How to make the most of the summer break

There are many ways to increase your employability during the summer break – what’s more, most of them can be great fun

While recharging your batteries with a well-earned break is important, spending three whole months relaxing could leave you disadvantaged in the jobs market and wishing that you’d done more during your university years.

Here are some ways you can greatly improve the student experience – and your personal development – by making the most of your summer…

Learn new skills

Learning relevant skills will strengthen job applications, while demonstrating motivation and enthusiasm for your career. If you’re interested in digital marketing, for example, studying HTML will be advantageous for roles that require you to manage email campaigns.

Kirsti Burton, careers information manager at Queen Mary, University of London, suggests when choosing to learn a new skill, to look at job descriptions for the roles that interest you. This will allow you to identify the specific skills and experience recruiters look for, so you can study the particular area that will impress the employers you aim to apply to , which make of the most of the  summer break

Study doesn’t just have to include taking a formal course. ‘Reading about an industry, and learning about its trends and developments, is also an excellent way of boosting your commercial awareness,’ she adds.

Generic Activities

Even generic activities – honing your academic writing style, for example – are guaranteed to boost your CV. Attending language school or teaching English as a foreign language, meanwhile, are always hugely beneficial; both develop your communication skills while clarifying your future options.

Countless local colleges and private education providers run short courses during the summer months, either face-to-face or online. ‘

These don’t just aid your personal and professional development; they also provide invaluable networking opportunities,’ explains Isabel Frazer, deputy head of careers and employability at King’s College London.

‘Many jobs or internships aren’t advertised formally, so expanding your networks can help you to discover hidden openings.’