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Securing Your Career

The document provides guidance on securing a job, emphasizing the importance of using Mind Maps for organizing CVs, cover letters, and interview preparation. It advises utilizing university career resources, setting clear career goals, and understanding the skills employers seek. Additionally, it outlines the components of a CV and interview preparation tips to enhance job application success.

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14 views23 pages

Securing Your Career

The document provides guidance on securing a job, emphasizing the importance of using Mind Maps for organizing CVs, cover letters, and interview preparation. It advises utilizing university career resources, setting clear career goals, and understanding the skills employers seek. Additionally, it outlines the components of a CV and interview preparation tips to enhance job application success.

Uploaded by

karimgameaa
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Confidential Customized for Lorem Ipsum LLC Version 1.

Securing
your career
Securing a job

Mind Maps are great for every part of the recruitment process. When
putting your CV together, you can write everything you have ever done
on a giant Mind Map and then use it as the basis to organise and write
your CV. The same can be done for cover letters and competency based
questions. If you have an assessment centre or interview, Mind Maps
are great for researching organisations. You can get all the information
down in one place and constantly expand it when you need to, rather
than writing a new page of notes all the time.
Careers advice – the best resource

Before we get into this, a word of advice. Our experience,


which has been backed up by comments of the reviewers
of this book (i.e. other academics), is that most
universities have superb careers resources. But it is also
true to say that careers professionals always say that all
too often students do not make the best use of this
resource. Our very strong advice is to go to your careers
centre and tap into as much of their experience and
resources as you can.
Key question: what are you trying to
achieve?

The important thing to establish before anything else is to


decide where you want to go, i.e. your career goals.

You are probably fed up of the word goals by now but we


just can’t emphasise enough how important they are.

Without knowing your goals there is little chance of


securing the right job as you will not know what type of CV
to write, where to look for jobs, how to prepare for an
interview
What you can offer?

Each employer will seek a mix of skills that are specific to


its culture as well as the vacancy.

However, generally speaking there are certain key skills


that employers are seeking

, it is important to learn about these to identify any gaps in


your skill set and subsequently begin developing them.
Where do you want to work?

You must select where you wish to work in terms of


sector/industry and geographical location.

Have a think about the type of culture you wish to work in,
the type of people, etc.

Try not to limit yourself by being open to many different


locations and sectors.
Why do you want to work?

Finally, you have to determine why you want to work. At a


simple level, most will say for money but it is about far
more than this

. For example, if you want to work to make a difference in


the world then charities may be of high importance to you.
Preparing the plan

When you have an idea of what you want, it is important to


articulate the plan. Going back to the chapter on goal
setting, some of the key questions are:

• What are the benefits?

• What are the key blockers?

• How are the blockers going to be overcome?


Finding the job

Many students concentrate on the same websites and


sources for jobs, which actually worsens the problem of
competition. Websites are a great way to find a job but
they are just one source of many. It is a simple case of
statistics, the more methods you use the higher chance
you have of securing your dream job.

For example: University careers service, Mentoring, Career


exhibitions, presentations and open days and Networking
The job recruitment process

Different opportunities and organisations will encompass


different processes, however, most share common
elements which we want to share with you. Companies
actually receive a significant number of bad applications
and this is what we want to help you avoid.
1. The CV

The CV is an important tool in your armoury, it is


essentially a summary of you and your life experience.

Essentially a CV needs to encompass education, work


experience and your skills. All CVs encompass these
elements in one way or another and the different types of
CVs place a different emphasis on one or more of these.
Combining this with the fact there is a competitive job market there are three key
implications for writing a CV:

1. Make each point distinct – there is little room on a CV so none of it should be wasted.
2. Ensure every line adds value – every line needs to be valuable in the eyes of an
employer, be it from a specific duty in a job to your phone number which allows them to
contact you.
3. Presentation – it needs to be easy to read and consistent fonts and formatting will
ensure thi
2. Parts of The CV

1. General information At the start of your CV, you need:

• Name

• Address

• Telephone number

• E-mail address
2. Profile (optional)

• Here you can briefly introduce yourself.

• Write about your main strengths or qualities.

• Make sure you do not oversell yourself – that is, be


honest.

• You can also mention your career goals here.

3. Education

• Write the places of education where you have studied –


most recent education first. Include subject

options taken in each year of your course. Include any


special projects or activities in which you had
4. Work experience

List your most recent experience first. This is called


reverse sequential order.

You only need to include the year you started and the year
you finished each job.

Give the name of your employer, the job title, and what
you actually did and achieved in that job.

Part-time work should be included, especially if you do not


have much full-time work experience.

5. Skills

Ability in other languages, computing experience, or


possession of a driving license should be included.
6. Competencies

List down all the competencies you possess, like: problem


solving, attention to details, planning & organizing, etc.

7. References

Usually give two names – one from your place of study,


and one from any work/volunteer situation.

Speak to referees and make sure that they are willing to


give you a reference.

Give their phone numbers if possible.


3. Interviews
1. Pre-interview

Before the interview, you need to discover when and where the interview will be
conducted, whether you can learn from other people who may have attended and the
interview style and agenda. It is crucial to research the company.
During the interview
When you meet the employer, remember to give a firm handshake and maintain eye
contact.

When answering questions, take a minute to think through your answers and if you did not
quite understand then ask the interviewer to repeat/clarify the question
Commonly asked interview questions

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