Students who attended the presentation learned about the importance of getting work experience and being able to give details about what you’ve learned during your work experience in your personal statement; what ITT, NQT and QTS mean; and the deadlines for applying to PGCEs. If you’re thinking about going into teaching, the Prospects website has a great overview and some detailed information on writing that all-important personal statement, and you should also get familiar with the Training and Development Agency and GTTR process.

But here are some of the other details that Rachel covered:

• The Graduate Teacher Programme is a less well-known route into teacher training. On the GTP, you are employed by a single school and earning a salary from the beginning, whilst also undertaking training. The GTP programme has a minimum requirement of a 2.1 degree, and there is a focus on leadership: the programme is designed to train up the next generation of heads of department and head teachers, whereas the PGCE focuses much more on the core skills of teaching. So a good GTP application will stress your potential as a leader, as well as why you want to be a teacher.
• The minimum degree classification for a PGCE application is a 2.2. However, if you have a Third Class degree in a national curriculum area, you may be able to compensate by gaining 60 credits at Masters Level. Contact the college that you’re interested in to discuss this specifically.
• For a PGCE in most Secondary subjects, you need a minimum of 50% of your undergraduate degree to have been in that subject. Exceptions to this are Music, Business, ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and modern foreign languages.
• If you want to study any other secondary subject and don’t have at least 50% of an undergraduate degree in that area, consider a Subject Knowledge Enhancement course.
• You can enter a PGCE in Primary or Early Years teaching with any undergraduate degree. It doesn’t have to be a curriculum subject.
• As well as the usual full-time, one-year PGCE, Edge Hill run a 2 year part-time PGCE, and also have flexible and distance-learning options. If you’re interested in flexible or distance-learning, contact the college for more information.
• The fees for a PGCE are £9000, BUT you don’t have to pay them upfront: they’re paid by the government and then deducted from your salary when you start working and earning above a threshold.
• Michael Gove has recently decided that teachers who have a FE/post-compulsory qualification (e.g. are qualified to teach at further education colleges and in other adult education settings) are going to be allowed to teach in secondary schools. However, they won’t be automatically entitled to the fully qualified teacher salary: it will be up to the schools to decide whether to put them onto a trainee teacher salary or a Qualified Teacher salary.

*Rachel’s talk was really interesting, and she answered lots of students’ questions at the end. We’re hoping she’ll be back in September or October to run another session focussing on writing personal statements, so if you’re planning to apply for 2013 or 2014 entry, keep an eye on the Postgraduate Careers blog!

What kind of employers use In-tray/E-tray exercises?

Generally, if you are applying to a big corporate company that has a graduate scheme; the company will very often hold an assessment centre to recruit the right candidate.. Assessment centres are group events that allow companies to test candidates in a variety of different scenarios and through a variety of business world assessments. One of the typical tests used are In-tray (or E-tray) exercises.

What is an In-tray or E-tray exercise?

This exercise is usually a paper based business simulation of real life work scenarios and is used to test a candidate’s skills that can’t be assessed through job applications or traditional face-to-face interviews. Sometimes these exercises can be conducted electronically, when they are referred to as an “E-tray exercise”. The exercises usually last between 60 and 90 minutes. You will have to work quickly to absorb lots of information and manage demands on your time, whilst deciding how to respond to each in tray item.

What’s the purpose of an In-tray/E-tray exercise? 

The exercise will be specifically designed to measure job skills such as:
• Ability to organize and prioritize work
• Analytical skills
• Communication with team members and customers
• Written communication skills
• Delegation
• Extract information from data provided
• Making calculations
• Dealing with company and client problems
Whether it is a paper or electronic version, the basic principles of the In-tray exercise remains the same.

Avoid my mistakes

My first encounter with an In-tray exercise at an assessment centre was not the greatest. This was my first assessment centre and I little idea of what to expect from the day. I knew the basics of what might happen; some competency based tasks, interviews, etc. But I had no real idea what an In-tray exercise was going to be. Before the exercise began the assessors gave a brief outline of what it was going to be about, handed over the test documents and we began. I got the notion of what to do, but I did not manage my time well. I just didn’t realise that you had use your time efficiently as you were trying to organise complex information in a limited time allocation. Because of this I knew I missed out some key points in the exercise and this was probably one of the main reasons I didn’t progress to the next stage of the selection process.

However, I did feel a little frustrated towards the company conducting the assessment centre, as I was not informed before the day that there was going to be and In-tray exercise. Usually companies will inform you before the actual assessment centre of exactly which tests will take place and may even provide access to practice tests to help you gain experience of taking these unfamiliar types of tests.
Whether a company lets you know what to expect or not, it is always best to be prepared for all eventualities. To help prepare for In-tray and E-tray exercises, check out graduate jobs preparation website WikiJob.co.uk.  There is some great advice and tools on there that candidates can use to help prepare for the various assessment centre tests, including in-tray and e-tray tests, group exercises scenarios, situational judgement tests and even verbal and numerical reasoning tests.

1.    Australian Government Intellectual Property Government Agency

The Australian Government is seeking Scientists or Engineers to work within their Intellectual Property (IP) Agency. The IP Australia Agency has over 1000 staff and is responsible for patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder’s rights systems.

You will be responsible for communicating with applicants, researching inventions and examining patent applications.

In addition you will have a degree and experience within one of the following: Mechanical Engineering, Medical Devices, Physics, Electronics, Pure or Applied Chemistry, Industrial Chemistry, Telecommunications, Computer Science or Electrical Engineering.

To find out more about how your qualifications compare to the Australian equivalent please visit Engineers Australia.

As well as help with relocation, you will be supported in your ongoing professional development, have flexible working hours, and access to sporting activities. Find out more by visiting their website.

2.    REACT Engineering Ltd Graduate Engineering Programme

REACT is a consultancy service which ‘provides strategic and engineering consultancy services to aid nuclear decommissioning, retrievals and asset management across the UK’. They are currently recruiting for Graduate Engineers, visit their website www.react-engineering.co.uk

3.    Technical Graduate Programme, Lancashire County Council

Lancashire County Council will shortly launch their Graduate Technical Programme. This programme offers a wide range of opportunities within various departments such as: Planning, Business Development, Roads and Transport Safety, Trading Standards, Waste Management, Environmental Projects as well as Civil Engineering.

Applications will go live on the Council’s website from Friday 2^nd March www.lancashire.gov.uk/vacancies *Please note this opportunity has a September 2012 start date.

Representatives from Lancashire County Council will be coming into the University of Salford on Wednesday 28^th March to talk about this opportunity. Full details will be posted, in due course on our Events page.

Image: Flickr: evrenozbilen¸http://www.flickr.com/photos/65152697@N04/6001154813/,  Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)

Subsequently the CBI and NUS jointly produced an Employability Guide for students to help them better understand how they can meet the needs of the labour market.

As you may already be aware, in order to help you to effectively research employers and sectors, the Careers Service organises employer events, as well as CV checks, mock interviews and skills development workshops.

Furthermore our blogs, Facebook page and Twitter feeds (@salfordpgrs and @UoSCareers) are set up to make you aware of upcoming careers events and opportunities, precisely aimed at helping you make informed choices and to be better prepared to meet employer expectations head on.

Now working with the Careers and Employability Service, it’s still not unheard-of, for students to say “I have no work experience” or “I’m not sure how to approach employers“ and on the other hand, employers tell us that some students still need to demonstrate their knowledge of companies and articulate why they chose to apply to them, make targeted applications and avoid bland introductions at Careers Fairs such as “So what do you do?” or “Have you got any jobs?”.

So let’s see, we have insight into both the student’s perspective as well as the employer’s, hmm, if only there was some further way to bring the two together in say, I don’t know, an informal setting to discuss:

• Recruitment processes
• Application tips
• Current trends/challenges in their sector
• The key skills employers are seeking
• How employers are using social media when it comes to recruitment
• Work experience opportunities

Oh wait there is! We are launching a series of Industry Insight talks, giving you a chance to meet with employers from a wide variety of sectors and gain some insider knowledge as well as careers advice from people like actually in the role. All you have to do is turn up, could not be any simpler!

One of my colleagues Tim Ward has made it his business to get “under the skin” of personal branding and having witnessed him training a group of students in personal branding and seeing  how engaged the students were, made me realise it was something I wanted to have a deeper understanding of – for my career as well as the students and graduates I work with.

What is personal branding?

“You already have a brand. As Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, once said, “Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room”. The best way to market yourself is to build your brand.”  This is how a recent book “Brand You” sums it up.

The fundamental notion of personal branding is about thinking about yourself as a brand: “Brand You”.  We are all so familiar with brands that this is a concept that it’s easy to engage with – most of us will instantly be able to comment on successful brands and what they represent – e.g., what does the Apple, Nike or BBC brand mean to you. Similarly many celebrities will have a clear brand, e.g., Victoria Beckham, Richard Branson, and Alan Sugar.

Personal branding advocates argue that branding isn’t just for businesses or celebrities and that individuals can use some of the essentials of personal branding to further their career.

The challenge is to be aware of your own brand, manage it and make the most of it.

The definition of personal branding my colleague Tim Ward uses is:  “Your total perceived value, relative to competitors, as viewed by your audience!”

There are four main elements to drill into, in order to understand your brand. I am putting them in no particular order.

1. Personality
2. Competencies
3. Your USP
4. Personal Appearance

How can you start thinking about your own brand?

There are some key questions individuals can ask themselves.

1. What are your defining characteristics?
2. What differentiates you from your peers?
3. What have been the main achievements of your life so far?
4. What skills and talents do you have? These should be evident in contributing to your achievements.
5. What is your purpose in life/work?

No-one said this was easy.

Tactics to help you answer these tough questions

Some would argue that if you are struggling with this it’s a good idea to consider main archetypes and work out which one fits you best and think about how you could include this in your personal brand. Are you a hero, a ruler, a care-giver, a sage etc?

Another tactic is to think about the people you admire, as often what you may admire in others could be qualities/skills that you identify with yourself.

With regard to your purpose it can help to think about how you would spend a £10 million if you had the cash to spend on you, your family and friends and wider Society. This would say a lot about your values.

Still not easy…but interesting

It’s who you know

We’ve heard it so many times – but who you know and are seen to know is important too. Your connections (whether online or in person) can reinforce/support your brand.  Think about the connections that you most value and that could help you build your brand. Remember, helping people you admire can greatly benefit yourself in the longer term. Don’t always think about what others can do for you – think about what you can do for others and then they are more likely to want to help you.

The digital sphere of social networking sites means the chances to make your brand more visible have grown.  How you present yourself in your summary on Linked in or Twitter is a good example of this. Twitter profiles are very brief but will instantly convey to reader what you want to project about yourself.  What do you think of my Twitter blurb… @FCChristie careers consultant, parent, reader, blogger, curious about most things, won’t give up on making the world a better place…my views only

Want to find out more?

There’s a growing range of information on personal branding.  Examples include:

• Purkiss and Royston-Lee – Brand You .
• Royston-Lee – How to win from the start?
• Me and my web shadow
• Reputation Capital Building and Maintaining Trust in the 21st Century
• Me 2.0, Revised and Updated Edition: 4 Steps to Building Your Future
• Personal branding blog
• Harvard Business Review – Build your Personal Value Proposition

In my view personal branding re-packages the essentials of what careers advisers/consultants have been saying for ages. However, it’s a different approach – an approach that will capture the imagination of many and could really help in that really important area of Career Planning “knowing yourself”. Better start thinking about my own brand now…

Thanks to the following people for sharing some information that helped me write this post.

@cristinacost; @JohnPurkiss; @KingfisherCoach

Written with Business school postgraduates in mind, this post will also be of interest to other postgraduates as a Masters in Business is certainly not a pre-requisite for consultancy careers.

“Management consultancy and investment banking are the two top career choices for business school graduates. Join a consulting firm and you can become comfortably off: choose investment banking and you’ll be obscenely rich. But it’s about more than the money, isn’t it? Isn’t it?

My contention is that consultancy is the better choice. In the course of your time as a consultant you’ll see a wide variety of businesses across a wide variety of sectors, work alongside a wide variety of skilled professionals on a wide variety of problems….and be able to take all that experience off into the real world when you finally decide to get a proper job (typically after 3-5 years as a consultant, for reasons I’ll explain later.)

The UK consulting industry is recovering after three awful years. Firms are hiring again, but the competition is fierce. So the first thing you need to do is to polish up your CV. You need to stand out from everybody else in your class who’ll be applying. Any application, whether by post of email, must be tailored for the specific opportunity. And a cover note needs to highlight: what you’re good at, what you can bring to the firm, and how they’ll benefit from hiring you.

If you’re hoping to join a strategy house (McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, Bain are the ‘holy trinity’ of the top tier firms), get on to their websites right now. The closing dates for applications are generally about a year in advance of start dates, so you need to apply early. (Hint, if you’ve missed the deadline, still apply. Other applicants may drop out/choose investment banking instead, and you might get lucky…)

Most other firms, however, recruit on an as-needed basis. Check out their websites for current vacancies. Remember, these requirements are listed around 4-6 months before the new recruits are expected to start, so there’s no point in applying too early.

As well as a consultancy firm’s own website, look for advertisements posted on job boards (eg Top-Consultant.com), and trawl around social media (YouTube, Facebook etc) for other recruitment announcements.

But don’t just wait for an opportunity to be advertised. Be proactive. Find people you know (friends, alumni) who are working in consulting firms and ask them to put your CV in front of a hiring manager. (Almost all organizations encourage their staff to do this now).

Scour the business pages of quality newspapers for comment from consulting firms (journalists frequently solicit quotes from consulting industry figures for analysis pieces on issues of the day). Make that the reason for introducing yourself to them. (“I saw your comment in the FT about supply chain disruption and…… By the way, I’m finishing my MBA shortly with a view to becoming a supply chain and logistics consultant, and I wondered if you could introduce me to….”)

Don’t just target well known consultancies. Although a big consulting name on your CV will resonate widely when you move out into industry, a small consultancy which specializes in the sector in which you intend to make your long-term career can be just as valuable. (Hint: think about your exit before you even enter a consulting firm. Say you plan a long-term career in the pharmaceutical industry: why not seek out the niche firms who consult in this sector?) There are many good reasons why a consulting career with a boutique (ie small) firm makes sense: you’ll be exposed to the problems that keep that industry’s CEOs awake at night, you’ll learn at the shoulder of a director or partner of a boutique consultancy (rather than just a senior consultant or manager at a large consultancy), and you’ll have more dealings with the CEOs of the companies you’ll want to join when you eventually leave consulting.

If your course requires an internship or summer project, why not find a placement in a consulting firm? Even a few weeks in consulting will demonstrate you know what consulting is like. And 70% of interns are offered a permanent job at the end of a placement.

Be realistic: not everyone can become a strategy consultant. Most business school graduates who go into consulting will join a mainstream consulting firm (eg Accenture, Deloitte) and will be hired not just for their intellectual horsepower but also for their pre-business school experience. So if you have a background in the insurance sector, say, then look for opportunities in the financial services team at a consultancy. Or if you’ve been as software engineer, try to position yourself in IT advisory.

And don’t get hung up on rank. Unless you are nationally known speaker in your field, you’ll join at the standard entry level….even if you’ve been a senior vice-president managing scores of staff and managing a budget of tens of millions. You’ll need to go through consultancy boot camp just like everyone else.

Salary? Again, you’ll have to take the ‘going rate’. It’s currently around £60,000 in the UK. That’s base salary: expect a bonus (but don’t rely on it to pay the bills) of 15%, a pension contribution and local market ‘big company’ benefits such as private healthcare and life insurance. Holidays: around 25 days or your local market average. And if you’re good, and you last that long, you’ll double your base salary in around 4 years.

So…why do I think you won’t last that long? It’s the baggage that comes with consultancy which makes consultants leave after 3-5 years. Work life balance? It’s all work, and no life.

Expect to spend around 70% of your working year away from home. (Some consultancies will ask you to sign an agreement to spend 100% away.) That means three nights in a hotel and four days on the client site – which might be five hours journey time from home. The working week averages 50 hours, and a stretch of 70 hours a week to bring a project in on time is not uncommon. Think of the impact that has on your personal life….and you’ll understand why I think you’ll last 3-5 years before you move on.

Still want to go into consulting? Good. I think it’s the best possible choice for consolidating your business school education.  And just look where former consultants end up: UK Foreign Secretary (William Hague); former HSBC Chairman (Stephen Green); Enron CEO (Jeff Skilling)…ok, maybe not that last one.

Whatever you choose – investment banking, setting up your own business, or consultancy – study hard, enjoy your time at business school, and good luck!”

1.    Seek and you shall (eventually) find

In some ways, it doesn’t matter if you are looking for your first graduate job, an (non) academic post, an internal opportunity or a complete career change.

What does matter is self awareness of your skills and behaviours and how they match the employer’s needs, your knowledge of the latest happenings in the sector and your reasons for applying to that employer. Employer feedback tells us that unsuccessful candidates simply struggle to convey these requirements on to their CVs, applications and at interview. It’s probably best to avoid the Jackson Pollock approach when it comes to your career, by which I mean splattering hundreds of your CVs and applications onto the vast canvass that is the jobs market in the vain hope that one will stick. Even in this climate, quality over quantity conveys a lot about you as a potential employee.

Avoid these pitfalls of potential unsuccessful job search by taking a look at our resources on researching employers, our various sector basics guides or attend our workshops on effective career planning and job search. Don’t forget to also read information available by your professional associations, research councils and sector skills councils as well as resources such as Guardian Careers and Guardian Higher Education. You may also find useful global labour market information on the International Labour Organization website here.

2.    A CV is for life not just for Christmas!

Never assume that your CV will be the first that lands on an employer’s desk or indeed that they will look at it at 9.00am in the morning, with a cup of coffee all alert and ready to absorb all the information in front of them at a leisurely pace. Hectic workloads and not to mention general information overload, mean that it’s imperative that you get your credentials across to an employer succinctly. So if you haven’t yet changed your CV from a part-time job search CV to a professional graduate level format (You know who you are!) then take a look at our CV guides.

3.    News Flash: Employers still value work experience!

Some of you may feel that getting work experience is easier said than done and at one time I would have agreed with you. I come from a working class background but most of my extended family owned catering and grocery shop businesses (Great for summer jobs, not so much for when it came to having social capital for career connections). I remember being turned down for some graduate jobs because I didn’t have the experience, or couldn’t articulate my experience and even office jobs were hard to come by because I didn’t have the necessary administration skills.

Enter stage left, my best friend, who’d heard that our local Citizens Advice Bureau was looking for volunteers. She had completed a law degree and it helped her get her first job in a Solicitor’s firm and as for me, even though my family questioned my choice of unpaid work experience (“Why do you want to work for free, why not look for paid work?”) my efforts paid off when they secured some funding for an Outreach Worker post. I’ll tell you what, I’m glad I did stick it out, I had five great years working my way up to Advice Service Manager. This role also helped me to identify my next career move into careers guidance and working with university students. Take a look at our jobs and USCATs pages as well as do-it.org for ideas that may inspire you and help your career.

My colleague Jemma has also recently posted an interesting blog on how work experience can help you to identify pros and cons of working for companies not to mention how to develop and highlight your key skills.

4.    Network your way to success!

I’ll let you into a secret; I can be very socially awkward. I find very difficult to make small talk. Certainly going to university, volunteering and then working has helped to remedy this as well as boost my confidence no end. Even so I can still be a little reserved when meeting new people, so I read recent articles on both the Guardian and BBC website about the value of networking, with great interest. Networking however is just a way to make sure that you are memorable to the people you want to get to know better and for the right reasons.

It’s as much about the people in the ‘room’ as it is about you. Take an interest in what people have to say, be genuine, ask questions and listen to them, which in turn will allow them to see you at your best. The real beauty of this is that today you can network via social media as well as face to face. I’ve ‘accidently’ networked my way into organising events and activities, for example getting to know Cristina Costa, our Research Technologies Development Officer, helped to shape not only my use of social media but also our programme and guest speaker list for last year’s PG Futures event on ‘Career Management in the Digital Age’. Speaking with my Enterprise colleague and her counterpart at Manchester University helped us to devise a joint Enterprise Futures event with Manchester Metropolitan University. Social Media in particular Twitter and LinkedIn has allowed me to communicate with other careers professionals.  If you’re unsure of how to get started when it comes to networking, why not attend our workshops on Networking your way to success and Assertiveness ahead of employer events and careers fairs.

5.    Social Media

Even employers recognise that they are likely to be recruiting tech savvy graduates in the coming years. This means that a lot of companies are playing catch up in trying to figure out how to use social media to further their recruitment and business interests and stay relevant. Social media has certainly been a cultural game changer in terms of the way we approach our work/ research. With the advent of smart phones and computer tablets, it’s now just as easy to switch on to your social media accounts as it is to turn a kettle on. It’s not so much how long will social media be around for, but what’s next in the digital evolution in terms of how we communicate, connect and engage with information, events and people all across the world. But to quote an overused phrase “With great power, comes great responsibility”, it’s easy to set up social media accounts, but how to use them effectively, why the differing platforms, which one best meets your needs, what does netiquette mean? We may not have an app for that but we certainly have social media workshops as part of the SPoRT programme as well as our central careers workshops.

6.    Be Enterprising!

You may wish to set up your own business or become a consultant as part of your longer term career aspirations. However being enterprising can be just as important whilst working for others, in terms of ideas you bring to the table, being creative, tenacious and having the determination to see your ideas through to fruition. As well as our upcoming Enterprise Futures event, we have brilliant support available for would-be entrepreneurs; take a look at our Enterprise pages.

7.    Find a Mentor, be a mentor!

A mentor is someone impartial who usually has the benefit of life experience and is willing to counsel you, be it in your personal life, education or career. They may be a friend, colleague/s, supervisor, or someone assigned to you at work. Having had the benefit of being both a Mentor and Mentee, I can say that when it works well, it can be a very insightful and rewarding working relationship. Cristina wrote a great blog on this very topic. Remember by way of mentoring, you can also join our Salford PhDs Past and Present Group on LinkedIn, keep in touch with us if you are Salford Alumni as well as our BEAMS mentoring project.

8.    Reflect and Learn

Now be honest do you actually take time out to reflect on your career decisions as well as aspirations? Have you done a SWOT analysis or used the Researcher Development Framework  to map your experiences, skills and behaviours? What experiences or skills are lacking? What do you think employers look for and how can you demonstrate your transferable skills?

It’s just as important to take a break and think about next steps, how else can you effectively produce a CV or research options if you don’t have a point of reference? Take a look at this useful post entitled ‘Reflecting on the Value of your PhD’ for key tips.

So there you have it folks, my 8 tips for career planning for the year ahead. Now I’ll let you into another secret here, social media aside, these aren’t really new or indeed surprising tips. They are however timely reminders of essential approaches you should take, when it comes to career planning and future proofing your prospects.

I’d love to hear any further tips you may have. What’s the best piece of careers advice you’ve ever been given?

Photo: Flickr, Artist: gainesmary28, Creative Commons: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic (CC BY-SA 2.0)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/pacnwphotography/3062987104/

Please excuse the tone, it may be touchy feely and light hearted, but I promise I haven’t been hitting the eggnog. Hope you enjoy!

 1.    Starting out: The Big Wide World

Whether you’ve recently started at University or graduated, it is a big change. Like any transition, you try to find your footing in life and that’s where we come in. Within Student Life at the University of Salford we offer a range of support as well as Careers and Employability services. We can provide advice on how to start your career plans by way of appointments, workshops, fairs, employer presentations, enterprise-focused activities to name but a few. Check out our website. Did you know that as a Graduate of the University of Salford, you can still access these vital services for advice on CVs, career change, interviews etc? We also still have places on our Graduate Gateway scheme for unemployed/underemployed graduates, based in the North West, sign up now!

2.    Resilience is King!

My colleague Fiona has already blogged on the importance of resilience. As appealing as it would be to live life in bubble wrap, we all know that the real world does not work like that. There will be times when you are challenged, when you’ll feel overwhelmed or face disappointments. Take heed and reflect on the lessons learnt and get back up again to fight another day, because the right opportunity for you, is out there.

3.    Don’t stop believing!!

Ok don’t worry I’m out going to break into song and serenade you all with Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing’:-). However I do feel that sometimes just the very thought of doing something new or out of our comfort zone can actually cause more anxiety than actually trying out new things. Why not use the new year to be braver, do something different, be it, exploring lateral career ideas and aspirations. Think about where would you like to be and who can help you. If you do not know where to start, then call in to see us. Use the New Year as a fresh clean start. Start positively, if you really want something, think about how to actively go out and get it. Plan ahead, have a wish list, do you need to shore up any skills gaps, get some work experience, have that CV checked, practice for that interview, write that blog, network with key decision makers, raise your digital identity etc. So what’s stopping you?

4.    Personality goes a long way!

Remember it’s not just about impressing at interview but also what happens once you secure the job! Teamwork goes a long way as will your interpersonal skills. It’s all about finding the right balance between being professional and knowing how to have fun with your colleagues.

5.    When you feel down and out, remember even the down and out can land a job!

Ted Williams was a former broadcaster who became homeless and landed a job when an interview with a local reporter went viral and people heard his “honey-toned” voice. Although Ted had a lot of issues to deal with, it does show that sometimes a chance meeting can really pay off and perhaps help you.

Remember we’re here to help you and support you during your time with us at Salford. You may require careers support or pastoral support. For instance, if you are staying on campus over the Christmas break or around campus, did you know that we have support available and have also organised activities for you.

I would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year see you in 2012!!

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover – Mark Twain

Well folks after putting out some teasers on our careers blog and in careers workshops, I am pleased to finally announce details of our forthcoming event (Trumpet fanfare please!) Enterprise Futures 2012: Inspiration, Collaboration, Opportunity. 

The aim of this one day event is to get you out of your comfort zone and to broaden your horizons in terms of thinking about the opportunities that may exist today, tomorrow and in the future.

To this end, for the first time ever the Universities of Manchester, Salford and Manchester Metropolitan University have come together to jointly host a one-day innovative conference on Monday 23^rd January 2012for Postgraduates (Taught and Research) from all three Institutions.

We will be focusing on how you can develop your own enterprise and employability skills, be it in your research/studies or whether you wish to consider employment or self employment. The purpose of this day is to get you to think about how to hone these attributes so that you can ‘get up and get on’ in your chosen career pathway.

During the course of this day you will have ample opportunity to meet with peers from the Universities of Manchester and Metropolitan University. In addition you will also network with local entrepreneurs and business representatives, as well as Postgraduate and Alumni Entrepreneurs from all three Universities.

The keynote speeches, panel discussions and workshops are all designed to enable you to be inspired, learn, reflect, network and collaborate with other postgraduates and attendees. There’s also a competition thrown in to boot!!

Here comes fine print bit, the event is open (at present) to Postgraduates on taught or research pathways at the Universities of Manchester, Salford and Manchester Metropolitan. Each Institution has an allocation of 50 places, so places are literally limited.

Therefore please make sure you register early to avoid disappointment. Further details including the event programme and how to register can be found here.

But with a bit of preparation, you can really improve your chances of success. Here’s a short film from a US University which sums up key points of preparation nicely.

Prepare in the same way as you would for an external job interview

• Do all the same preparation for an internal interview that you would for an external interview. Systematically review the job specification and prepare lots of examples and evidence that you can draw upon.  Practice makes perfect; get someone you trust to give you a practice interview and ask them for their honest feedback.
• Remember that your reputation precedes you in  going to the interview so be prepared to have clever ways to reflect on anything you have done in your job so far that you know hasn’t worked as well as you would have liked. You will have to be scrupulously honest in what evidence you use, but don’t assume the interviewers will know everything you have done so make sure you convey your skills and achievements.
• Have questions ready to ask, this shows an interest in the organisation and how you want to help shape its future.

How much do you really want this job?

• Motivation to do a job is critical if you want to impress an interviewer. Sometimes people apply for jobs internally that they aren’t really sure they want to do and this can come across.
• One way to assess this is as follows: ask yourself to score out of 10 your level for each of Interest, Commitment and Enthusiasm (ICE) to do the job. I would ask you to reflect on what scores you come up with and what this may say about whether this is the right job for you.  I guess that if all are fewer than 5, this will come across in your interview, and your chances of getting the job will be slim.

If you’re not successful – get feedback

• Having spoken to a number of people that have been unsuccessful in internal job interviews, the most telling statement is when they say “I don’t know why I wasn’t successful”.  If you don’t know why you weren’t successful, then how can you do better next time?  It’s so important to try and get feedback and also to be honest with yourself as to why things haven’t gone to plan.
• There can be so many reasons – everything from your own interview technique, or the fact you were up against an unbeatable candidate, or perhaps interviewer bias. It can really help to get to the bottom of why you weren’t successful. Not always easy …but try, and be prepared to alter your approach next time.  Remember – something better may be round the corner.
• Here is a link to a thread on a HR Professionals Discussion forum – discussing how organisations keep internal candidates motivated after an unsuccessful interview. Some insightful commentary here from people involved in a lot of hiring.

If the interview is as a result of re-structuring

• I know it’s hard, but continue to  work at peak performance in the run-up to the interview, identify who the interview panel will be and do some research about them (ask around to people you trust on this), not the people who will also be interviewed for the same job.
• Aim to surprise the interviewer; dress to impress on the day – a notch up from your usual work attire.  Make sure you have done your homework about the reasons for re-structure and have thought about the reasons why changes are being made. Understand the organisational strategic plans and future vision. Prepare ideas about how you can contribute to this. Reflect on why you want to stay with the organisation so you can speak positively about this.
• Take advantage of any interview training/support on offer. Many organisations will offer this when undergoing re-structuring. Make it your business to find out what the organisation’s approach to job interviews are – is the approach being adopted standard (i.e., interview against a person specification etc) or is a different approach being used. HR departments should have the answer to this. When asking such questions, be polite and stress your enthusiasm for the job and your desire to prepare effectively.

Park any ambivalence at the door

• Finally, especially if going for an interview as part of re-structuring, when you walk through that door for an interview, focus 100% on the experience and your desire to sell yourself and get that job. You may be ambivalent about certain things – but the interview is not the time to show this. Resist the temptation to be negative about processes or critical of the work of fellow staff etc.
• Some useful points re internal interviews are at this link from Hull Strategies.