"I'll worry about that later." It's the single most common thing I hear from students about their career, whatever year they're in. There's always a reason later makes more sense: exams are closer, deadlines are closer, "later" feels like it'll come with more clarity than right now does. It won't. Later usually just means less time.

September is different.

New notebooks, new timetables, a fresh sense that this year's going to be different. Most students channel that energy into modules, societies, maybe a gym membership that lasts until October. Almost nobody channels it into their career, and that's the gap this piece is about closing.

When to start job searching (and why it isn't final year)

January feels like the obvious reset point. New year, new you. But by January you're mid-exam-season, running on four hours of sleep and instant noodles, and "career planning" is competing with actual deadlines. It loses every time.

Final year is worse. By then you're not planning, you're panicking. You've got a dissertation, a part-time job, and a graduation date bearing down on you, and suddenly everyone's asking what you're doing next. From where I sit on the hiring side, I can always tell the difference between a candidate who started thinking about this in September of their first or second year, and one who started in March of their final one. It's not about talent. It's about runway.

September works because it's the one point in the year where you've got both time and momentum. You're not in crisis mode. You've just proven to yourself you can start something new. That's exactly the energy you need to start building career-readiness, whatever year you're in.

Career planning for university students, whatever year you're in

This isn't about having a five-year plan by Friday. It looks different depending on where you are:

If you are in your First Year:

This is where most first year career advice gets ignored, because it feels too early to matter. It isn't. Get curious. Talk to people doing jobs that sound interesting. Say yes to a society or two that's adjacent to a career, not just a hobby.

If you are in your Second Year:

Start building evidence. A part-time role, a project, a placement application. Anything that gives you something real to talk about later.

If you are in your Final Year

This is where structure earns its keep. CV/résumé, LinkedIn, interview prep, all pulling in the same direction, not thrown together in the last six weeks.

None of it needs to be dramatic. It just needs to start now instead of later.

The cost of waiting

I've watched this pattern play out across the founding cohort of Get The Job You Want – Graduate Edition, the course I built from thirty years on the hiring side of the table. The biggest shift isn't in their CVs/résumés. It's in how they think. As one graduate put it after working through it:

"My approach to job searching has changed significantly. I have stopped applying to every job posting I come across and now apply with more direction, focus, and clarity, targeting roles that align with my skills and career goals." — Success Nechipote

That shift, from scattergun to targeted, is exactly what an earlier start buys you. It's not just one person's experience either: in the founding cohort's final survey, all 15 respondents rated the course practical and immediately applicable, full marks across the board. Structure and clarity aren't abstract ideas. They're the difference between applying to fifty jobs and hearing nothing, and applying to ten with a real shot.

Small steps to take this month

You don't need a plan. You need a start. This month, try:

• Step 1: Book one honest conversation with someone doing a job you're curious about

• Step 2: Update your LinkedIn headline so it says something real about you, not just your degree

• Step 3: Write down three things you actually want from a job, beyond "a job"

• Step 4: Look at one course, workshop, or resource that could give you structure before final year does it for you.

Brilliant career planning doesn't start with certainty. It starts with September. (And if you're a parent reading this on behalf of someone who won't, forwarding it on is a decent first move.)

Join the waitlist

If you want a proper head start rather than a scramble later, Get The Job You Want – Graduate Edition is built for exactly that. The course launches this month and covers exactly that ground: direction, market understanding, CVs, interviews, all of it. You can find it at grads.gethiredexpert.com.