Create your Future

Unique to Exeter, Create your Future is a personal and professional development programme for 1st year students, giving them the opportunity to think about what they want from their future after University, and the practical steps to get there. The content of the programme is tailored to students based on their discipline and the stage they are at with their career planning and decision making,

Through participating in the programme, students have the opportunity to:

Reflect on their values and goals
Expand their understanding of graduate level career options and what employers are looking for
Learn about key topics relevant to the modern workplace such as entrepreneurial thinking, sustainability, commercial awareness, Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity and the fourth industrial revolution.
Discover the wealth of support and opportunities that the University can offer them, and how to access relevant careers support during their time at Exeter
Develop their own personalised action plan.

As part of the programme, students can browse videos from employers and alumni working in different sectors. Employers and alumni are invited to take part in the programme by adding their story to our video library. Creating a video for the programme is a chance for you to share your experiences as an employer or alumni with our students and for them to gain an insight into your ‘Career Story’. Up to 7000 students a year will take part in the programme, and students are able to go back and refer to the video library at any time throughout their degree.

Benefits of participating

Raising awareness of your brand to future recruits
Opportunity to help and inspire future graduates to think about their careers at an early stage
A space to impart knowledge and experience

How you help our students:

Present students with an early insight into careers they might be considering
Provide first-hand knowledge of personal and employability skills which students can then develop throughout their time at university

What will be involved?

We are looking for short videos around 3 minutes long, which can be used to endorse the value of this programme from an employer perspective. The clips can be recorded on your phone or laptop and emailed over or we can arrange a recorded video call with you if you would prefer more of an interview set up. 

We are looking for the videos to cover any of the following things. You need not cover all these points, just the areas that feel right for you.

The unique edge that training like this offers
Why it’s relevant this programme is happening in the first year
The importance of transferable skills for employability
How graduate skills differentiate from skills developed at school
The importance of self-reflection and self-awareness (and the benefit of having a programme which supports them in this process).
The impact of making the most of opportunities and networks available through university
The need for students to understand and be prepared for the future of the world of work and key labour market concepts and jargon (e.g. Sustainability, Commercial Awareness, Entrepreneurial thinking, Growth mind-set, 4th industrial revolution, EDI)
The value of action planning for targeted skills development for personal career objectives
How this programme links to future workplace based CPD, a good habit to get into to actively manage your career.
What you engaged with at University and how it has helped you on your journey. This could include societies, work experience/internships or extracurricular.
Your views on sustainability in the workplace/how has your sector been affected by the Climate Emergency?  
Thoughts and experience around enterprising and growth mind-sets. 
What you think the future of work will look like and how can graduates succeed? 
Challenges you have overcome as you have built your career.