Sectors
Yes, yes, it’s a dirty word
I know. Unfortunately, unless you win the jackpot on the lottery
then you will probably need to join the rest of the population
and get a job. Depending on what year you’re in at university,
you may or may not have started thinking about where you are
going to end-up work wise. Or maybe you are in your final
year and the panic has started to kick-in? Well, there’s
no need to panic because help is at hand.
The first thing to do is to start
thinking about what you want to do – but remember, this
isn’t set in stone and you can always change your career
path further down the line, many people do! It may be that
you don’t want to get into a career just yet and you
simply want to work anywhere that allows you to save a few
pennies for travelling, your own house or simply to keep your
options open. Whatever it is you want to do, there is always
help and advice out there for you.
Below are a few different sectors
that you may want to think about:
Advertising, Marketing &
Public Relations (PR)
If you do a generic job search
for graduate roles you will probably find quite a few results
in this sector. Advertising, marketing and PR, by their very
nature will always be thriving sectors. Huge, multi-million
pound companies are willing to spend a lot of their money
on these sectors as it generally makes them even more millions
of pounds. Advertising can be creative, fun and fast-paced.
You would essentially be responsible for selling products
through your ideas and vision. However, be prepared to work
your way up from the bottom and to do some serious hard graft
– this is an extremely competitive corner of the jobs
market. PR basically involves connecting the public (the customer)
with the product or company and portraying it in a good light.
You will be responsible for the reputation of the company
that you are representing. Marketing is similar in that your
aim is to connect a product to its consumer but you may be
involved with more direct means of doing so. A large part
of marketing is research – this involves finding out
exactly who your market is.
Creative Media
The boundaries of what is actually
counted as creative media are expanding everyday. Generally
when we talk about the ‘media industries’ we refer
to TV, film, animation, radio and journalism. These all sound
like glamorous industries to work in as you may think you
get to mix with the rich and famous. The reality of these
media is usually something quite different. Although it is
true that some people working in these industries will live
quite glamorous lives and rub shoulders with celebrities,
there is so much more involved. Firstly, the creative media
industries are extremely competitive and you will have to
be prepared to put in some hard graft for a long time before
you move on up the ladder (this probably means making tea).
The benefit to the creative industries is the variety of work
that you can be involved in. You could be anything from a
runner to a presenter, a researcher to a scriptwriter, an
editor to a cameraman or perhaps you could even become the
controller of the BBC! Many people who work in these industries
will have a relevant degree. However, you will also find that
a lot of the top dogs in the creative industries would have
got to where they are from volunteering at radio stations,
TV studios, newspapers etc – yes, this does mean that
you might have to be prepared to work for free for a while!
Education
The one thing that you can rely
on is that people will always need educating. The government
dedicates a lot of their budget to education and the people
working within it. The education sector is very broad and
if you choose to follow this route, the possibilities are
endless. You could become a primary teacher, secondary teacher,
further education teacher, university lecturer, special needs
teacher, private teacher, a teacher to inmates in a prison
or someone who contributes to the daily running of an educational
establishment. Depending on what role you would like to work
as, you may have to get certain qualifications such as a PGCE
(Postgraduate Certificate in Education). If you are planning
on working with children, you will also be required to have
a CRB clearance certificate that basically states that you
are suitable to work with children. Working in education can
be hard work but can also be very rewarding.
Food & Drink
The food and drink sectors are
huge. All you need to do is walk down the high street and
you will see restaurants, bars, cafes, market stalls and supermarkets.
Finding work as a waiter/waitress, barman, till person etc
can be quite easy due to the demand. This kind of work may
not be the most challenging for someone who is a recent graduate
but you will meet lots of people and gain some valuable social
experience. Many people who are still undecided about what
they want to do as a career choose to work in the food and
drink sectors to keep the pennies rolling in.
Sport & Leisure
If you enjoy being outside and
keeping fit or equally enjoy motivating others to get involved
in sport then working in this industry might be for you. The
sport industries are a great way to turn your enthusiasm for
sport into a full-time career. You could work as a fitness
instructor in a gym, a nutritionist, a sports coach or even
behind the scenes in sales and marketing. You could also work
in sports development; for example, you could work for a local
council helping to bring sport into the daily lives of the
community. If you decide to enter the leisure industry, your
job could simply be ensuring people have fun – ok, well
probably not quite as simple as that but if you have a flare
for people and great organisational skills then you could
work in events management, manage a casino or even run a theme
park!
The above lists of employment
sectors are by far not a complete list. They are simply
an introduction to what is out there waiting for you when
you leave the comfortable nest otherwise known as university.
There’s plenty of help and advice out there so there
is no need to get yourself into a pickle about careers, jobs,
money and all the other stuff that students tend to worry
about.
Your
CV
Y ou’ve
seen the websites preaching “You’re CV can make
or break you”, “a bad CV makes a bad candidate”
and so on. That’s all you need right? Another thing
to worry about!
It’s true that your CV can
be quite important, as it is usually the first impression
a potential employee will have of you. However, it is not
worth pulling your hair out over (assuming of course you still
have some). Take a deep breath and follow our steps to creating
a great looking, informative CV:
The Hovering Fingers
You know you need to write your
CV, you get your laptop out, you are ready to type something
and…you get a phone call, an email or a knock at the
door…well, switch your phone off, disconnect your internet
and ignore the door – you’re doing your CV whether
you like it or not! It’s too easy to say ”tomorrow,
tomorrow” but you may miss your dream job with this
attitude – get on with it!
Target Your CV
It’s probably not a good
idea to write just one generic CV and send it to everyone.
Think about the specific industry you are applying for or
even the specific job and tailor make your CV to fit. If you
are applying to become a sports coach, then don’t write
about how you like to stay indoors and sit at desks. Research
the job carefully and write your CV appropriately.
Sell Yourself
Many people find it difficult
to big themselves up and if you’re one of them, then
it’s time you got over it. CVs are like an advert for
a product, except you are the product. You need to draw people’s
attention, keep their attention and impress them to the end.
You can do this not only through your skills and experience
but also by the way in which you word your CV and where you
choose to put those words. Try starting with an introduction
to you – sum up your positive qualities and your valuable
experience in this first paragraph so that the reader wants
to find out more.
Get Your Dates Right
You don’t have to list every
single job you have ever worked on your CV – especially
if you have done hundreds of jobs that have little or no relevance
to the job you are applying for. Concentrate on the experience
you have that is relevant and emphasise your involvement
in these jobs. Have a look at the requirements of the job
you are applying for and see if you can match them in your
CV – if you can tick most of the boxes that the employer
is looking for, then why wouldn’t they give you an interview?
You should list all of your education qualifications starting
with the most recent first. Be sure to get your dates right
and to be consistent. If there is a two-year gap in your CV,
your potential employer may wonder what you were doing and
they may simply assume that you were doing nothing –
and ‘nothing’ doesn’t bode well when applying
for a job.
Presentation
Employers get hundreds of CVs
a day printed on old, dusty paper with curry stains and God
knows what else on them – and can you guess what happens
to those CVs? Yep, they go straight in the bin!
Your CV can say a lot about you
and it is the first impression your potential employer will
have of you, so make it stand out. Go to the shops and buy
some nice 100g, quality paper. If your printer is running
out of ink, then fill it up or go to a stationers to get your
CV printed properly. When you send your CV out, don’t
fold it up to save on postage – put it into a nice,
new A4 envelope. Also, very importantly, before you send your
CV out make sure you read through it a few times, check its
spelling and get a second opinion – someone else may
find a mistake you have missed.
Apart from that, good luck!
Cover
Letter
In some ways, your covering letter
is even more important than your CV as this is what your potential
employer will read first when they open your envelope. Don’t
make the same mistake that many students do; not sending out
a covering letter with your CV just because it takes less
time is a big no no. The first thing a covering letter does
is to show the employer that you can be bothered. Receiving
an envelope with a half screwed up CV and no covering letter
isn’t exactly impressive.
You should keep your covering
letter short and straight to the point. Don’t waffle
on and don’t try and explain everything that you have
written in your CV anyway. The covering letter is there to
introduce yourself to the employer and to briefly explain
why you are right for the role. This doesn’t mean that
you should beg for the job or brag about your skills –
instead you should write a professional and well-constructed
introduction to yourself.
Do your research! An employer
is going to be far more impressed if you have bothered to
pick up the phone and found out the name of the person you
are writing to. Companies generally will not mind if you call
them to find out names – just explain that you are in
the process of applying for a job and you would like to know
who to address the letter to.
Print your covering letter on
good quality paper and keep it clean and crease free. Presentation
is very important when you are talking about first impressions.
Interviews
Y ou
should not expect to send out just one CV and application
form and get an interview straight away. The chances are you
will have to apply for quite a few jobs before you get an
interview. Don’t let this deter you or dent your confidence
– it’s just it takes time for these things to
happen.
So, what do you do if you do get
that all so important interview? What should you wear? Should
you shake hands? Should you just not go because you’re
too nervous?
Firstly, it is quite natural to
be nervous. Nerves are not necessarily bad and they can in
fact improve your performance. Nerves show firstly that you
care about the result and you care how you will look. Use
this to your advantage – to gain confidence do as much
research on the company and job role that you are being interviewed
for. The more you think you know when you go into an interview,
the more you will relax and the better you will come across.
What to Wear
It is common practice to dress
professionally for an interview – perhaps a shirt and
tie (and yes, you should iron the shirt!) However, not all
interviews are the same and if the required dress is not specified
on the interview confirmation letter then don’t be afraid
to phone up and ask. It’s better to phone than to get
it wrong – you don’t want to turn up in your board
shorts if everyone else is wearing a shirt!
Be on Time
This is an important one. If you
are late to an interview you will be wasting the time of the
person doing the interview and any other candidates. This
does not make for a good impression and will not give you
a very good chance of getting the job. Also, being late will
allow the employer to assume that you will be late for work
if you were to get the job. Take it from us, don’t be
late – wake up early, have a shower and some breakfast
and head for the bus earlier than you think you should.
Role Play
Think about what type of questions
you might be asked; a common one is “what will you bring
to this role?” Once you have a list of possible questions
ask a friend to play the role of the interviewer and try and
give the best answers as possible. Try to think of plenty
of examples to back up your answers – this will show
the employer that you mean what you are saying.
Tell no Lies
Lying in your interview may seem
like a good idea at the time but let us assure you, it really
isn’t. If you lie, you will easily be caught out and
you will find it harder to answer future questions. The last
thing you want to do is get into a flutter because of a stupid
white lie. Even if you make it through interview stage with
your lies, once you start the job you will find it a lot harder
to sustain your tales and then you will be out on your ear.
Gift of the Gab
Having something to say after
every question is asked is very good. However, avoid talking
too much and waffling on about something irrelevant. Stick
to answering the question, speak slowly and clearly and be
concise. A few words can say a lot and a lot of words can
say nothing at all!
Be Enthusiastic
If you can show a genuine enthusiasm
for the job then this will be very impressive. Don’t
be false; simply allow your personality to shine and explain
how you are right for the job and where your passions lie.
Going into the interview like a dead fish and a face like
a slapped bum will not look good. The employer will think
if you can’t be bothered now then why will you be bothered
when you have the job. So, let your personality out for some
fresh air!
Useful Links
Jobs-4-Students
– Your one stop shop for student jobs, gap year work
and all the advice you need to get you through the best years
of your life.
E4S
– Find your ideal student and gap year job.
Alec
– Find lots of interview techniques here to raise your
chances of getting your ideal job
Learn-Direct
– If you are unsure of what you want to do, you are
not alone. Check out Learn Direct for quality advice and information
on where to go next
Connextions
Direct – Information on different career
choices and how to go about achieving your aims.
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