Why Employability Starts Before Application Season

For both international and home students, application deadlines can bring a familiar problem into focus: how do you connect your academic background and experiences to the role you want? At J&J, we see capable students who have worked hard but find this connection difficult to explain.

CV editing and interview practice can make a real difference, including close to a deadline. But they work with the evidence a student already has. Starting earlier creates time to explore possible directions, practise relevant skills and act on feedback before having to explain that development to an employer.

Separate Experience, Capability and Evidence

A useful way to review career preparation is to ask three different questions: What have I done? What can I now do better? What evidence supports that claim?

These questions are related, but they are not interchangeable. Attending an industry event provides exposure; it does not, by itself, demonstrate industry expertise. Taking responsibility for a project creates an opportunity to develop skills; the title alone says little about how well that responsibility was handled.

Consider a hypothetical student who helps organise a society event. “Helped run an event” describes participation. A stronger account would explain the task they owned, a difficulty they encountered, the decision they made and what happened next. If they changed their approach after feedback, that also provides something concrete to discuss. Any results or figures should be accurate, and a team achievement should not be presented as an individual one.

This distinction matters because it helps students identify the next useful step. Sometimes they need more experience. Sometimes they need deliberate practice. Sometimes they already have relevant evidence but have not recognised or recorded it.

Treat Career Direction as Something to Test

Clearer direction does not require a fixed career choice at the start of university. It can begin with a working assumption: “I may enjoy work that combines analysis with explaining recommendations to others.”

The next step is to test that assumption. A student could compare current role descriptions, speak to someone doing the work and attempt a small task related to it. For a possible research role, that might mean comparing sources and writing a short briefing. The task is an exploration exercise, not a substitute for professional experience.

Afterwards, ask what changed: Was the work interesting in practice? Which parts were difficult? Did feedback reveal a skill gap? Finding that a role is unsuitable can be a useful outcome. It allows a student to adjust their direction before committing more time to it.

What Research Can—and Cannot—Tell Us

An OECD analysis of longitudinal data from eight countries found associations between several forms of teenage career exploration, experience and thinking about work, and better employment outcomes later in life. This supports taking career development seriously before the point of application.

However, the research concerns secondary-school students, not a direct test of UK graduate recruitment. An association does not establish that a particular activity causes a better outcome, nor does it guarantee success for an individual student.

For university students, the US-based National Association of Colleges and Employers' career-readiness framework offers a useful vocabulary for reviewing development, including communication, critical thinking, teamwork and career self-development. It is a framework, not a universal recruitment scorecard. Students should check what each target role actually requires.

Make Feedback Part of the Experience

Experience becomes more useful when students can examine how they performed and try again. Instead of asking only, “Was that good?”, ask for feedback on an observable behaviour: “Was my recommendation clear?”, “Where was my reasoning weak?” or “What should I do differently next time?”

Keep a brief evidence record after a project, shift or responsibility. Note the context, your contribution, the outcome, the feedback and the next improvement to test. Where appropriate, retain a non-confidential work sample. This is a practical suggestion for organising reflection, rather than a validated assessment tool.

Paid work, coursework, volunteering and caring responsibilities may all provide relevant examples. Students do not need to dismiss an experience because it lacks a prestigious title. Equally, transferable skills should be explained honestly: handling a customer complaint may illustrate communication, but it does not establish technical competence for an unrelated profession.

A Practical Starting Point for the Next Month

A manageable plan is more useful than trying to fill every spare hour with another activity:

• Choose one question: Identify a role, type of work or skill you want to understand better.

• Check the requirements: Compare a small selection of current vacancies, separating essential requirements from preferences.

• Try one relevant activity: Use an accessible project, responsibility or learning exercise to explore a requirement.

• Seek specific feedback: Ask a tutor, supervisor, careers adviser or suitably experienced professional to comment on your work.

• Review and adjust: Record what you learned, what evidence you have and what your next step should be.

This is a suggested starting routine, not a promise of readiness within a month. Students approaching a deadline can still use it selectively while prioritising the applications already in front of them.

Build Confidence Without Promising Certainty

Career outcomes are not determined by preparation alone. Recruitment criteria, the availability of opportunities and unequal access to time, money and networks also matter. Uncertainty or an unsuccessful application should not automatically be interpreted as a lack of effort.

At J&J, our approach is to help students build clearer direction, meaningful experience and informed reflection over time. The aim is to arrive at application season with more than a polished description: a credible account of what they have tried, how they have developed and why the next opportunity makes sense.