Make the most of your summer break: 10 summer activities to increase your study success and employability prospects

Make the most of your summer break:
10 summer activities to increase your study success and employability prospects ​

This week’s article is for those of you that are currently studying and want to make the best use of the free time that you have available to you before the next semester starts.  Here you’ll find 10 great ways to expand upon your study success and employability prospects.

The time you spend during the holidays can fly by all too quickly, leaving you looking back and thinking “Where did all the time go?” “What did I achieve during the holidays?

During the summer break of course you’ll want relax a little and enjoy some summer sunshine, and probably want to catch up with friends and family, but then what? If you find yourself in this position then that’s great news to hear! Why? That’s because this can be an excellent opportunity to give yourself a head start to enhance that CV, prepare for the new semester or learn something new.​

1.       Deal with the little things first – devise a plan of action to get all those little nagging jobs completed, you know, the ones you keep promising to do.  These need to be completed in the immediate future.  This will avoid later distractions when you want to do something really worthwhile. Stick to 15 simple Time Management strategies.

2.       Holiday networking – if you should be fortunate enough to go on holiday this summer don’t just be a tourist, try to use this time to go and visit areas that are connected in some way to your study. For example, if you are studying Travel and Tourism visit tourist offices, look at how they market attractions. If you’re studying Sports related topics you might want to go to sports grounds or venues, maybe speak to some of the staff. Perhaps you are studying history, then why not visit museums and library archives. Just make sure you contact staff beforehand to let them know you want to visit them, and organise a date and time to visit. Don’t forget to swap contact details, they may come in really handy in the future.

3.       Group networking – Join a community group. Groups usually meet once a week, but you don’t have to go to every meeting.  It’s a great opportunity to network with all kinds of people from various backgrounds and industries, that all have one same common interest as you.

4.       Volunteer work – this is a great way to get some hands on experience. Try to find an organisation or company that are connected in some way to your studies, as this can enhance your employability by getting on the job experience. It can also be a great way of letting potential employers know that you’re proactive, committed and have integrity. You may need to be quite flexible with your time as many groups who take on volunteers need volunteers for just this reason. You could mix it up by possibly choosing to volunteer at music festivals or volunteer abroad this will allow you to holiday and volunteer at the same time.

5.       Research companies you want to work for – If you want to be sure of great career with good personal development prospects, then it’s a good idea to find the time to research companies you think might be suitable for your lifestyle and skillset. I would recommend you firstly determine your desired area of research or industry and then look at companies, organisations and industries that operate in that area. Find out what makes the company unique over its competitors. What areas it’s investing in. Look at its financial health (stocks and shares if they have them). Find out the culture of the company (Glassdoor UK), how it invests in its staff, what perks it offers them, look at its competitors and make comparisons.

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​6.       Access your new reading syllabus – If you are returning back to study in the autumn I would encourage you to get ahead and start planning now! Obtain your new semesters reading list as soon as it becomes available. You can usually get this from your online VLE, your faculty office or from your lecturers. Once you have it, if you prefer printed books visit your academic library and loan out your reading material for the forthcoming semester. The library will also have electronic books of most key text reading, these will nearly always be available to you. This way you’ll have all your reading material organised before everyone else, leaving you feeling less stressed and anxious when you return. The newest editions of an academic title are usually procured by the library around early August.

7.       Prepare a study plan – Think about your previous academic year (if you’ve had one) and consider how successful it was. Do you need to make some changes or make some better decisions about your study plan? If you’ve not studied for a while here’s some tips to help you create a study plan;

o   Buy a daily/weekly planner or use an online calendar or smartphone and put all your dates for assignment submissions on it. This is a priority!
o   Add Study blocks to your planner – you will need to put aside 20 hours a week, at least, for study if you want to pull in great grades on your course, so build them in each week as study blocks and stick to them!
o   Visit your academic library – if you need to improve some of your academic skills. Librarians are usually very happy to help during the summer as they have a little more flexibility with their time. Book an appointment to see your Faculty Liaison Librarian. SCONUL reports students that regularly visit their academic library are far more likely to experience greater academic outcomes.
o   Build in time for non-academic summer activities - Avoid over-exaggerating what you can do. Only build in what you definitely can achieve, not what you’d like to achieve. This will allow for greater flexibility, and helps to avoid the anxiety of not completing what you set out to do. Be assertive - say no to others requests when your schedule is getting full. Delegate wherever possible, but be clear about your expectations of the tasks you delegate to people.

8.       Learn a new skill – This can be really helpful if you focus your new skill towards your career or studies. It can enhance your CV and help you to aim even higher with your grades. Videos are a great way to learn a new skill. Youtube or Vimeo are good places to start for free videos, but you may have to sort through a lot of unhelpful ones before finding something relevant.  Ideally your library will subscribe to Lynda.com a video based online learning platform, delivered by professionals in their fields, that teaches skills around business, software, technology and creative skills. If they don’t you can subscribe to it as an individual. Or you could combine something that brings you fun and joy with learning a new skill like cooking, gardening, kayaking, climbing, writing etc.

9.       Update your CV – It’s really important to keep your CV updated on a regular basis. Even when you’re studying. It’s all too easy to forget those courses, conferences and seminars that you’ve attended throughout the year. You never know when that door of opportunity will open. Your student careers office or employability team can really help you out with this, so give them a visit during the summer. Don’t forget to update your LinkedIn account as well if you have one, employers sometimes check your social media pages when reviewing candidates.

10.       Create a journal about your summer break – This is a really great way of reflecting on all that you’ve achieved over a period of time. When we’re busy we often forget all that we’ve accomplished. Take just a few minutes out at the end of each day and jot down all that you’ve done, possibly adding a few reflections of your thoughts and feelings too.

I hope you find my 10 suggestions for summer activities useful. They should give you a great start in preparation for the new academic year and enhancing your career prospects.

Look out for my next blog where I’ll be offering suggestions for the summer break that will help to challenge, enlighten and relax you.

I would love to hear your feedback on this blog. Perhaps you have some great study tips that you’d like to share with me. Please like and retweet this article on Twitter @AsterlifeC 
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If you want to discover your star potential and think I may be able to help you, then please call me 07752565740

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