3 Things you must know before heading off to University

With rising tuition prices topping £9,000 the burden resting on prospective university students means that many are opting to go straight into work or pursue other interests such as travelling before they take the plunge into a university degree. A university degree is becoming more and more crucial as employees look to find the sharpest tool in the tool box therefore the £9,000 spent on the process should be used wisely. 

Having now finished my four year degree in International Hospitality & Tourism Management and successfully landing a job for the future I can tell you what it is like and have come up with three things you should remember if you take the plunge to go to University.

University is about being professional – Your college days are behind you. Just because you have fewer lectures than your college years, doesn’t mean less work. With £9,000 resting on your success, the time for you to be professional is now. Liaising with lecturers, getting into the inner circle, attending networking events, is only going help you to become a more professional person.

Experience, Experience, Experience – I cannot stress this enough; University is no longer about being good at academia. Some employers are looking way beyond your degree and now at how much work you have done or achieved. Experience counts for a lot in business today, the more experience you can secure the better all round candidate you can become and make yourself more attractive to individuals. 

Networking – Again this is a must and some times under-utilised in University today. During the recession networking was a crucial part of graduate’s process to securing a job. No matter who you are, your interests and your ambitions someone in the world will be sharing that same passion, all you have to do is utilise these networks effectively. Outlined are some good examples of networking sites or events that you can join to make your networks bigger.

Finished university and planning on going into the world of work? I would like to hear from you. Leave a comment and I will respond to your message as soon as possible. 

Is your CV headed for the graveyard?

In light of new technologies and on-line recruitment sites, could your CV be becoming more and more obsolete? Social experts are predicting that whilst your CV is good explaining your credentials and relevant work experience, on-line tools which express your CV in so many more ways than just 2 sides of A4 ever did are becoming increasingly popular.

Whilst these new ways of expressing yourself are a new avenue for career building they should be treated with caution. With a rising older population resulting in less technical savvy individuals, some people still demand a written CV, but these new avenues outlined below allow you to stand out from the crowd.

Video CV’s – Graham Anthony’s Interactive CV landed him a high profile job at a leading PR agency. In his video he explained his CV in depth in rich detail. Converted it to a YouTube video and the viral marketing campaign began attracting 95,000 YouTube hits. It became a viral success and has been hinted as the   video that changed the original CV.

  

Infographical – Infographics has taken off in recent years, displaying information in a visual form allows the reader to gauge a lot more about who you are and makes you to stand out from the crowd.

Social Networking CV – With advancements in social networking, more and more employers are looking on Social Networking sites to find out who you say you really are.

Personal Website – Creating your own personal website has been relatively easy in recent years, with so many free web based and freeware available creating your unique domain and web page has been easy as a couple of clicks.

Whilst these avenues have been highlighted as beneficial to stand out from the crowd you should be careful. What you think is a good expression of yourself could be treated negatively by your future employer. In most cases a written A4 CV is sufficient enough to be included in your application. Likewise in many cases many high profile companies have written application forms offering little room innovation and expressionism.  

Can you apply a formula to getting a job?

After numerous interviews and a few assessment centres I have now landed a graduate job, starting two months after graduating in July. Numerous authors have put to debate how graduates can achieve that dream job. I am now one of the lucky ones, and now that I have reached the other side, I can share my thoughts and experiences on how to land the job that you want or for that matter get your first foot on the job ladder. 

As you maybe aware, I am currently approaching my final couple of months as a Surrey University undergraduate, but my campaign to secure a graduate job started a long time previous, in fact September 2009 to be precise. I had tried numerous times to secure a placement as part of my degree, an optional year out in the industry to gain crucial experience in the field of my studies. Having tried in-vane to secure a role, I began the daunting task of securing internship after internship and slowly building up experience in the fields of Social Media, Marketing and Hospitality. I felt that I had a lot to offer, but I kept being put down at the last hurdle, either because someone was better than me or they had further experience that I didn't. 

But the process of securing Internship after internship meant that I was building up much needed experience. In addition working for a notable charity such as Macmillan Cancer Support meant that I was offering services in area's which would create a good cause. Furthermore charity work on a CV is seen as a must by most employers in today's lucurative job market. Likewise I had opportunities during my placement year to do things that I wouldn't have been able to do on my placement such as set up and run my own catering business, develop blogs and publish websites for clients. I really found that the year was a tremendous success and felt that I had got enough experience under my belt to secure a graduate job.

A further 9 months after finishing my placement year I have now been offered a role with a leading wholesaler in the hospitality industry, amongst other offers I felt this job represented a real achievement for my successes in the past and further may lead to new openings in the future. The following shows the key tips on how to succeed in the job market, having gone through a lot to secure a job I believe I am well positioned to show you the secrets of getting that dream job.

• Use your initiative - Among other things on my irregular placement year, I showed good use of my initiative when I set up and ran my own drinks catering service. I carefully managed the brand, including promotional work and also was capable of securing person ell for bigger events which I could not manage on my own. Today more than ever graduate's need to show good use of initiative taking something and making it better or starting your own business is only going to add to your array of skills.

• Networking - Believe it or not, I didn't think much of networking when I was applying for placement applications, I am regretting that now though. Who ever you are, what ever you know there will be someone out there that will share the same knowledge and idea's, you connect to them and future opportunities may arise. Networking is seen as a fundamental new approach in the work place, but it should be utilised more so now, post recession. I am heavy user of social networking sites such as LinkedIn and Twitter these not only allow me to gain new connections but also expand my horizons on subjects that I may not have had opportunities to develop in the past. 

• Act Professional - gone are the days of University being about the late night antics and the two days recovery period and maybe turning up to a couple of lectures. Your university degree means something and with a £9,000 a year burden resting on your shoulders the time to act professional is now. Creating business cards, developing your own corporate website will only strengthen your on-line presence and make you become more noticed. 

• Utilise the recruitment websites - What is familiar about the jobs that myself and my colleagues have all got is that they were mostly through recruitment sites. Peoples perception of these sites are strange, with many criticising there usefulness, I was one of these before when it was common for me to receive job notifications for jobs which weren't entirely related to my degree. The perception now is completely different, recruitment consultants will take your CV and give it a make over, provide you with the excellence and professionalism to make you get that job. It must be said that these people often know what they are talking about and therefore should not be disregarded. 

• Be resilient - You may have got rejected from one or two jobs, you may feel that your are the exact match for that role and no one else could have beaten you. Graduates especially, need to learn that even if you have the skills sometimes you fail. The best graduates are the ones that can pick themselves up and brush themselves down, the more you learn the more you will gain and this has never been more true in my search for a job.

Although this is isn't a formula it is certainly advice from someone who has got to the other-side of the river. It shows that determination, professionalism and a great deal of courage is needed, but there is light at the end of the tunnel and graduates need to learn that there will be times when it is tough, but you will get there eventually. You do your degree for a reason, those who show there initiative and show they have learnt from their mistakes will most likely be rewarded in the future.

Are you a future graduate? Looking for your next career move after you graduation? Leave a comment and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Nick Clegg Vows to break 'Who you know culture'

We have all been told countless number of times that you need experience for any type of job you apply to. If you don't have experience, then it is just going to be harder to get your foot on the job ladder. 

Within certain industries such as finance or banking there has been an evident culture in the past years whereby its not 'what you know' but 'who you 'know' and this culture has enabled many students to explore opportunities in fields which undoubtedly they wouldn't have dreamed of getting into without the connections they have made. More recently it has been noted that of all parties 'The Conservatives' who are proposing this ban with the liberal democrats, have auctioned off internship opportunities to raise party funding with many Internships in specific sectors such as Finance going for as much as £3,000. 

From a organisation point of you the 'who you know' culture is evident whereby, its easier for a CEO or Managing Director to employ someone who they believe that can do the job, or as a matter of fact, help friend out to provide their daughter / son with experience. It takes much longer for a CEO to interview potential candidates for possible Internships  and more importantly advertising on recruitment sites is expensive. 

Its good what the government have said about proposing a 'blanket ban' on the 'who you know' culture but in hindsight it is difficult for a complete blanket ban as many people know a lot of people and it is difficult for people to stop growing their connections or invade on their privacy. 

You can see the full interview on the BBC News Website below.  

It turns out that Nick Clegg got his first internship through internal networks

Graduate Schemes or Jobs or a mixture of both?

My friend recently attended an assessment interview for a finance leadership graduate scheme. When he got there he was startled to find out that the company had over 30,000 applications for all graduate positions within the company he was applying too.

This statistic proves that it is increasingly difficult for perspective graduates to get their foot on the career ladder.

I am in the process of submitting applications for graduate programmes, although this is still my main focus; I am applying speculatively to other companies too, just because they don’t have vacancies on their website, doesn’t mean they don’t have vacancies at all. In some cases they will have vacancies and want people to fill.

Furthermore there are loads of companies out there who don’t have graduate schemes, but have vacancies for jobs instead. Yes graduate schemes are impressive and if you are fortunate to land yourself on one then congratulations, but what’s really the difference between a normal jobs in the industry, than a graduate job? They both still pay equivalent or near enough the same amount. They both allow you to progress within the company.

It seems every article these days in the media is centered on how many graduate jobs there out there for prespective graduates. What is a reality however is that you are probably better off just applying for a normal job in the industry such as a sales executive, marketing executive. These roles aren’t specifically graduate jobs, but the process in which you apply for these may be shorter and may lead you to less competition with other prespective graduates all in the same position as you.

Moreover I am concentrating on finishing my degree. Your degree is one of the most important elements, without a good degree these days you will find it difficult to get on the career ladder. Whilst graduate programmes are important and after you graduate you want to be able to work in several big organisations, the foremost and most important element should be your degree.