A big thank you from UCL Careers

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Written by Victoria Abbott, Recruitment & Selection Advisor, UCL Careers

My name is Victoria, and as another academic year draws to a close, I wanted to take this opportunity to reflect on the past 12 months here at UCL Careers and to say a really big thank you to you, our students and graduates! It’s been an absolute pleasure to interact and engage with so many of you across a variety of virtual platforms, appointments and events this year. 

It’s definitely been a challenging time to say the least, but in an amazing commitment to career readiness, personal development and employability skills acquisition, you’ve attended a mammoth 5,806 application advice and short guidance appointments combined. Plus, these figures are reflective of the beginning of the lockdown period in the UK (March 2020), which is a further testament to your resilience, drive and determination. 

I would like to say a personal thank you to every student and graduate that I have engaged with this year, both in one-to-one appointments, interactive small group sessions and larger careers seminars. As someone living by myself during lockdown, you’ve all kept me company during our remote appointments this year, and it has been inspiring to see your applications, career plans and confidence developing across the ensuing months. 

I asked my fellow Recruitment & Selection Advice team members for their thoughts on the past 12 months too: 

Susanne: Over the last 15 months, it’s been great to be able to continue supporting students with their applications remotely through our 1:1 appointments on Teams, as well as continuing to run our small group sessions online. During our small group sessions, it has been encouraging to see students collaborating with their peers in this new environment, leaving sessions feeling more empowered to be resilient and continue moving forward with their applications.  

Erin: When I joined the UCL Careers team in April, I was amazed to see the strong engagement from students in 1:1 advice appointments and Career Essentials sessions. Operating in this virtual environment has proven the unwavering enthusiasm of all students, both when it comes to their continued drive to perform within group settings and on their applications.  

Don’t forget, UCL Careers is still here to support you across the summer months as well. Whether you’re exploring your options, writing applications or want support with preparing for live or recorded video interviews, our range of different appointment types will give you tailored one-to-one support. 

I’ll leave you today with one final reflection; we may all be experts now on digital platforms such as Zoom and MS Teams, but will we ever get used to the near-daily phrase “we can’t hear you; you’re still on mute?”