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The respondent to this survey is Juliette who is from a White British background.
| What qualifications did you hold prior to starting university? | A-levels |
| What was the name of your course? | Biomedical Sciences BSc (Honours) |
| While at university have you worked part-time? | No |
| While at university have you performed any voluntary work? | Yes |
| While at university have you undertake any work experience? | No |
| Please give details of your experience? | Classroom assistant at primary school |
| How useful did you find this work experience when it came to find a job after graduating? | Very useful as I am now working as an Hospital Play Specialist and the more experience of well children in different settings the better. |
| What is your status? | In full or part time employment |
| What is your job title? | Hospital Play Specialist |
| What responsibilities do you hold? | Caring for children in hospital (0-17 years), offering emotional support, providing activities to explain and facilitate procedures and relieve anxiety, supporting other family members, maintaining ward as child-friendly, welcoming and safe environment, liaising with medical staff and allied health professionals, teaching (formal and informal) students... |
| What do you enjoy the most about this job? | Making children smile! |
| What do you enjoy the least? | Having to justify my job - Play Specialists are, as yet, not widely talked about and can be looked down upon as not providing a worthwhile service by the ignorant! |
| What was involved in the recruitment process for this job? | Application form, shortlisting, interview, occupational health clearance and police checks. |
| Do you feel you have a career plan? | No |
| When did you start thinking about what you wanted to do after graduation? Thinking back did you leave enough time for this? | While I was at university - I wanted to make the most of having a careers service on hand for help! |
| Did you experience any difficulties when it came to finding work after graduation? If yes, please describe some of the problems you faced? | I needed further qualifications related to the field of hospital play and more experience in childcare, so I took a temporary job in a bakery while I rectified these deficiencies. |
| What do you wish you had known before you started applying for jobs? | How to sell myself on an application form and how important it is to match the supporting information you give with the job description and person specification. The different formats of a CV, depending on the post being applied for and how to set this out most effectively - what to include, what can safely be left off (e.g. is it necessary to include GCSE results when you have A-levels and a degree) |
| What advice would you give to someone applying for jobs now? | Don't give up! Ask for help with application forms and CVs to start with until you have the hang of it. Think about the sort of questions you might get asked at interview and come up with some good answers in advance! Maybe practise with a friend or supportive family member. At the interview, ask for a glass of water as sipping this when asked a difficult question gives you valuable time to think. Keep applying for things, no matter how hopeless you feel it is. Even if you are not sure about whether you want to work somewhere, do your best and really try and convince the interviewers you do want the job as you can always turn it down but if you fail to impress them and lose out, then decide it would have been your dream job after all... |
| Would you have done anything differently while at university to prepare for your career? Please give details. | Tried to gain more work experience in my spare time. Very rewarding and stand you in good stead for later. Having lots of outside interests also helps you learn about time management! |
| How do you feel your degree has prepared you for today's labour market? | Having a degree is a definite advantage, especially as more and more people seem to be going to university, but other attributes are also important. The important thing is to find a job that you are happy in, even if that means you are not using your degree. Skills learnt at university are transferable and equip you well for the workplace, however different to the subject of your course that may turn out to be. |
| What impact did your course have on your career aspirations? | Undecided still |
| Did you make use of the careers service at university? | Yes |
| If yes, please describe how you used the careers service. | Computer profiling; looking at information about a variety of careers. I actually discovered Play Specialism at the Careers Service, reading an article about Sheffield Children's Hospital, and kept coming back to that as a future job throughout the rest of my studies. |
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