Careers support
Preparing you for the job market and helping you embark on a successful career is top of our agenda in the Department of Accounting and Finance. Careers assistance is provided through a range of mechanisms:
Placements – we offer work placements at leading business organisations, turning standard three-year degrees into four-year “sandwich” programmes. In addition to providing you with valuable practical experience, work placements offer great networking opportunities and the chance to “sample” a job that interests you. (They also pay well!)
The EY Degree – our Accounting, Auditing and Finance degree (NN43), in partnership with Ernst & Young UK and the Institute for Chartered Accountants of Scotland (ICAS), is specifically designed to provide a fast-track route to qualification as a professional accountant through a mixture of university modules, on-the-job experience, and professional examinations.
Practical courses – our courses aim to provide you with practical insights into management generally, and accounting and finance in particular. For example, our second-year Auditing and Accounting Information Systems course is taught by a former KPMG audit partner, while our third-year Taxation course is taught by a professional accountant/tax consultant. Courses such as Financial Statement Analysis and Strategic Management Control use real-world case studies to help explain and illustrate theoretical concepts.
CV – a well-written and presented CV is essential if your job application is to stand any chance of progressing beyond stage one of the selection process. We therefore provide help and advice with CV writing.
Careers advice – completing application forms can be a complex and time-consuming task. The Careers Service at Lancaster provides help and advice with the application process. They also provide training in interview techniques and psychometric tests, plus advice on career opportunities.
Assessment centre training – many large organisations use assessment centres as part of their graduate recruitment programmes. These can be an intimidating proposition if you don’t know what to expect. We therefore offer training sessions in assessment centre methods led by a former partner of a leading accounting firm (with responsibility for assessment centre design).
Personal Development Plan – students are required to complete and maintain a Personal Development Plan (PDP) tracing the skills acquired and the experience gained while at Lancaster. Your PDP provides a crucial “skills library” on which to draw when applying for jobs.
