What to do after university? Ideas for students

Are you finishing your time at university and don’t know what to do next? In our blog we give you some tips on what to do after university, what to continue studying, how to get started in the workplace, etc.

Starting your university studies and knowing how to orientate your professional career is a key and memorable moment in a student’s life. In fact, this choice will undoubtedly mark your personal and professional future.

We are fortunate to live in a place where we can study practically anything we want, thanks to the wide range of academic options offered by universities, institutes of higher education, specialised schools, etc. in Catalonia. It is much easier to know how to orientate your professional career when you have a wide range of opportunities and do not face limitations in terms of choice. It is precisely for this reason that, faced with such a wide range of options, we must work introspectively to find out where we want to direct our efforts and hours of study.

Millennials and Generation Z have grown up in a recessionary economic environment that was aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic, the economic restrictions that followed, Russia’s war with Ukraine and Gaza with Israel.

However, despite the adversities of the outside world, as a university student you will have to find your balance and harmony to focus your life project and your studies in order to achieve a successful professional career.

It should be noted that the two generations mentioned are digital natives and are therefore presented with an enormous range of possibilities related to technology. However, there are also situations in which they are paralysed by the wide range of possibilities offered. On the other hand, this technology favours a much more multidisciplinary society that is able to solve dilemmas in a large number of different scenarios and adapt to the constant changes of technological evolution and now artificial intelligence.

The challenge is to create a career that is aligned with your way of doing and being. It should be a reflection of yourself and you just have to find a balance between job satisfaction and financial stability. To reach this conclusion, only self-knowledge is useful and, from Unihabit, we tell you how to achieve it.

In a previous publication we have given you advice on how to face the first year of university and today, we want to give you some guidelines on how to manage the moment before entering the world of work. Below, you will find some ideas that may be useful for you to know how to guide your professional career. These proposals have been compiled by Unihabit throughout our experience managing university residences.

It is essential that you analyse yourself and have a list of your strengths and weaknesses. Once you have it, share it with the people who know and love you best, so that you can compare how they see you and how you see yourself.

In a world as active, busy and changing as today’s society, it is often necessary to stop, take a breath and think about what excites us, what interests us, what excites us, what gives us goose bumps, so that we can dedicate as many hours as possible to it and enjoy it to the full.

In this sense, at Unihabit we are committed to quality leisure and for this reason, we offer our residents a wide range of activities to do in our facilities.

In order to know where we are heading, we must know where we have come from, and this frenetic pace of life that we mentioned earlier often works against us being able to stop and reflect on everything we have experienced.

The people who love you the most are the ones who know you the best and, most probably, they are the people who have been with you the longest. For this reason, they can give you a very faithful analysis and can discover aspects or points of view that you do not have under control or that you do not give them the importance they deserve.

Once you have done all the introspective work that is in your hands, it is important that, in order to complete the process of self-knowledge, you get help from a mental health professional such as a psychologist. They will give you advice and recommend methodologies and points of view to have a balanced mental health and complete your self-knowledge procedure.

Once you become aware of who you are, what you like and where you want to go, it is much easier to lay the foundations for what to do after university.

First of all, use the list we have given you above about yourself to begin to orientate your preferences from which you can make a selection of possible employment destinations.

It is essential that you look for your differentiation from the rest. This will come from discovering your strengths and then choosing how to leverage them to stand out from the competition.

It is very important that you take advantage of the experience of everyone around you. If you ask around, you will undoubtedly find connections and collaborations that can be very useful at all times to further your professional career.

Nowadays, you have to take advantage of social networks. If people don’t know what you do, it’s as if you don’t do anything. You have to share your knowledge and your activities so that anyone who is interested in a collaboration can get in touch with you.

Finally, once you know where you want to go in your career, it is essential that you continue your education and have as much knowledge as possible to apply in your professional career.

Discover different ideas you can do after university so you don’t feel like you’re wasting your time and feel productive:

Most students who finish their university degree choose to do a master’s degree or a postgraduate course to continue specialising in one of the fields they have studied during their degree. The job market is becoming increasingly competitive, so becoming a professional in a specific field is one of the best options for many. However, other students decide to start another university degree or even take a higher education course in other fields or sectors, either because they have discovered that they like it better or to make their way in other sectors.

Studying a new language or enhancing the foreign language you have already studied is another option for many students after university, as it improves your CV and makes it easier for you to find your way in your professional career.

If, on the other hand, you decide to continue studying within the same sector, another cheap and quick option is to take related courses or workshops. Attending congresses, conferences, workshops, etc. of professional people in your sector will also help you to create a network of contacts through which you can get started in the world of work!

Generally speaking, during your time at university it is very likely that you have already done a curricular internship in the workplace. However, from the time you finish your university degree until two years later, you have the option of looking for an extracurricular internship that can allow you to get started in the world of work, gain experience and knowledge and generate a CV for your professional future.

Another option is to undertake your own project using everything you have learned at university. Design an idea and develop your business plan to manage your own company. To start your own project, you must first create your personal brand and look for investors to help you grow your business.

In case you are not sure what you want to do in your professional career and you don’t mind losing a year, you can take advantage of this year to take a sabbatical year, in this year you can travel, get to know other cultures, dedicate time to practice sports, do handicrafts, read, etc., in short, dedicate time to yourself and consequently enrich yourself personally. It is likely that during this time you will find the motivation or discover what you really want to do and what you want to dedicate the rest of your life to.

Another unusual but very enriching option is to volunteer. During this experience you will learn unique lessons as you will be able to completely change the perception and expectations you had on a professional and personal level. In addition, this option also adds professional experience to your CV and many companies will value this decision, especially in terms of teamwork skills.

If you are interested in our university residence hall in Ciutat Vella or in any other residence hall to be able to dedicate time to yourself and to your professional career, do not hesitate to contact us. Call us at 935 953 953 or write to us at info@unihabit.com.