Dear Jonathan, what should I be doing now to secure a job next summer?

"I have only one year here at university on my Masters course; how do I make the most of the opportunities to be in a good position for securing a job next summer? I’ve registered on Careers programmes, signed up to student activities, but what else should I be doing?"

- 1st year, Social Sciences MSc

University presents a huge array of activities in which you could get involved: when you add in dedicating time to your academic studies, it can seem overwhelming, especially when you have just arrived, perhaps from another country. To make the most of the time (depending how you measure such things of course…) you could adopt a combination of a structured approach to develop specific skills and gain experiences, plus some opportunism to let luck play its part.

On the former, a structured approach would start from the job or role you seek to secure in a year’s time. Find job ads (even closed ones) for similar roles and talk to people already in the roles, to learn what skills and experiences they seek. This wish list can then guide you to activities to get involved in so that, in a rather instrumental way, you build your CV to be well positioned. 

If you don’t yet have a specific role in mind, but a general sense of direction, then you can still apply this technique. Review the general set of nine sets of employability skills – you’ll find some ideas there for how to build skills in the short, medium, and long terms. As the year progresses, include some information interviewing to learn more about the sector and roles to narrow down your search. The Oxford Guide to Careers 2027 is a great place to start.

This might all sound too formulaic, and even if you do follow it, allow time and space for chance to play a part.

At the beginning, you can say “yes” to everything: meet new people, explore industries you hadn’t considered, go to lectures on subjects you don’t know much about, have meals with peers you don’t know that well. 

What’s the worst that could happen? You meet some interesting people and learn about a wide range of topics; but the best thing that could happen is you uncover a whole new path up the career mountain, that plays to your strengths and is fun. Then you just have to explain your new direction to friends, family, and yourself. Even if you eventually stick to your original path, you’ll have chosen it positively and rejected (for now) other routes.

University is a time to learn new skills and have new experiences – not just on the academic side but in all parts of your life. It can be an exciting, if perhaps daunting, time.

For six years, the Careers Director at the University of Oxford, Jonathan Black, wrote a fortnightly column for the Financial Times answering readers’ careers questions - you can still find it here.

Now, the “Dear Jonathan" column has come to Oxford.

If you are an Oxford University student, send in your career question to [email protected] and each week of term, he will answer one of the questions in this feature. We’ll anonymise the author (but please tell us whatever is relevant) so you can be sure that readers won’t know it’s you.