Delivered by The Catenian Association to help Catholic youth succeed

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EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS

(Or, properly preparing to find and get a job)

A series of 3 x one hour Workshops which will cover:

• What Employers really do want• Writing your CV(s)

Researching Potential Employers

Analysing a Job Advert

Writing a good Application Letter

Preparing for the Interview

Attending the Interview

Delivered by The Catenian Association to help Catholic youth succeed

What Employers really do want?

• A positive, “can do” attitude & willingness to follow instructions.• Reliability, dependability, & willingness to work.• Good verbal and written communication skills.• The ability to learn fast & regularly do pieces of intensive work.• A friendly approach, good manners & the ability to get on with others, a real team player.• Intelligence & the ability to think on your feet.• Imagination, creativity and use of initiative.

SHOW them you meet these 7 criteria, and they should be willing to train you in everything else.

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Delivered by The Catenian Association to help Catholic youth succeed

Human Nature

Employers are normal people like you and I, & people make friends with, hire or do business with people who they Like, Respect or Trust.

The challenge for you is to persuade them that you have the 7 essential attributes, and that they Like You.

Respect and Trust often need to be earned, and these may well take a little longer.

PEOPLE HIRE PEOPLE THEY LIKE.......it’s human nature....!

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Basic Types of CVs

Chronological• Outlining your career history in reverse date order, beginning with the most recent items first.• This usually works well for students with a good all-round mixture of education and work experience.

Skills Based• Highly-focused CVs which relate your skills and abilities to a specific job or career area by highlighting these skills and your major achievements.• Works best when your education and work experience is not directly relevant to your application.

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Every CV should have

Personal details - name and address, telephone number and email

Education

Experience

There are additional sections that you could also decide to include:

Personal statement

Skills

Hobbies and interests

References

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Writing your CV (1)

What is a CV for? Is it a list of facts about you?

OR is it your personal sales document?

Your CV should be:• Short (preferably 1P x A4, 2 at Max)

• Easy to read, visually attractive, & interesting• Free of spelling & grammar errors

• Free of slang, abbreviations & “txt spk”• NOT just a list of bare unexplained facts

It should include a short personal statement which emphasises your strengths & skills and

says something positive about yourself. Slide6

Delivered by The Catenian Association to help Catholic youth succeed

Writing your CV (2)

• You should have more than just one CV, different versions should emphasise different qualities, skills or experience that you could bring to the employer.• You need to try to match the CV you send to the requirements of the job. Edit and amend your CV to match what they need (after you’ve found out...!)• Keep it short and to the point, your CV should be on 1 page of A4 (max 2).• Try to always be interesting, and seem interested.• What makes your CV stand out from the crowd ?

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Delivered by The Catenian Association to help Catholic youth succeed

Writing your CV (3)

You should mention ALL the skills and experience you’ve got, and try to maximise the perceived benefits to the Employer of these:

• If you’ve done The Duke of Edinburgh Award, say this taught you resilience and initiative.• If you’ve (eg) been a paper boy/girl, say this taught you to be reliable, dependable and an early riser. (Mention any part-time jobs or work experience in the same positive way.)• If you’ve been on a Team at school, say (eg) that you learned to work with others, to never give up and to obey the Team captain/coach.

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5 Minute Individual Exercise

• Write down the three or four things about you that would be of most interest to an employer.

• Now put these things into a short Personal Statement which summarises what you want and why the employer should hire you.

This Personal Statement will become your own personal advertisement, and the basis of your answer to common interview questions like “Tell us something about yourself”.

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Writing your CV (4)

Focus on clarity, simplicity and economy:• Selectors often take about 6 seconds before they make an initial 'fit or no fit' decision" on a CV.• The best CVs have a lean, mean, clean, crafted look with the use of every inch of space carefully considered, so don't make your CV too busy: if in doubt, leave it out !• Use font, font size, straight lines and alignment to organise your CV to be as clear & simple as possible.• If you put absolutely everything that you think might sell you in your CV it will be less appealing than one that just focuses on your strongest selling points.

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Simplicity

• “Simple can be harder than complex: You have to work hard to get your thinking clean to make it simple. But it’s worth it in the end because once you get there, you can move mountains”. Steve Jobs, Apple• NASA spent millions of dollars developing a special pen which could write in the zero gravity environment of space. The Russians used a pencil .....

“Our life is frittered away by detail ... Simplify, Simplify”.

Henry David Thoreau, US poet & writer

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”.

Leonardo Da Vinci

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Essentials

• Your CV should have a clear visual hierarchy and no distracting visual elements. These hinder the selector’s ability to find relevant information.• Research has shown that All deviations from the formal format reduced the chances of an interview. Coloured paper had a clearly negative effect, while the “creative” format was worst of all: the same candidate had almost twice the chances of being offered an interview with a formal CV as with a “creative” one.• Whatever else you do, ALWAYS CHECK your spelling, grammar and the consistency of the information you’re providing. Illiteracy or Inconsistency = An instant NO.

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CV Group Exercise

Here are 3 different CVs (on paper).• What are the good & bad things about these ?• Which ones are interesting, and why ?• Who would you chose (as an Employer) to interview, and why ?• Briefly discuss this in groups of 2 or 3, and be ready to state (and justify) your group’s findings.

Who reads CVs ? How many each day ?

How will YOUR CV stand out and earn you an Interview ?

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What to do next

• Think what to put in your first CV, and why ?• A really useful information source is at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm• You may download today’s slides from: http://northwarwickshirecatenian.com/index.php/catenian-secondary-schools-initiative/schools-initiative-documents/ or just Google “North Warwickshire Catenian” and follow the links.• Practice putting together your first CV.• We’ll see you at the next workshop, and help if we can...!

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