Archive for the ‘Student Career Advice’ Category

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Stand out from the Competition – Develop your Interview Skills - by Kara

Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Graduate jobs are getting increasingly competitive, with many training schemes getting over 100 applicants per position. Over two thirds of graduate training programmes now list the minimum entry requirements as a 2:1, and with so many applicants of high calibstart-girls-career-laucher they need a way to distinguish them. This explains just how important and competitive interviews have become.

Despite this many graduates will have little or no experience of interviews and will have received little guidance. Believe it or not many will not even be up to scratch with even the most basic of etiquette.

So… what can be done to get ahead of the competition? Coaching from a professional recruiter would be ideal but is often incredibly expensive - especially for students that have been living off baked beans for 3 years!

MyTalentPlace has solved this problem by offering affordable online coaching - with professionals who have no less than 10 years experience recruiting. The service is offered online over Skype, which means that the cost is slashed, and so far it has shown astounding results.

Kerry who went through the interview coaching after failing to get several jobs said “Thank you so much for your help. The interview went really well. I’ve just had a call from the agent to say out of all the people they interviewed over the phone, I am the only one they are considering for 2nd interview - she said I was a delight to talk to! I’ve never had such good feedback before. The interview coaching has really boosted my confidence.”

Grant Crow the founder of MyTalentPlace tells us more about this unique service “The true appeal of this service is that it is offered online. This means that it can be available for students and employees when and where they need it, which is often on evenings and weekends”. He continues “… because all of the coaches we use have worked in recruitment for a minimum of 10 years, they know exactly what employers are looking for”.

To find out more visit www.mytalentplace.co.uk/interview-skills/interview-coaching or contact info@mytalentplace.co.uk.

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Posted in Interview Skills, Student Career Advice | 3 Comments »

Make your gap year more than just a gap! - by Kara

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

This viral video shows how many stereotype the gap year experience (including recruiters). So, if you are thinking of taking a gap year it’s worth steering away from this stereotype and having a comprehensive plan in order for your gap year to be more than just a gap on your CV! Here are 4 things to think about before you embark:footprints

1. How your gap year could help you. For example it could help to choose your career path.

2. How you can help others - think about volunteering overseas.

3. What you can learn on a personal level. Don’t spend all your time partying, make sure you experience some of the culture and history of the places that you stay.

4. Work experience that you can gain - are you going to work while abroad? or before you go? Think about the type of job you will be doing and what you can gain from the experience.

If you write about your gap year on your CV try to show exactly what experience you gained and what you learned. It is a time for you to explore and enjoy yourself so it shouldn’t be all work, however you will be more satisfied if you have something to show for it at the end.

Here are some listings of  useful schemes you can partake in or try united playground for low cost volunteering.

Enjoy!

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At what age should you start thinking about a career?

Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010

One thing I’ve noticed about careers is that they get quite a lot of attention at a young age, and then nothing much until it’s very late in the day. Most 5 year old’s want to be a nurse, fireman, policeman, superhero etc. They run around the house or garden pretending to “be” one or the other and creating little role play scenarios in which to have fun. Of course, they don’t have much clue about the detail, but they do know what a police office looks like and roughly what they do. Ditto for Firemen and Doctor. Life goes on and little Johnnie turns 9 or 10 and that’s the end of any real career consideration until he turns 16 or older! For some of us, we still want to be a fireman then and that’s cool - particularly given what they earn!

cowboy

So what is it that makes young kids relatively interested in career possibilities and teenagers relatively disinterested? I imagine that it has something to do with starting to relate to parents and their roles and that talking about careers makes the young kids feel grown up. So are teenagers not interested in being “grown up”? Well they might be, but it’s probably more about being grown up with regards relationships. All of a sudden, any discussion around careers and the world of work becomes taboo. I guess this probably has to do with the “my mum and dad are idiots” phase initially, so anything they do is not worth considering. Those teenagers leaving school after GCSE’s are then faced with some rude surprises and choices and if they’re still in a “teenage” mindset, they’re not likely to engage willingly or constructively with these choices. Those fortunate enough to be going to study further are able to delay the inevitable and focus on the serious drinking and occasional attendance of lecturers that goes with being at Uni. Again, for many graduates, the reality hits home very late in the day.

I remember my dad showing concern at the fact that my marks at Uni were poor and my response was “I’m passing, aren’t I”? I have a feeling that it’s only the harsh realities of trying to get employment as a school leaver or new graduate these days that will change this. Unfortunately, I’m not sure there’s enough feedback taking place from those who now know how tough it is to those still under the illusion that life’s big decisions will take care of themselves.

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Which working environment will suit you?

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

One of the things that many job seekers don’t consider is the environment they’re going into. Sure, when times are tough, we tend to be less choosy. Ideally though, we want to have a good feel for the way in which our future employer operates. I’m not talking about your individual boss, I’m talking about the “culture” of the company - how things get done in that environment.

There are lots of ways of describing a company’s culture - here are just a few. Some companies are entrepreneurial. So the culture will be about getting results, doing everything now (if not yesterday), the sales team will be the kings as they’re generating new business and quality is not on the radar. Customers will often be disappointed with the service received. Others are traditional environments. These organisations have been around for a long time and pride themselves on that. When you walk into reception for an interview, you’re greeted by a bronze of the founder. Here, the hierarchy is sacrosanct, meetings are tedious and filling your forms in correctly is important. Others tend to adopt a culture based on what they do. So many engineering companies will have very functional (not flash) offices. Technical skills and mathematical ability are more important than how you dress and present and expertise is highly valued. Others are party environments. The advertising industry and similar such as events management and hospitality firms are known for the late hours and partying. There’s always the wine to be drunk that the customers didn’t get to! Then there’s the business in which one person provides strong leadership and everyone follows (often blindly). I know of one banking business in which the CEO used to wear Micky Mouse ties. Strangely, his top team started to do the same! Strong leadership is not always the best thing though.
dr-evil1

So, if you’re ever in the fortunate position of having more than one choice, think carefully and research the cultures of the companies offering you a job. You might find that one of them is a great fit and the other is not - even though the jobs themselves may be very similar.

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Posted in Career Counselling, Student Career Advice | 12 Comments »

Identifying and Using your Strengths - by Kara

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

I have just read a blog post by Scott Adams, writer of the Dilbert comic strip. He suggests that to have

Piecing together your skills for business

Piecing together your skills for business

more than the average career success you have to be the best at a specific thing, or in the top 25% at 2 or more things (with the latter being far easier to achieve). So… his ability as a comedian and his ability to draw along with his extensive knowledge of the office environment enabled his success in making comic strips.

Following on from Grant’s post on ‘What it takes to be Excellent’ which suggests that it takes 10,000 hours to be world class in any area, I wonder how long it takes to make the top 25%? My guess is often a lot less, and depending on your natural ability you may already be there! What is important is to be able to identify these strengths and to work on any that need boosting.

But is it really that simple? I would suggest that the biggest challenge is perhaps not that of becoming the top 25% in different things, but it’s finding a way to utilize these strengths. Having a strong sense of business, the ability to network and ask for advice are key to being able to achieve this.

So… what are your 3 strengths?

Please also reply to others to suggest how they can use their strengths to help them become successful!

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Posted in Student Career Advice, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

What it takes to be excellent

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010

If you haven’t read any Malcolm Gladwell (Tipping Point & Blink), I suggest you do. One of Gladwell’s mantra’s is that anyone wanting to become really successful or world class in their chosen career or profession needs to invest 10000 hours in developing the insights and knowledge required (that’s ten thousand for any of you questioning the number of zero’s). If you work 220 days a year, 8 hours a day, that’s a little over 5 years. He feels that for most people, the investment is closer to 10 years.

Apparently the Beatles notched up 10000 hours playing in Hamburg as they refined their sound and expertise. Bill Gates had early access to a computer and spent a similar period programming. When I first heard the 10000 hours rule, my first reaction was that this sounds like a seriously big amount of time. Let’s think about it though. Any Doctor who moves on to being a consultant will be in that ballpark.  Any graduate having completed a tough degree, graduate training and then focusing on a specialised area for 5 - 7 years is in that ballpark. To me, the 10000 hours themselves are not really the issue. What Gladwell is saying is that in order to be world class in anything, you have to specialise and to be completely focused. 10000-hour-rule

I have heard of Chief Executives having hiring strategies that focus on hiring anyone who has achieved world class skills in an area. In the UK, typically the approach to hiring is that you’re allowed to do the things you did last year. If you’re an auditor, you will only be considered for auditing positions. So, the above approach is radical. What it says is that if you’re been an international sportsman/woman, you would be in the running for an executive position because you have proven you possess the dedication and focus to achieve excellence.

I don’t like either approach. Only being considered for jobs that you have direct experience in is ludicrous.   I knew nothing about software before getting involved in starting ExecuTRACK in the UK and that was a great success. Similarly, taking on an individual into an executive position merely due to the fact that they’ve been a concert pianist also seems crazy.

To me, the 10000 rule seems a minimum criterion to achieve excellence. There are plenty of people who have invested this kind of time who are not world class. There’s still talent, motivation and innovation that make up the remainder of the recipe for excellence.

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Posted in Student Career Advice | 4 Comments »

What “being commercial” means

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

I grew up in an environment in which business wasn’t discussed at home. I didn’t know what a cheque was until I was 20! Even then, it’s taken me ages to get a feel for what business is really about - at times because it hasn’t always been my priority. I marvel at the ability of some of the business partners or colleagues I’ve worked with to be able to read a business situation and to identify clearly whether there is an opportunity or not. There’s no doubt that those people with a commercial feel have a clear advantage in the business world and are likely to get the promotions, understand better what they and their businesses are about and ultimately make more money and enjoy it. dragons-den

So, what is “being commercial”. Allow me to suggest a few things:

  1. It’s about being able to see the core of a business issue - the ability to cut through the waffle and understand the cause of a problem, or the factors influencing a situation.
  2. It’s about focusing on the right things and staying focused on them rather than being distracted.
  3. It’s also about knowing what services or products will make money (and why) and which will not do well and why. So being commercial is not about gambling, although there will be risk involved at times, it’s about reducing your risk in decisions by understanding the business environment better than others.
  4. Being commercial doesn’t necessarily mean you will start your own business. Once thing is for sure though, if you find that the management in the company employing you is not commercial, there’s a good chance you will leave and start your own business.
  5. Being commercial is not about having a superior education. In fact, often the reverse will be true. You don’t need a degree to know what will and won’t work in a business context. You may need the degree to get the job in the first place though!
  6. Finally, being commercial requires the ability to make tough decision. There’s no room for sentiment in a successful business.

With so much buying and selling activity online, the basics will be in place for many youngsters at a much earlier age than in the past. So that’s good news. For those of you wanting to differentiate yourself in an interview, there’s no better way to do that than by demonstrating your commercial skills (unless you’re looking for a job with the European Union or United Nations)!

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Posted in Student Career Advice | 4 Comments »

Is waiting something other people do?

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

One thing that has often puzzled me is how different vocations or careers are seen so differently in different cultures. One of the most obvious of these is waiting in restaurants. Growing up in South Africa, certainly no one that I knew would have considered waiting as a career option. At the time though, there wasn’t any real “food culture” in the country. I don’t think the UK is that different. How many UK students leaving school soon are focused on becoming a great waiter?  Think of the last time you were served in any kind of restaurant - from McDonalds to Gordon Ramsay’s. How many of the people who served you had British accents? My guess is not very many.  So what’s going on here? Is waiting something that other people do? career waiter!

I think the answer has a lot to do with the importance that food plays in a culture. If you’ve only ever eaten chicken nuggets and burgers in your childhood and never set foot in a decent restaurant, it’s really difficult to conceive of a career in which you work with and serve food. It’s different in many other countries in Europe. Many kids will have experienced good food and service in restaurants. Even the smallest village in France will have one or two really good restaurants. The more of a food culture there is in a society, the more likely it is that youngsters will consider related careers as being worthwhile and meaningful.

In Italy, France, Switzerland and others, students will work their butts off to get into hotel schools and similar in order to prepare for a career in hospitality.  These careers tend to be quite specialised and structured. The route to becoming a head chef in a top restaurant is both structured and arduous. There are some exceptions in which talented individuals (Heston Blumenthal) have bypassed this, but these are rare. There’s a similar structure in place for becoming a maitre d’hotel.

There’s no doubt that the UK has started to develop more of a food culture. Whether this has permeated to teenagers yet is another story. It will be obvious when the change occurs - you’ll be served by someone born in this country!

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Which way does the girl spin? - by Kara

Thursday, March 11th, 2010

Take a look at this article, the direction in which you see the girl spinning is supposed to predict the side of the brain that is most dominant. Some people can see both, and some can only see one way no matter how hard they try. I can only see anti-clockwise!

What do all these psychometric tests mean?

What do all these psychometric tests mean?

So… what can you extrapolate from your results? Well… some would say that this may guide you on some of your career choices, similar to psychometric testing which finds character traits you possess and tries to match that to a potential career. However, at MyTalentPlace we think that approach to careers advice sucks. If I took the advice when I was younger that I was right brain dominant and thus more creative and followed a career based on that, I would have missed out on some fantastic opportunities to study statistics and sciences which have developed my analytical skills and I would not have missed for the world. Or, if I had taken the results of my school psychometric assessment and become a zookeeper! - I may never have fulfilled my ambitions.

Whilst psychometric profiling is probably the most widely adopted form of Careers Guidance in UK schools, we have to question just how much you can tell from a multi-choice questionnaire? In our careers advice services we adopt the approach that the qualities and motivations of an individual have to be explored from all angles - in the business world this is known as 360 degree profiling. The process involves feedback from parents, teachers and peers and most importantly explores the motivations and aspirations of the student. The result? - students not only have an idea of the career they want and the ways to go about achieving success on that career path, but also helps develop their self-insight and understanding of what is important to them. See this video testimonial from Lottie who has been through the process.

Sure it’s fun to take these tests - it may give you some ideas and make you think about your characteristics (whether you agree with the results or not!) - but when its something as important as your career you want substantial foundations that you can build your success on!

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Posted in Student Career Advice, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Elvis might not be, but careers are dead!

Monday, March 1st, 2010

When I talk about careers, I’m talking about the conventional way of looking at a “career”. Just to be clear, let’s explore this in a little detail. To many people, a career means choosing a path (either through luck, planning, default or other), that will last until that dim distant date called retirement. Remember retirement, that’s the thing we all set out to do when we’re 40!  This career is likely to involve working for 3 - 5 companies during your working life, building your skills and experience steadily over time, probably becoming a specialist in an area and almost certainly managing others. Key though is the assumption that you’ll be doing similar things within a fairly narrowly defined area. In some countries this view of careers is particularly strong e.g. in Japan where even now, the idea of joining a company for life prevails.

Elvis - more alive than careers

If that’s what a career is, then careers are dead! OK, some professions (Doctors come to mind) will remain professions and although the pace of change in these professions will pick up, those of us starting out as Doctors are more likely to finish up as Doctors than other “careers”. I’ve spoken before about the research in the US showing that young adults entering the world of work now will have 14 different roles by the age of 38. Hard to believe? OK, in Europe we’re often behind the US (although we’ll hopefully never copy their eating habits), but let’s consider that hard to believe statement. Work from home is now common, companies are increasingly hiring on short term contracts. The nature of the relationship between individuals and companies is changing forever.  Companies don’t pretend that they can guarantee a job for any length of time and individuals don’t pretend that they are going to be loyal for any length of time.

Most work in business in the future is going to be conducted on a project basis. Don’t expect companies to put these project teams together either. We’re all going to have to develop skills in project management and in working virtually with people from all over the world. My upcoming posts are going to explore project careers in more detail. Cheers!

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Posted in Student Career Advice | 3 Comments »

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