Make the most of your summer

Make the most of your summer Weve reached the end of another year. Exams are over and a long vacation stretches ahead. If youve got a pretty packed schedule or a job offer lined up, this is a time of promise and excitement. But if youve got to this point and and are beginning to worry about what comes next, dont panic â€" you can soon put yourself back in the driving seat. Whether youre a first year or soon-to-be  graduate, check out our practical guide to surviving and thriving this summer: Come and talk to us Student Careers and Skills is open throughout the summer and you can drop in to see a job search adviser, or  book an appointment  with one of our careers consultants. No experience, career plan or CV required! This is a great time to pop in for a chat but dont worry if youre not on campus â€" you can  email, phone and skype as well. Give your CV a facelift. If youre focussed and job ready it may need just a little cosmetic fine tuning. Dont despair if you still feel your CV is more Z than A list. Our job search advisers can help you develop, re-package and refine your CV. Give yourself a head start by using our  CV resources See our  website  for opening hours. Build your online profile 56% of employers check applicants Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter. Its unlikely that social media will replace traditional selection methods to shortlist ( reject!) candidates, but it does give you another platform to sell yourself. Application forms are pretty standard and dont allow much room for creativity and individuality, so if youre looking to stand out. You can also harness social media to support your job search â€"Top 10 tips: using social media to find work Manage your job feeds and news alerts Start with our own vacancies database on  myAdvantage. If you want to receive targeted news about graduate jobs, work experience and internships you need to tick the relevant box in the  my preferences  section. Make use of established job portals like  Milkround  and  TARGETjobs. Theyve got a wide reach and cover all the major sectors. If youre still hoping to secure a graduate job this summer, then you can check their upcoming deadlines to see whats available. And if you want to be really lazy theres always  Graduate Job Feed, which pulls graduate job vacancies from other boards and hosts them on one site. Have you subscribed to industry/sector news feeds? Are you following the right people (and companies) on Twitter.? Develop your commerical awareness Think this is just the preserve of business graduates in finance roles? Wrong. Commercial awareness is one of the  Top 10 skills thatll get you a job when you graduate. Practical experience is best. Internships, work placements and volunteering can all expose you to the commerical realities of running a business or organisation. If you havent got any work experience lined up this summer try to find a part time job. It might not be the most stimulating work but youd be surprised how much you can learn from working in shops, bars and call centres. Check out  e4S,  JustJobs4Studentsand  Unitemps  to see whats available in your area. Get informed! Youve got a few months freedom from exams, assignments and seminars so make an effort to keep up with the news and read the business pages of the major broadsheets (Guardian,  Financial Times,  Telegraph). Do something new Recruiters are impressed by students who demonstrate a can do attitude and curiosity about the world. Use this time to stretch yourself and broaden your horizons. Cultivate a new interest, volunteer, start a blog or maybe brush up on your IT skills (are you  really  that confident with Excel? If not, there are some great online tutorials. Try  Mr Excel) Be prepared to have a go. It can be a real confidence boost to step outside of your comfort zone, and when it comes to job interviews, youll have plenty to say. 2012 graduates have free access to all careers services for 3 years after graduation