Getting work has changed. In 2025, UK graduate employers received an average of 140 applications for every vacancy, the highest since the Institute of Student Employers began counting in 1991, and its members' graduate hiring fell by 8% in 2024/25 (ISE Student Recruitment Survey, 2025). AI tools make applying quick, so many people apply for more roles; employers respond with software to sort applications and online tests to screen people before anyone reads a CV. Some now hire on evidence of skills rather than qualifications alone. Careers have widened too: apprenticeships, hybrid work, short contracts and portfolio careers (several pieces of work at once) are all normal. Career development is less a decision you make once than a skill you keep using.

Careers educators map that skill with DOTS (Law and Watts, 1977). Self-awareness: knowing what you offer and what you want. Opportunity awareness: knowing what is out there and what it needs. Decision-making: weighing the two and choosing a next step. Transition learning: making the move: finding, applying for and securing an opportunity. Sheffield Hallam University's Career Management Skills framework (2012) uses its four themes in its own words (self-awareness, opportunity awareness, action planning and job seeking), and the AGCAS Careers Education Benchmark Statement (2005), a reference point for UK universities, groups its learning outcomes under them. The Career Development Institute's Career Development Framework (2021) describes the same lifelong skill in six areas.

This module follows DOTS: Self in Lesson 1.2, Opportunities in Lesson 1.3, Decisions in the fit you judge and the actions you set there, and Transitions from Lesson 1.4 to Lesson 1.6.

One tool holds it together: Andrew Hirst's Career Planning Canvas (first published as the Job Search Canvas, adapted from Osterwalder's Value Proposition Canvas). The square is the employer: its organisational goals (what it is trying to achieve), the workplace (what it is like to work there) and the job specification (what the role needs). The circle is you: your employability components (the eight components of Andrew Hirst's Employability Success Framework, in Lesson 1.2), your role skills and experiences (the evidence you can tell as stories) and your ambitions and purpose (what you want from work). Between them sits fit: where what you offer meets what they need, and where it doesn't yet.

That is DOTS on one page. Self and Opportunities sit side by side, so you can't think about one without the other, and FIT makes the Decision visible: why a role suits you, or what you'd need to do first. Most people start with the square, bending themselves to match adverts. The canvas starts with your purpose, so the roles you chase are ones you want, then looks hard at the employer before you write a word.

Employers say self-awareness is what graduates most often lack: in the Institute of Student Employers' 2025 Student Development Survey, 54% of employers said graduates fell short on it. Many people underplay what they can do, and most lists of "employability skills" never say what good looks like.

Andrew Hirst built his Employability Success Framework at Sheffield Hallam University (2015–2018) to fix that. Its eight employability components each have basic behaviours (what any applicant should show) and strive-to-achieve behaviours (what stands out). In brief, updated for 2026:

Communication skills: basic, speaking clearly and writing professional emails and reports, including on video calls; striving, explaining complex material engagingly and persuading. Teamwork: basic, finishing your tasks to deadline and respecting others' views; striving, listening, recognising others' contributions and building team spirit. Leadership and management: basic, deciding with confidence and prioritising; striving, coordinating a group, setting expectations and resolving conflict. Problem solving and creativity: basic, working systematically and testing ideas; striving, defining the real problem and combining old and new ideas. Professionalism: basic, being punctual, reliable and honest and acting on feedback; striving, working to a high standard and delivering what you promise. IT and numeracy: basic, office software, online collaboration tools, reading tables and charts, and using AI tools responsibly, checking what they produce; striving, interpreting data and explaining what it shows. Self-management: basic, planning your time and reviewing progress; striving, knowing your strengths and weaknesses and learning from mistakes. Passion and drive: basic, aiming to do your best and using pressure positively; striving, persistence, energy and exceeding expectations.

Know a skill (something you learn and practise) from a strength (something you do well that energises you), and name your values: what matters to you about work, such as fairness or security.

For each component, give yourself a level, basic, strive or not yet, and attach your best example: where, when and what you did. "I'm a good communicator" says nothing until it is tied to a moment, and moments hide in paid and unpaid work, study, caring, volunteering and clubs.

Career Poker helps you find them. Andrew Hirst's Career Poker cards each name a kind of experience, from a part-time job to a dissertation. You pick out the cards you've done, play each one against the eight components, and see which cards prove the most and which components no card covers yet.

A not yet is useful. The conscious competence model, usually traced to Martin Broadwell (1969) and often wrongly credited to Abraham Maslow, describes four stages of learning a skill, from not knowing what you can't do to doing it without thinking. Its second stage, seeing the gap, matters most: a gap you can name is a gap you can close.

The circle shows what you offer; now look at the square. Before you apply, you need to understand what the employer is trying to achieve, what it is like to work there and exactly what this role requires. Applications that skip this step are generic, and with so many applications per vacancy, generic ones rarely get through.

Start broad with labour market information: facts about jobs, sectors, skills, pay and demand. Useful sources include job adverts themselves (read twenty in your field and note what keeps coming up), sector and professional body reports, government and official statistics, graduate careers sites, and conversations with people who do the job. Labour market information tells you whether a direction is growing, what it pays and which skills are scarce, and it keeps your ambitions realistic without shrinking them.

Then narrow to one organisation. Its organisational goals appear in its annual report, website, recent news and leaders' interviews: is it growing, cutting costs, launching something new? The workplace shows in how it describes its culture, its ways of working (office, hybrid or remote), its employee reviews and what current staff say on LinkedIn. Both help you explain why you want this job, which interviewers ask about often.

Then read the job specification line by line. Most adverts separate essential criteria, which you must show to be considered, from desirable ones, which make you stronger. Copy each criterion into a list. Most criteria map onto one or more of the eight employability components from Lesson 1.2, which helps you see which of your examples to use.

Now compare the square with the circle in a skills gap analysis. For each criterion, write your best evidence. Where the evidence is strong, you have a match. Where it is thin or missing, you have a gap. Gaps are normal: they are a list of things to do. Gaps close through experience you can create, such as a placement or internship, volunteering, a project for a local organisation, a role in a society or club, a short course, or taking on a new task in your current job. Employers value this kind of extracurricular evidence because it shows initiative as well as the skill itself.

This is where the D in DOTS happens. With matches and gaps side by side, you decide: apply now, close a gap first, or look for a role that fits better. Turn each important gap into a SMART action: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. "Get better with data" is a wish. "Complete a free online spreadsheet course and use it to take over and rebuild the hiking society's membership spreadsheet by 30 November" is an action someone can check.

Most interviews include competency-based questions, which ask for a past example: "Tell me about a time when you worked under pressure." Interviewers ask about the past because what you have done is a better guide to what you will do than what you say you would do. Without a structure, answers to these questions wander, skip the important part or end with "and it went fine".

STAR gives the answer a shape. Situation sets the scene: where and when, in a sentence or two. Task is the challenge: what needed to be done, and why it mattered. Action is what you did, step by step, and how. Result is the outcome and its benefit to others, ideally with a number or a concrete change, plus what you learned. The Action is the heart of the story and should take at least half of it. Tell it in "I", not "we": the interviewer is hiring you, not your group. If the result was mixed, say so and say what you would do differently; honest learning is still evidence.

A reliable way to build a story has three steps. First, choose a relevant achievement that proves a criterion from your job specification. Second, brainstorm or mind-map what happened under each STAR heading. Third, write a short summary for each heading, using strong action words such as organised, devised, negotiated or analysed rather than "was involved in" or "had to".

PAR (Problem, Action, Result), and its close cousin CAR (Circumstance, Action, Result), are short forms of STAR. They suit CVs, and they are especially useful when one job or project gives you several examples, because each can become its own line. To turn a story into a CV line, pick a few action words that describe what you did, build one tight sentence for each part, then read them together and edit for flow until you have three or four brief sentences, or a single line for a CV.

Some employers, especially large graduate recruiters, also use strengths-based questions: "What do you enjoy doing most?", "What energises you?", "When do you feel at your best?" These look for what you do well naturally and enjoy, so a rehearsed STAR story can sound flat. Answer them honestly and briefly, then give a quick example. Your values and strengths from Lesson 1.2 are the raw material.

Build a small bank of stories rather than one per question, starting from your strongest Career Poker cards in Lesson 1.2. Three or four strong, different stories can answer most competency questions if you choose the right angle on each.

Your CV has two readers, and it usually meets the less patient one first. Many employers use an applicant tracking system (ATS): software that collects applications and helps recruiters sort and search them. Text boxes, tables and graphics can confuse it; a single-column layout with standard headings (Profile, Education, Experience, Skills) suits software and people. Where the advert's own words truly describe what you have done, use them: "stakeholder management", not a synonym. Never add words you can't back up.

The human reader is quick. In TheLadders' 2018 eye-tracking study, recruiters spent an average of 7.4 seconds on a CV's first screen before deciding whether to read on, looking at job titles most. It measures a first keep-or-reject glance, so make the top third count.

The biggest improvement most CVs need is from duties to achievements. "Responsible for social media" describes the job; a PAR line starting with an action word says what you did and what changed. Include a number where you can: people served, time saved, money raised.

At the top, a personal statement (or profile) of 60–80 words says who you are, what you offer and what you want, aimed at one role. Rewrite it for each application.

UK CVs usually leave out a photo (except for acting or modelling), date of birth, marital status and nationality; age is a protected characteristic under the Equality Act 2010. Add your right to work in the UK if it might be questioned, and check conventions before applying abroad.

Many employers also want a covering letter. Andrew Hirst's covering-letter tips keep it to three paragraphs. The first sparks interest: something you know about the organisation and why this job appeals, don't open with "Please find enclosed my CV". The second gives your key strengths and why they matter for this role, with one specific detail. The third is a polite call to action: restate your strengths and ask to discuss the role at interview. Keep every sentence to 14 words or fewer. Write the middle paragraph first, because it's the hardest; once it's good you can reuse it, adjusting it to each advert. Address the letter to a named person if you can, and get someone else to proofread it.

A LinkedIn profile is often the second thing an employer checks. Its headline should say what you do or want to do, not just "Student"; its About section can adapt your personal statement in a warmer voice.

AI tools can help you draft and check, and many employers accept that. The rule: every claim must be true, and you must be able to explain it at interview. A polished application you can't talk about will fail at the first question.

Selection has more stages than it used to, and some happen without a person in the room. Depending on the employer you may meet an online application form, online tests, a recorded video interview, a live interview by video or in person, and an assessment centre with group exercises, a presentation and further interviews. Tests vary: numerical and verbal reasoning, diagrammatic or logical reasoning, and situational judgement tests, which show you workplace scenarios and ask how you would respond. They reward practice: most test publishers and university careers services offer free practice tests, and doing a few under timed conditions makes the format familiar so your nerves don't take over.

In a recorded video interview, questions appear on screen and you have a set time to prepare and answer. Treat it like a live interview: look at the camera, keep answers structured and use your STAR stories. Check your camera, sound, light and background beforehand.

Almost every interview opens with some version of "tell me about yourself", and it's worth preparing a 60-second introduction. A simple shape: who you are now, two pieces of evidence that matter for this role, and why you want this role at this organisation. End by handing back to the listener. The same introduction, adjusted, works at a careers fair, at a networking event and in a recorded interview.

Next, predict the questions. Take each essential criterion from your job specification and write the question an interviewer would ask about it, then map each question to a story from your bank. Add the questions you are sure to meet: why this role, why us, a strength, a weakness, and your own questions for them.

First impressions and nerves matter, but they're manageable. Arrive or log in early, greet people warmly, speak a little slower than feels natural, and pause before answering; a few seconds' thought reads as care, not hesitation. Nerves are normal and usually invisible to the interviewer. Preparation is the best cure.

Finally, networking. It is building relationships with people in the field you want to join, not asking strangers for jobs. Start with people you already know, then alumni, people you meet at events and people whose work you admire on LinkedIn. Ask about their work, listen, and follow up with thanks or something useful. Many opportunities are never advertised, and the people who hear about them are the people others remember.