Global Skills AwardManaging your Career

Careers and Employability Service

Nicola Urquhart

Careers Adviser

What we will cover:

• Choosing a career

• What are employers looking for?

• Using social media

• Break

• Where are the jobs?

• Making applications

• How the Careers and Employability Service can help you

• Action points

What is a career?

• Not necessarily a linear, planned sequence of events

• Career choice is not an event or occasion

• Career choice is a process

Why is choosing a career so difficult?

ALL JOBS

which match your goals, needs & values

& require your skills, qualities & qualifications

in the desired location

where there are prospects for the future

What are the options?

• Employment with training

• Employment with study

• Academic study

• Vocational study

• Time out/travel

Employment option examples

Advertising

Armed Forces

Arts Administration

Broadcasting

Central & Local Government

Computing/IT

Finance

Fire Service

Guidance/Counselling

Info Management/Museums

Journalism

Law

Marketing/Sales

Management Consultancy

NHS Management

Personnel

Police

Production Management

Public Relations

Publishing

Purchasing

Retail

Self-employment

Social Work

TEFL

Teaching

Tourism

Transport

Jobs directly related to subject

Jobs that are not directly related to your subject

Many employers value the skills you have gained more than the subject

What subject did they study at university?

                   

How to make a career decision

Two alternative starting points

• Start from yourself and work out

• Start from your opportunities and work back

• Or, combine the two!

Activity 1

• In your groups write down values and motivations which could affect your career choice.

Values and motivations

• To have autonomy and define your own priorities and schedules

• To be challenged and have new problems to solve

• To work in a role that supports your personal life

• To have power and influence

• To have security and predictability

• To be a catalyst for change

• To use creativity and self expression

• To be recognised as an expert

• To work in accordance with personal, spiritual or ethical ideas

• To have social status as a result of your job

Personality

• Energetic

• Resilient

• Creative

• Risk taking

• Relaxed

• hPersistent

• Co-operative

• Sensitive

How can you identify your skills/what you would enjoy in a job?• Previous employment

• Work experience/shadowing

• Internships

• Insight days

• Study

• Extra-curricular activities

• Careers Employability Award

• Career questionnaires

• Talk to people about their jobs vacation/part-time work

Career Questionnaires (p13)

• Identify what you want out of a job; generate new job ideas and check out your existing ones.

• Find out what motivates you in a job; identify your skills and what you can offer to the job/employer.

• See how these match the jobs you are considering.

• Research your chosen jobs in more detail, compare your options and decide on the right choices for you

Researching CareersProspects/Careers and Employability Service websites

• Overview of the sector

• Job descriptions

• Salary and conditions

• Entry requirements

• Training

• Career development

• Employers and vacancy sources

• Related jobs

So much information!

How can you keep track of your research?

• MyFolio

• Kent Union Employability Toolkit

• Your own careers notebook/mindmap

• http://www.careerplayer.com/tips-and-advice/general-advice/start-your-career-hunt

What if I’m still stuck?

• Make the most of opportunities (planned happenstance)

• Think about it little and often

• Make an appointment to speak to a careers adviser

Some tips on choosing a career (p.13)

• Get to know yourself, your employability skills, values, personal qualities etc

• Talk to others but make your own decision

• Do the research

• Keep an open mind - Stereotyped pictures of jobs are rarely accurate

• Use the Careers and Employability Service

• Start NOW!

Once career choice has been made

• Research employers/courses

• Make contacts

• Begin to plan

Global Skills Award What are employers looking for?

Careers and Employability Service

What is Employability?

‘A set of attributes, skills and knowledge that all labour market participants should possess to ensure they have the capability of being effective in the workplace – to the benefit of themselves, their employer and the wider economy.’ (CBI, March 2009)

Changing world of work:

• Global economy

• More career changes

• Roles change

• New technology/social media

• Changes to graduate recruitment

Changes to graduate recruitment

Employers increasingly focusing on attributes in addition to traditional employability skills

Successful candidates need to be able to demonstrate these attributes on their applications and articulate them at interview

Your postgraduate qualification can help you to do this!

Activity 2

• In your groups write down the common skills and attributes that employers ask for.

Skills and attributes that graduate recruiters are looking for?

Communication

Report writing

Team working

Leadership

Planning and organisation

Project management

Enterprise

Problem Solving

Reflection

Adaptability

Energy

Drive and resilience

Integrity

Reliability

Enthusiasm/passion

Self awareness

Confidence

Contextual/cultural awareness

Capacity to develop

NumeracyPositive attitude

Business and customer awareness

IT skills

Adaptability

Maturity

What skills and attributes do employers want? (p.9)

Transferrable skills

• Communication (oral, written)

• Negotiation

• Team working

• Planning and organisation

• Time management

• Leadership

• Problem solving

Attributes

• Integrity

• Adaptability

• Energy

• Drive and resilience

• Reliability

• Enthusiasm and passion

• Self awareness and confidence

Global Skills ‘Using Social Media’

Careers and Employability Service

Social media

• Social Media: “an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos, and audio.” www.wikipedia.org

• Enabling conversations

• Facilitating discussions

Why should you be using social media?

• Enables you to build links and to learn about an industry and potential employers (commercial awareness)

• Control what employers see when they ‘google’ you

• Some employers will expect you be using it e.g. the media, advertising, publishing and many more.

• Can provide you with an excellent platform to showcase your knowledge and interest in a career area

• Information comes to you

• Allows you to make an impression (good and bad)

What is ?

• Professional / business social networking site (launched 2003)

• Over 100 million users in over 200 countries

• Over 5 million users in the UK (March 2011)

• http://learn.linkedin.com/students/step-1/

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSdXxUx2UhM&feature=relmfu

Why use LinkedIn?

• Explore career ideas

• Find out about an employer and their competition

• Develop commercial awareness

• Professional networking

• Opportunity to join groups

• For self marketing and increasing your visibility

• Asking for advice

• Staying in touch/reconnecting

Your LinkedIn Profile

• Setting up a profile go to www.linkedin.com and enter your details.

• Be sure to include:

Profile photo

Profile summary/ Professional headline

Education details

Details of current and past job roles/volunteering/ internships etc

•“You are 40 times more likely to receive connections if your profile is 100% complete” Denise

Taylor ‘How to Use LinkedIn to find a new job”

Useful information

Training Videos: www.learn.linkedin.com www.learn.linkedin.com/students - 6 step video to

success

New Users Starter Guide http://learn.linkedin.com/new-users/

Webinars: http://learn.linkedin.com/training/

What is

• Twitter is a form of micro-blogging

• Twitter gives you 140 characters per ‘tweet’ to

say what’s on your mind

• You can follow people/companies/ recruiters

who interest you.

• Gather an audience

Twitter

• Twitter gives you 140 characters per ‘tweet’ to say what’s on your mind

• Twitter is a form of micro-blogging

• Follow people/companies/ recruiters who interest you.

• Make your posts relevant to companies who might be viewing your profile.

• Learn how to use #

View, Master, Slide Master to change this text to the title of your presentationPage 39

Example Tweets

Ideas on who to follow:

• Companies/employers you are interested in working for

• Industry experts/bloggers

• Professional networks and industry/professional publications

• Job sites and job boards

• Recruiters / head-hunters / HR personnel who are hiring for the roles you're targeting

• @unikentemploy

What is Blogging?

A personal diary, your memo to the world – a website you update on a regular basis

Opportunity to ‘critique’ and to share a point of view on a variety of topic

Some platforms to consider

Linkedin

• Increase your awareness of the sector, link with potential recruiters

• Discover career trajectories

Twitter

• Follow recruiters

• Contribute to discussions

Blogging

• Demonstrate your commitment, business knowledge and passion

• Showcase your talent

Facebook

• Look at your Facebook account, change your privacy settings if needed

• ‘Like’ organisations you are interested in working for, Civil Service Fast Stream, NHS Graduate Management Scheme for example

• Opportunity to ask recruiters questions

Break

Global Skills AwardWhere are the jobs ?

Careers and Employability Service

What do postgraduates do? (p.3)

• “The vast majority of postgraduates enter employment at the end of their studies.”

• “Both doctoral and Masters degree graduates have a lower level of unemployment than Bachelors degree graduates and are more likely to be employed in a professional role”

Where to look for vacancies (p.15)

• Check job vacancies to find out about the types of roles being advertised

www.prospects.ac.uk

www.milkround.com

www.targetjobs.co.uk

www.kent.ac.uk/ces

• Graduate directories

• Careers and Employability Fairs

• Employers brochures

• Specialist publications

Recruitment Agencieswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/recruit.htm

• FASHION - George Ellis Recruitment

• MUSIC - Handle Recruitment

• ACCOUNTANCY - Hays Accountancy Personnel

• SECRETARIAL - Nice People Employment Bureau

• STOCKBROKING - Citifocus Ltd

Online sources

• Institute of Practitioners in Advertising www.ipa.co.uk/

• Chartered Institute of Marketing www.cim.co.uk

• Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development

www.cipd.co.uk/

• Guardian vacancies www.jobs.guardian.co.uk/

Example graduate Scheme (Asda)

• Finance

• Human Resources

• IT

• Logistics

• Marketing

• Property

• Purchasing

• Retailing

Example Graduate scheme (Bloomberg )

• Finance

• IT

• Media

• Sales

Example graduate scheme: DIFD

• Engineering

• Finance

• General Management

• IT

• Purchasing

• Research and Development

Others…

• European commission

• Loreal

• Lidl

• Mars

• Civil Service

• NHS

• Rolls-Royce

• Sainsbury’s

• Savills

• Sky

• Teach First

• National Audit Office

• MI5

• Publicis UK

• IMG Media Ltd

• Vocus

• Accenture

• The Co-operative

• Redrow

• Smith & Williamson

GRADUATE SALARIES 2012 Arcadia – retail management £18,500 - £23,000 Boots - brand/buying/marketing grad scheme £24,000 + £1k welcome! Barclays Bank - future leaders development programme £36k (+£8k

bonus!) Civil Service - up to £27,000 Explore Learning - education management £21,000 Exxon Mobil - graduate schemes £34,000 FiveTen Group - recruitment £20-£25k GCHQ - defence research £25,000 (+ benefits) IBM - range of schemes £27,000 - £32,000 Jaguar Land Rover - purchasing grad scheme £27k John Lewis - buying/retail management/merchandising graduate schemes

£25,000 L’Oreal - management training scheme £28,000 McDonald’s - trainee business manager £18,500-21,500 MI5 - £24,750 + benefits - varies by function! Motability - £28,500 (+ joining bonus!) Slaughter & May - training contract £38,000 Waitrose - retail management £25,000

Not all jobs are advertised : the hidden job market

Speculative applications

• Produce a professional, graduate level CV

• Identify companies/contacts to approach

• Prepare a suitable covering letter

• Make phone contacts to find out who to send your cv to and get their e mail address

• ALWAYS follow up

• Use a combination of approaches

• If producing a creative CV, get the content right before focusing on the design

• Be persistent!

Global Skills AwardMaking Applications

Careers and Employability Service

What employers say…

"Few students are able to articulate what they have gained from their experience in higher education." (Association of Graduate Recruiters, 1995)

What is the purpose of a CV?

• To inform the employer about your education, work experience, skills and interests

• To show how you meet the criteria so the employer can not deselect you

• To ‘sell’ your qualities and to persuade the employer to invite you to interview

Producing a CV

Matching up your CV with the position/company

• It is not ‘one size fits all’, you need to tailor your CV to each position you apply for.

• Research the organisation. Do they have a mission statement or core values? What will they be looking for in you? Who works there at the moment? What are they passionate about?

What makes an effective CV and covering letter

• Right format

• Well presented

• Proof read/consistent tenses

• You have included all the necessary information

• Your skills and abilities are clearly evidenced

• Conveyed your understanding and enthusiasm for the job

• Targeted it to the job

What does it need to contain? (p.18) • Personal details

• Education and qualifications

• Work experience

• Skills

• Interests and additional information

• References

Activity 3

• In your groups write down the types of headings you could include.

However don’t be constrained by headings.

• Languages

• Scholarships/Awards

• Voluntary work

• Relevant experience

• Positions of responsibility

• Publication/Presentations

• Conferences attended

• Research skills

• Additional skills

Hints on wording• Avoid personal pronouns -

No “I’s”

• Avoid producing a passive CV

• Start with verbs wherever possible

• Use short sentences & concise phrases

• Focus on accomplishments

• Refer to specific projects with quantifiable results

• Try to incorporate wording used in that sector

Make use of Action Verbs

created instructed analysed produced

negotiated designed calculated maintained

administered controlled reviewed observed

consolidated delivered founded increased

studied invented supplied detected

programmed recommended distributed

developed solved prepared installed selected

arranged formulated solved started

Global Skills Award How can the Careers and Employability Service help

Careers and Employability Service

How the Careers and Employability Service can help you.

What we do

• Careers Talks and Workshops

• Careers Library: Employer Directories, Occupational Profiles, Books etc

• Comprehensive Web Pages

• Careers Employability Award (CEM) on Moodle

• Vacancy Database

• Alumni Careers Network

• Annual Careers and Recruitment Fair

• Drop In - Quick Query

• Careers Guidance Interviews

Careers and Employability Service Web Site: www.kent.ac.uk/ces

Careers and Employability Service Web Pages

• I want to work in …. http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/siteach.htm

• What can I do with my degree in … http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/drama.htm

• How to create a portfolio http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/portfolios.htm

• Interview Reports http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/ivreps/ivrepsmenu.htm

• Interviews (includes assessment centres and psychometric tests etc.) www.kent.ac.uk/careers/applicn.htm

• Example CVs & Covering Letterswww.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/cvexamples.htm

• Spelling and punctuation http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tests/spelling.htm

Careers Employability Award

www.kent.ac.uk/careers/moodle.htm

The module takes about 12 hours to complete

But this can be done at your own pace

You do this by completing:

9 quizzes

3 short assignments

1 feedback form

• “I liked the fact that the assignments relate to how you would fill in answers on a graduate job application step by step and provides examples of how to fill it in.”

• “I really enjoyed the quizzes. They effectively highlighted the gaps in my knowledge, as many of the answers surprised me. I also found the module on creating my own CV very useful, these skills will be invaluable for tailoring my CV to particular jobs.”

• “There is a wealth of information about everything; I especially liked the individual information about specific job types and the advice given about interview skills.”

Comments from students who have completed the award.

Attend Careers Talks and Workshops.

• How to make effective presentations

• Commercial awareness

• Postgraduate study

• Summer Internships

• More information available http://www.kent.ac.uk/ces/events/

Employers visiting campus Examples this term include:

• MBDA

• Bloomberg

• RAF

• Teach First

• Majestic Wine

• NHS

• PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Vacancy Database

• All vacancies sent to the Careers and Employability Service by employers, whether for graduate jobs, sandwich placements or vacation work/internships are entered on this database which offers:

• Email alerts of new vacancies which may interest you

• Employers notifying vacancies are often specifically targeting Kent graduates, so competition for jobs is lower than on other vacancy sites www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/index.htm

Kent Grads

• KentGrads - database of companies in Kent who employ graduates, and who may, from time to time, have vacancies. It is not a list of current vacancies, but a resource to help you find possible employers.

• The site can list all the companies in the database grouped in one of a number of ways:

• by location in Kent , by the criteria you specify or by keywords. For example: if you can remember the surname of a particular contact at a company, but are unsure of the company name.

Careers Network

• Helps current students gain an insight into careers through contact with alumni.

• Information and advice by letter/phone/email, work-shadowing. 

• Visit the Careers Centre and ask to use the Careers Network.

Speak to an adviser:

• Quick query, drop in and speak to an adviser 10.30am -12.30pm and 2.00pm-4pm Monday to Friday.

• E mail @careerhelp and an adviser will respond to your query.

• You can also book a longer career guidance appointment over the phone or pop in.

Action points

• Spend time planning your career

• See career planning as a lifelong skill

• Start now – don’t leave it until the last minute!

• Google yourself

• Learn how to network

• Try to get some relevant experience

• Produce a professional CV

• Make use of the Careers and Employability Service

You can access a copy of these slides at:www.kent.ac.uk/careers/slides.htm

Careers and Employability Service

Nicola Urquhart

Careers Adviser