Using the Careers Service

The Careers Service is a free service for all students, staff and alumni of the University of Cambridge. The Careers Service helps you prepare for your future through their team of experienced and impartial careers advisers. Whether you’re an undergraduate in your first year or a PhD student, the Careers Service exists to support you from day one to explore your options, connect with employers and navigate the complex job market.

The Careers Service offers:

  • One-to-one appointments to support you with exploring career ideas and preparing for applications and interviews
  • Opportunities to connect with employers at Careers Fairs and events throughout the year
  • A free guide to CVs and applications, including access to CareerSet to help you build your CV
  • Access to Alumni Career Connect to explore career paths and seek advice from Cambridge graduates
  • An innovative careers platform, Handshake, to access jobs, key resources and a whole programme of events

How to navigate the Careers Service

You can learn more about how to use the Careers Service by watching the video below. You can find more videos specific to where you are in your degree from the Who are you? page.

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Getting started with the Careers Service

Using Handshake

The Careers Service uses the Handshake platform to support all students, postdocs and alumni in making the most of the Careers Service and developing your career and network.

  • Ease of access to University of Cambridge Careers Service – by web or by mobile, book appointments, browse job and opportunity postings, explore and register for events and workshops, access resources, check the status of applications and more, using Handshake's responsive design.
  • Tailored recommendations – after completing your profile, you’ll receive sector newsletters with advice and upcoming events and opportunities based on your areas of interest.
  • Interact with an online community – create a profile, network and discover new opportunities, learn more about industries and job roles to see if they are right for you, get an inside look at employers with candidate reviews, and message other users with your questions.
  • Share society opportunities and events across the Cambridge community. Student societies can create an organisation page to add their career-related events to the Handshake calendar and advertise relevant opportunities: see these instructions.

Find out more about Handshake and get started on the Careers Service website.

Students' experience

My interaction with the Careers Service

"I sent in my CV before the meeting, so we didn’t waste any time. My advisor asked me about my interests generally which didn’t expect but very grateful for. As I explained my interests, I was given examples of different career areas that I could possibly explore, many of which I hadn’t actually thought of such as working for MI5 or MI6!  We spoke about many different sectors but also careers that might not suit me because of my interests and personality. This was really good to have an idea of some potential areas I might not enjoy.
I would definitely have a chat with a career advisor again and is especially good you are completely undecided. But also, if you have idea as it helped give me a better understanding of processes might need to go through for different careers."

- first-year undergraduate student

"The person I spoke to was really lovely, open, warm. It was helpful to have her expertise regarding what the job would actually be like as job descriptions can be a bit vague. You don’t really know what it entails most of the time until you do it. With that new understanding of what the job would be, I changed my mind and applied for a job I was more interested in. So, all in all, the advice was very useful.
The adviser leading the careers session asked if there were any areas I was unsure of and she went through my application together, section by section. It was a very personalised, thorough approach. The adviser also offered practical solutions in aspects like phrasing and grammar."

- MPhil student