Making The Most Of It

From day one the University of Aberdeen helps you grow and develop as a person, providing many opportunities to get you ready for life after university. In our final episode, we look at all the careers advice and support available, and how your time in Aberdeen changes you as a person. 

What is Find Your True North?

Find Your True North is the podcast for new students at the University of Aberdeen. Starting university is such an exciting time, but there’s a lot to take in! From settling into university life, to making friends, accessing help and support, and also getting to know the city of Aberdeen.

In this podcast, we meet current students at the University of Aberdeen, get the lowdown on what it’s really like from day one, and pick up some tips and advice to make your time in Aberdeen as amazing as it should be.

Episode 6 – Making The Most Of It
This is Find Your True North, a podcast from the University of Aberdeen. Episode six Making the most of it.

CLIP
It is so difficult to take that first step and to put yourself out there. But university is and should be so much more than exams and lectures. Everywhere that I've gone, any person that I've met has been super friendly, which has been really nice. Inviting, welcoming.

NOUR
Welcome back to Find Your True North. I'm Nour, and in this series we've been looking at life as a student at the University of Aberdeen. From the first day you arrive to making friends and getting to know the city to. In this episode though, we're going to round things off and look at life after university. After all the hard work, all the studying and all the ups and downs. But do you really get from it? What's the last year like at university, and what helped you get to start your journey into a career? Let's find out.

So lots coming up. We're going to have a chat with Julia Lang from the University of Aberdeen, and we're going to look at the career help you can get at uni. But first, let's meet Lucy, a student here in Aberdeen who's just finishing her degree. I had a chat with Lucy and found out what it's been like for her and what support she has had for life after uni.

So Lucy, nice to meet you. It's lovely to have you on the podcast. So in this episode, we're looking at the whole university journey from start to finish, everything it gives you and how it shapes you. So you're just finishing your final year now. How has the experience been for you?

LUCY
Yes, I think it's been very different each year. I think I've really enjoyed it, and I think the further I've gone along, the more I've enjoyed it. I think that kind of comes from you growing as a person, and also your course becoming more interesting and more specific to what you're actually doing. And I think it's kind of left me in a place where I've had a lot of experiences, both personally and academically, that I feel quite ready to leave. And I feel like any year before this year, if you asked me that question, I'd be like, I need more time. Like I need to develop stuff. But I think it's kind of left me quite well rounded and I feel ready to to move on. But it'll be very sad and I'll miss everybody and everything here. But I think it's been a very fun experience.

NOUR
Was there any moment in particular where you felt like it really clicked for you, that you felt like you were making the most of all of it?

LUCY
Yeah, I think kind of transitioning into the summer of third year. So before fourth year, I kind of realized that I was getting near the end of my degree and I wanted to make the most of it because I think in first year kind of settling in and kind of working out who you are, obviously that's kind of how it's designed. And so I think in the summer of third year, I was kind of like, I want to do more stuff for my degree. I want to like use the availability that there is. And so I kind of spent the summer doing one of the Aberdeen internships and I had so much fun. It was really enjoyable and it gave me so much experience. And I think it kind of acted as like a, a perfect first step into more things that I did in the future. And I feel like once you do that first thing, then it's so much easier to get more experience because you have that example to talk about. So I think kind of doing that gave me that first step into kind of really exploring my degree. And I found it. It was with Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's Scotland. Sorry. Um, so it was very fun and it was paid as well. So it felt like a proper, you know, like a proper internship. And the way it was set up was very fun. Like got to talk to new people and meet the Alzheimer Scotland team. And so I think that was kind of the moment where I kind of shifted to kind of focus on like my career. Like I went from being like, oh, I'm at uni to like, oh, this is what I'm going to do. And then from then on, I just kind of started to do more. But it was, it was very fun and I really enjoyed that.

NOUR
That's great. It's great that they offer internships that are tailored for many students in different career spots and studies and all that. In terms of what's next, what are your plans and how have Aberdeen supported you with careers advice and life after uni in general?

LUCY
I think Aberdeen has been very supportive. I went to meet with the careers people, I think at the beginning of fourth year, and they kind of gave me a broad overview. It was hard because I didn't have very specific questions because I didn't really know what I was going to do. So they kind of just tried to help me as much as they could. But I think what really helped is I reached out to my course coordinator off my of neuroscience, and his name is Derek, and he was very friendly and very easy to talk to. And so I reached out to him kind of around the same time that we were doing our thesis projects, because he had a project that I was interested in. So I reached out to be like, can I talk about the project? And also, can you help me? So I talked to him for maybe about an hour, just about the future and kind of potential. So he kind of really helped. And I reached out to him later as well over email to kind of get some more info and like, know where I was sitting with my grades. Yeah. But I feel like overall, they kind of emphasize a lot of different things that you need for the future. Like it's quite a, like my course. It's quite well-rounded. Like it's not one hundred percent focused in one thing. Like they're especially in first and second year, there's a lot of basic information that you need to know, like writing and academic journaling and stuff like that. It's not just here's this content. Memorize this. So I feel quite prepared to kind of do different scenarios. Like it's not as if I'm only comfortable in one like one environment.

NOUR
No, I agree with the whole career services team. I mean, um, when I first started my undergrad, I did a politics degree and after doing an Aberdeen internship that was advertised by the University of Aberdeen careers team, it was a marketing based one. And I decided, you know what, I'm going to do a postgrad in marketing because of how much I fell in love with the whole marketing world. So it's really good to get into the kind of careers aspect of life to understand what you really, really want to do.

LUCY
Yeah, because I feel like just sitting in a class and listening to people, you never get hands on experience. You don't know what you're getting yourself into. Exactly. But yeah, the Kirstin were great in kind of offering the help and support needed to be able to take that leap. But speaking of your time at the university, as it's all coming up to a wrap and obviously it's been so successful.

NOUR
Um, what things have you got out of your time at the university that you didn't expect or surprised you?

LUCY
I think I didn't expect, um, it to be so much, um, personal growth, like irrelevant off your degree because I think you kind of come in expecting I'm going to get a degree like you expect that career development, but I didn't expect kind of all the different things that you have to kind of learn and change. And me, when I started, I was only seventeen and now I'm twenty one. So I think like that itself is a big change in your kind of where you are in your life. Yeah. And I'm such a different person than I was at the beginning in terms of like me as a person, but also how I feel about my studies and everything. And I'm a lot more focused. And I think that you wouldn't be able to kind of get that growth in such short amount of time if you weren't in such like a concentrated environment, like with your friends and with the uni, like you kind of have to grow. Exactly. But I think like, I didn't expect it to be so, so much. I kind of obviously expected to grow up a bit, but I didn't expect to kind of become so independent and like, so you kind of had to be pretty much one hundred percent independent immediately. But I think like something that is good for you, like it pushes you out. So you're not kind of holding on to being dependent. Like you have to, you have to go. It's like pushing me out. But yeah, I think that it's been very, very helpful. And I think it will help me when I leave because I'm like, ready to be fully independent in a new place.

NOU R
Yeah. Well, speaking about being independent and making it all out on your own, were there any opportunities that came up that you almost didn't take? I know a lot of new students come internationally or just nationally, leaving your house in Scotland and moving to another city or another town. It might be scary, but are there any opportunities that came up that you almost didn't take?

LUCY
I think in terms of like when I was at Aberdeen, there's obviously a lot of stuff offered and like stuff that you can do just by applying, but there's also a lot of stuff that you, you can get or you can explore, but you have to reach out. Like you have to message your course people, you have to message your tutors. And if you don't, obviously they're not going to message you independently. Be like, hey, you, I saw you like, can you come to my lab or something? And I think like in first and second year, I was too nervous to message anyone because I didn't know, like if that was allowed or like, if that was something that people did. So I wasn't going to do it. And I, but I really wanted to have more experience and kind of have some more, I don't know, like explore different parts of neuroscience. But then I think I got the courage around end of second year, end of first year, start of third year. And I reached out to loads of different people who were doing research at the IMS, who are kind of a mixture of my lecturers and a mixture of just like people who work in neuroscience. Yeah. And that ended up being very beneficial for me because I managed to get like, um, it was kind of data analysis. So it was completely different to anything I'd done before with doctor Guy Berwick, who does a lot of pain research. And so I worked with him over the summer, just kind of remote doing a lot of data analysis for him. And it kind of taught me a lot about his area, taught me a lot about different software’s. I learned how to use Wolfram Mathematica, which I'd never seen before in my life. And it was like coding. And so I think if I hadn't reached out or like hadn't emailed, then I would never have got in contact with him or I never would have done that. It was definitely a really good connection to make quite like midway through. And I think like, I was quite nervous just overall, I've always been quite nervous kind of messaging people like what if you don't respond? And then like one of my lecturers said, the worst someone's ever going to say is no. And then that's what they're already saying if you don't message them. And I was like, that's so true. So then I kind of went a bit crazy, um, and just started doing too many things. But it really, I think that kind of mentality really helps because I've talked to quite a few of my friends. They're like, oh, I'm too scared to apply like, like, what if they don't want me? And I'm like, well, if you're not applying, you're already, they don't want you because you're not applying. The worst they're going to say is where you're already at. Exactly. And I think like reaching out messaging, if I hadn't done that, I wouldn't have known that I was going to regret it. But it was very helpful.

NOUR
Yeah, I always tell any first year students or any person who's new to uni that you're only an undergrad student once. Say yes to everything. Take that leap into anything you do. Yeah, well, it's been amazing speaking to you, and I've loved hearing about all the great things that you've done at the university, and I can't wait to see what you get up to. Thank you.

Thanks again to Lucy. Great to chat through her time at the University of Aberdeen and what she's taken from her time here. I totally agree with the points she made. Your time in Aberdeen really does develop you as a person in so many ways, but sadly there will be a time when you have to leave. We've touched on the help you get from the university as you plan your future career. So let's finish off by looking more at that and how you can really get the most out of your time here. I met with Julia Lang, a career as an employability adviser at the University of Aberdeen, to find out about all the different ways you can get ready for life after uni.

Hi, Julia, it's so lovely to have you on here with us today. So in this episode, we're looking at the value of university and what you get from your time here. Tell me more about your role and how you support students.

JULIA
So I'm a careers and employability advisor and I work in the Careers and Employability service. My job is to help students navigate their career next steps, any questions they have. I'm here to answer. I offer information, advice and guidance to all students. I work quite closely with a few academic disciplines, so psychology is one of mine and social science and dppa. So that's our school of divinity, history, philosophy, art history. But I do see students as well from all subjects in the careers service. We just help you explore your options, develop your key skills and connect with employers and everything in between. So we do the CVS feedback, we do interview preparations, we do careers fairs, job board internships, lots of different things. Too much to say in in the short time, but plenty, plenty. They're here to support all career needs.

NOUR
Amazing. So just so people don't kind of repeat the same mistake I did. You don't have to wait until your final year to be looking for a careers advice, do you? You can access it at any time throughout your time at the university.

JULIA
Yeah, literally from day one. And I should also say, you don't have to have a plan at all. You know, you can come to one of our fifteen minute appointments and just say, hey, I'm not too sure why I'm here, but I want to come and speak to someone about my career. And we'll say, no problem at all. We'll take it from there. So yeah, literally day one, no plan in place, no preparations. Just come and chat to us at any stage. And what are some simple things students can kind of do early on? So I think that engaging with life on campus is really a big one. So when you come to Welcome Week, you'll see the societies fairs. So go and speak to societies. I think there's over two hundred. Anything you're interested in from baking to like commercial law, you know, there's a real mix. Go and find a society. Go and find some people you want to chat with sports clubs to. Are there also the students union, things like class reps. It's a great opportunity for you to just ten weeks worth of volunteering within the classroom. So, I mean, that's one of the biggest thing is just take a moment to find out what's available. Again, career service, we can help you with that. So if you turn up on day one and you say, look, I really want to make most of my time here, but I don't know where to start. Please can you help me? And we at the Career Service are very happy to walk you through what the options are and help work out what's right for you as well, because obviously everyone's different.

NOUR
And what if students want to look into placements as they work through university? How does that side of things kind of work?

JULIA
Yeah, so we support applications. We don't find people jobs. That's not what we do. But we help you to look for your own placements. We help you with CVS applications, practice interviews, if that's useful. We do also have our own internship programme. It's called the Abdn Internship Programme. And these are internships with local organisations, most likely in sort of sectors that can't or don't often advertise paid opportunities. So things like wellbeing, ecology, creative and cultural charities. So we advertise those and we also have internships available within the university. So that's the program that we run and manage and students can apply to that. We also have a jobs board, so we will advertise placements all the time all year round.

NOUR
Um, so yeah, a few options there for you sounds amazing. I mean, coming from someone who has done an AB, yes, it was amazing supporting local businesses, gaining experience and seeing what kind of the work world is like and how it is to be working kind of in between studying, but away from careers advice and support. There are other opportunities that you get at university to develop new skills, aren't there? Lots and lots of opportunities?

JULIA
I mean, even just starting within your class, your course, you're learning your subject, but also you're developing so many skills, things like the critical analysis, the teamwork, working in groups, communication, of course, the writing. There's so much there within your actual degree area, discipline and anything else you build on top of that will only provide more skills. As I said, just getting involved with what's on campus, what opportunities are available there, being a buddy, you know, publishing something in the academic journal. Getting involved, as I said, with the students union on their their bodies and things like that. Yeah, there's tons and tons of stuff to do.

NOUR
Well, touching on kind of the skills that you've mentioned, what skills do employers really value from university graduates do you think?

JULIA
So from research is a really good organization called Bright Network. And they go out every year and ask employers skills are important. Things like problem solving always comes up things like resilience. That's interesting because it's more that's much more valuable than things like confidence. Students, I think, think they need to be really confident, but actually it's more about being curious, being open to learning. I'd say as well, it's skills, but also attitude to work. As I said, that curiosity, that wanting to know why, the understanding, the bigger picture, those are sort of skills that are almost harder to, to grasp, but really, really valued by employers alongside things like teamwork and communication, of course.

NOUR
Now when you're at university, you know, it can feel completely overwhelming when you think about life after. Um, and what would you say to someone who's just started in Aberdeen but isn't sure about what path to take in the future?

JULIA
First of all, I'd say come and speak to us, of course, at the career service. The other thing I'd say is just to not put too much pressure on having the right thing, the perfect thing. Just get used to talking to people. I like to sort of say to students sort of four stages of career things. There's reflecting. So do think about yourself and what you're interested in with your course. What are you really inspired by? What are you really motivated to learn about? That's a big part of reflection, which can be helpful for careers researching also, of course, because there's only so much you can learn from looking internally. Sometimes you need to go in and do some research. We've got so many resources on our website we can point students to. We can tell you how to look for information. Sometimes people say, I don't know what I'm looking for, so I don't know where to start. That's where we can help actually give you a few pointers, which done. You're reflecting in some initial research. I think it's quite useful to then reach out. You know, you can get so much information from the internet, but it does get to a certain point where you have to close the screen lid and go and speak to some people actually learn about the world of work on the ground, as I'd say. So that's a really big part. And the last thing I like to say to students is actually just like, respect the process because things take time. Career epiphanies. I haven't seen one yet. I'm still waiting for students to tell me. I had a dream last night and this is what I'm going to be. It hasn't happened yet and I don't think it is terribly realistic. Um. Career planning takes loads of time. It takes lots of conversations. It takes ideas that you then follow through. It takes finding information. You think, oh no, that's not it. I'm not gonna be able to do that anymore. Try something else. Like just respect the fact that it's not easy, but it will take time, but actually it will pay off. So just just keep chipping away and keep working at it.

NOUR
Amazing. And last but not least, what do you hope students take away from their time at Aberdeen beyond just a degree? Because university is way more than just a degree in studying?

JULIA
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, people that you meet, the ideas that you have and that you share, if you read some of the alumni profiles we have, they're brilliant on the on the website, a lot of people say it's about the community that you have when you're at university. And I think that it's really worth making the most of that. I say to students, you've got the biggest opportunity ever. You're here for four years. You know what you're doing every day, but you have a bit of extra time perhaps, and you've got sort of like a playground, basically anything you want to try, anything you want to experiment with, you can do it here. If there's a society you really want to join, but it doesn't exist, you can start your own society if you want to like your practice, for example, writing as the student newspaper, there's so much that you can like have fun with. So I always try and say like, look beyond the degree subject and see what else is available on campus life that you can actually immerse yourself within.

NOUR
Thank you so much, Julia. This has been absolutely fantastic.

JOHN
Hi, I'm John Barrow and I'm dean for Employability and entrepreneurship at the University of Aberdeen. University ultimately is is very transformative for the vast majority of people throughout their studies with us and their time with us, they might get wider life experiences. They've also got their degree program, and over that time they'll become much more self-aware. They'll understand their strengths. They'll understand how they work with other people, how they can problem solve. And ultimately, I guess by the time they graduate, they're not just knowledgeable in a subject. They're confident, they're adaptable, and they're resilient and they're ready, I guess, to thrive.

NOUR
This is Find Your True North from the University of Aberdeen. And that brings us to the end of this episode and series, looking at life as a student here at the university. There are so many people ready to support you and make it one of the best experiences you'll ever have. If you want to find out more about anything you've heard or need advice or support in any way, just head online or get in touch with student services who will point you in the right direction. Make sure you save the series and keep listening back to get advice and tips when you need them and have a great time in Aberdeen. Hope to see you around here soon.