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The respondent to this survey is Lindsey who is from a White British background.
| What qualifications did you hold prior to starting university? | 5 A - Levels, Biology (A), Chemistry (A), Physics (A), Maths (B), general studies (A) |
| What was the name of your course? | Chemistry - MChem/Chem |
| While at university have you worked part-time? | Yes |
| While at university have you performed any voluntary work? | Yes |
| While at university have you undertake any work experience? | Yes |
| Please give details of your experience? | Part time - term time - waitress, sales.
Voluntary - term time - schools, working with young carers
Work experience - vacations - STEP work experience (2 summer vacations), laboratory based projects. |
| How useful did you find this work experience when it came to find a job after graduating? | The part-time work during term time has not helped my employment opportunities, but helped financially. The voluntary work has helped to secure a place on the fast track teaching PGCE course.
The work experience helped me to gain a place on a PhD course, and I was offered the chance of a job on completion of the PhD. However, I decided teaching was for me and quit the PhD course. It also helped when applying to be a teacher, as it gave me examples to use in interviews. |
| What is your status? | Other |
| Do you feel you have a career plan? | Yes |
| If so, how does your current situation fit into this plan? | I hope to make a career as a teacher and develop property in my spare time, which is what I am doing as I await the start of my course. |
| When did you start thinking about what you wanted to do after graduation? Thinking back did you leave enough time for this? | I knew from the end of my penultimate year what I would do, and this was plenty of time to organise my PhD course, but I quit 3 months into it when I decided I wanted to be a teacher. I applied in December for this and will be starting a course in September. |
| Did you experience any difficulties when it came to finding work after graduation? If yes, please describe some of the problems you faced? | No. I found it easy to get accepted on a PhD course if I was flexible with the topic. |
| What do you wish you had known before you started applying for jobs? | I wish I had known exactly how day to day life as a PhD student was. |
| What advice would you give to someone applying for jobs now? | Apply early! Many of the jobs seem to go before Christmas. Try and use your contacts at university to get to know people in your field. |
| Would you have done anything differently while at university to prepare for your career? Please give details. | No. I am glad I tried the PhD route, because otherwise I would have been wondering "What if...?" |
| How do you feel your degree has prepared you for today's labour market? | I needed the work experience to talk about in interviews, as there is little of relevance in the degree course, as knowledge of my subject was not questioned, but how I dealt with different situations. |
| What impact did your course have on your career aspirations? | Affirmed job choice |
| Did you make use of the careers service at university? | No |
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