmes and searching for work
 
Chapter 12: Postgraduate study, why do it and making applications
 
Chapter 13: Going independent and starting your own business
 
Chapter 14: Taking time out to do something different and to add to your experience and skills
 
Part 4: Translating your skills and experiences into applications for jobs or study
 
Chapter 15: Applications - Personal Statements, Cover Letters and using AI
 
Chapter 16: CVs
 
Chapter 17: The interview journey
 
Chapter 18: Your digital footprint, networking online and social media
 
Part 5: Transitioning to graduate life
 
Chapter 19: Career planning once employed.
 
Chapter 20: Final messages and 10 points of advice

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Liz George

Liz George is the Employability Partnership Manager for Arts and Humanities at the University of Southampton, where she leads on embedding employability into the curriculum and advising and working alongside academic teams to support student success and enhance graduate outcomes. Liz is a qualified careers professional and teacher, and has worked in careers and employability for over 25 years with experience of leading the Careers Services at the University of Winchester (2020-23), University of Chichester (2017-20) and Southampton Solent University (2005-2017). She has been involved with online and physical content creation for over 50x... More About Author

Tom Lowe

Tom Lowe has researched and innovated in student engagement across diverse settings for over ten years, in areas such as student voice, retention, employability and student-staff partnership. Tom works at the University of Westminster as Assistant Head of School (Student Experience) in Finance and Accounting where he leads on student experience, outcomes and belonging. Tom is also the Chair of RAISE, a network for all stakeholders in higher education for researching, innovating and sharing best practice in student engagement.  More About Author

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