Career support

A business degree from Essex Business School can give you the knowledge and skills to work in high-profile organisations in the widest range of sectors and countries. Our undergraduate and postgraduate courses are academically stretching, but focused on solutions to real-world problems.

You can gain vital transferable employability skills, including:

• critical thinking
• creativity
• research and data analysis
• report writing
• quantitative skills
• problem solving
• leadership
• communication

All undergraduates undertake an employability module in their second year to help prepare them for the graduate jobs market so they can take advantage of opportunities at the point they’re advertised. Many of our courses are accredited by professional bodies, with some giving exemptions from professional exams.

At our Colchester Campus, our Student Engagement Teams give you the chance to develop your employability skills by applying for a range of volunteer and paid roles within the School.

You may choose to help out as a Course Rep, mentor fellow students or deliver study skills clinics as a member of our SET PALs team. SET Connect also organise events and social activities for our community of undergraduate and postgraduate students to network and have fun.

We encourage all our undergraduates to undertake an optional placement year (except those on language courses, who study abroad instead). This paid work experience gives you the chance to put your academic knowledge into practice and gain valuable skills to add to your CV.

We can offer bespoke support throughout the process of researching, applying and interviewing for placements. However, it is your responsibility to apply, prepare for and secure your own role that best suits your career aspirations. Both our Southend and Colchester Campuses are around an hour's journey from London and our Colchester home is located on the University's Knowledge Gateway, providing excellent opportunities for networking and placements.

Our students have embarked on rewarding work placements with the likes of Samsung, BMW, at top communications agencies and fast-growing SMEs. Alternatively, you may choose to study abroad for a year to experience the culture and language of another country.

In Colchester, all students can take advantage of free training to use Bloomberg, the information platform used to solve global business problems. You learn how to access and analyse live financial and business data used by leading accountants, managers and marketers worldwide.

You gain a real-world perspective on how tools such as our Bloomberg Financial Market Lab are used to make decisions in trading floors across the globe. You can gain first-hand experience of trading stocks and securities well before you graduate.

Read our Bloomberg journal to see how our students use the system.

Successful Futures is our annual careers conference for Essex Business School undergraduates in their second year. It gives you the chance to explore your future ambitions and understand what to do whilst at university to get your CV into great shape ready to secure graduate jobs.