Graduate Career Advice: Preparing for the University – Job Transition

The role of university-based graduate career advice centres is to help graduates develop their interests, job prospects and career options thus preparing them for entry into the job market.

Even if you’re still engaged in studies and haven’t thought much about searching for a job after university, it’s never too soon to seek out graduate career advice. It can provide a wealth of information about potential employment opportunities and help you steer your final year of school in the right direction, and give your education a real world focus that it may not have had up until now.

Why Do I Need Graduate Career Advice?

Graduate career advice helps you formulate a clear, objective assessment of your career options and provides assistance and direction so you can reach your goals. Most graduate career advice centres offer a range of options to help you develop and achieve your professional goals. If you seek graduate career advice while you’re still in university, you will learn how to make the most of your degree, and you’ll have time to acquire the additional knowledge and skills that will help you land that dream job.

While graduate career advice services may differ in their specific offerings, below are some of the key services usually offered under graduate career advice.

Personality / Aptitude Tests

Graduate career advisors often provide free and confidential psychometric tests to assess candidates’ aptitudes and interests. These tests typically identify your strengths and help you focus on making appropriate career choices. Personality tests can reveal your preferred communication style and key motivators, which in turn can provide pointers toward the career that suits you best.

Career Guidance

Graduate career advice is often centred on helping you explore a range of fields and job types so you can better understand your options. Not only do you get graduate career advice about specific industries, but you’ll also get typical job profiles and practical information on what it’s like to work in a particular field. Some services will also provide you with contact information for experts in the field you are interested in so those experts can give you graduate career advice from a real world perspective.

Application Assistance

Graduate career advice services can help you when preparing applications for part-time jobs and, internships, as well as full-time job placements. Most graduate career advice centres can provide direction on how to identify job listings that are right for you and help you follow up with applications. More specifically, a graduate career advice service can help you interpret the finer points of a job advertisement or description, answer questions on application forms, and ensure that your application package is complete and professional.

Interviewing Tips

A key benefit of getting graduate career advice is that it prepares you to face tough interview situations. Working with experts at a graduate career advice centre before that all-important interview means you’ll be ready to impress the recruiter / potential employer with your skills, knowledge, and presentation abilities. Graduate career The advice will helps you focus on your core strengths in a positive, professional manner and can also include coaching on how to handle potentially stressful telephone interviews.

How to Write a CV

Graduate career advice sometimes includes CV writing assistance to ensure your CV is in line with your career objectives. Most graduate career advice careers services recommend that those who are job searching maintain a dynamic, online CV, which enables you to easily tailor your CV template to a specific job and gets you noticed by thousands of recruiters and employers throughout the UK. It’s a good idea to have ask your graduate career advice service them to review your CV before you distribute it, which could give you an edge over other candidates.

In summary, graduate career advice can make the difference between a lengthy and unproductive job search and securing a coveted position in the field of your choice. Besides providing a wealth of information on the career planning process, graduate career advisors can introduce you to experts and professionals in your area of interest.

Career Advice On Freelance Writing Jobs

Sometimes the freelance writing jobs available are those that no
one wants. Or, they are those that new businesses are looking to
fill. You will not find postings for the best jobs and
employment because many of those jobs go to individuals who
already have an established career or a good working
relationship with those businesses. For those looking for career
advice to find the best freelance writing jobs available, they
can find a few things here that will help them get the
experience they need or at least get a foot in the door.

The most important aspect of getting the jobs that you want is
to present a well written portfolio. Any writer can create
pieces of work to show to individuals who want a sample. You do
not have to be commissioned to write, you can write just for the
sake of filling your portfolio. Just remember to put the best of
the best work you have in there.

Secondly, there are many types of freelance writing jobs
available. Yes, it is not just the book or prized article that
you should look for. Look for vacancies in smaller areas as
well. This will help you to develop relationships in the field.

Strive to meet the client’s needs. This will mean that you meet
deadlines. It will mean that you offer the best material you
can. But, it needs to meet the client’s specified requirements,
not necessarily what you think they should be.

Be professional, and build a website. Most businesses these days
are centered around their websites. Being professional means
presenting yourself in the most appropriate way.

In any case, there can be be many freelance writing jobs
available to you once you are in the know. When you learn how to
write to your clients needs and meet those needs properly with
each and every assignment that you do, employment will be
available to you. To find the assignments to start with, you may
have to present yourself outright. Simply always do so in a
positive, professional manner.

Career Advice: References Can Make or Break Your Job Search

Career Coaching

References are golden assets as you travel your career path. Nurture them with great care.

They may be personal or professional. The personal ones can speak to your stability and character. On the professional side, references should address your qualifications to handle the job. A combination of both types is first prize.

There are six career tips that will help you make sure your references assets work to your advantage in your search for a job.

1. Never take for granted that a reference will be positive. Get approval from each one, no matter how solid you may think the relationship is, so that the referring person can be prepared to speak for you from first hand knowledge. The last thing you want is for a reference to be caught off guard. This contact is best made with a face-to-face meeting. 

2. Bring the potential reference up to speed on your job status. Detail the history of your career. Explain the reasons you are looking for a new position. Explain your career goals.

3. Describe in detail the job you are seeking. Ask for career advice, as well as any leads to job opportunities. Never forget, everybody likes to be ask for advice.

4. After you secure their assurance of a positive reference, send them a copy of your resume and cover letter. Request their comments. This is a good way to get them involved in your search.

5. Keep references involved in your job search. Request that they notify you when they receive calls from prospective employers. Get their take on the degree of interest the interviewers have in your application and the status of the search.

6. The follow-up is an extremely important part of the process. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement and challenges of a new job so you forget to thank those who provided references. That’s a big mistake. Send “thank you” notes for their agreeing to serve as a reference. Keep them posted on the progress of your job search. After you get the job, keep your references posted on the progress you make on your career path.

Never burn your bridges. Remember you may need these references in the future.

Taking Free Career Advice With a Grain of Salt

Every graduate who takes free career advice from a friend or family member needs to look beyond the advice to determine motivations. Your graduation from university will be accompanied by dozens of loved ones and colleagues offering free career advice without solicitation. Your desire to be polite to every career advisor should not lead to an acceptance of free career advice without some analysis. There are multiple criteria you can apply to career advice to determine the tips that are best for your young career.

The professional background of an advice provider is important as you consider free career advice. A lawyer offering advice on specific areas of legal studies to pursue in postgraduate education is a valuable resource. A retired police officer who provides tips on success in IT sales may not offer the best advice available. You should ask what an advisor does for a living to place free career advice into context.

The substance of free career advice may not be effective if the presentation style of your advisor is unorthodox. This advice does not need to be provided through a PowerPoint presentation but it should be provided with a certain sense of decorum. You should not take free career advice from an individual who is promoting a specific company, criticising a specific company and using inappropriate language during their advice. The quality of free career advice is only as good as the person presenting the advice.

The best free career advice comes from an experienced professional with anecdotes to back up his suggestions. Your recent graduation from a university should leave research and methodology courses fresh in your mind. You would not draw assumptions in philosophy, biology and other fields without sufficient evidence. You should apply this same standard to free career advice.

In contrast, the worst career advice comes from people who think that one-size-fits-all platitudes help in every situation. A relative who says that the secret to any job lies in a single characteristic or action cannot be regarded as a trustworthy source of career advice. There are few professions where one piece of advice is sufficient to guiding a professional toward profit and happiness. Your quest for advice on building a successful career should take into account multiple points of view. These tips can help you develop relationships with trusted advisors who can offer help throughout your career.

Career Advice & Professional Mentoring Tips

If you have just left school and are trying to find a way to start your career then you might find that it’s much more difficult than you imagined. There are however quite a few things that you can do to land that dream career so that you’re proud and happy with your job.

Things you can do

Later on we’re going to mention the possibility of hiring professional career advisors to help you decide what sort of job to do, however before we show you how to find mentors we will look at some of the important things that you can do yourself.

Getting a job and building a career is ultimately your own responsibility, even if you do decide to hire help you will still be required to put in plenty of effort. It’s not all up to the career advisor to get you your dream job. You must think about the type of job that you would like to do, and start planning how you are going to achieve it. If you can find your own way then you will find it much more rewarding.

Keep an eye on job vacancies in your local paper or on the internet, if you find any that match your career plan then apply to them even if you already have a job. Try to build relationships with people that can help you to achieve your goals.

To stand any chance of landing a good job you need to be seen as a form of expert in the field, to make this possible you should make sure that you communicate as much as possible. Tell people what you are doing, and don’t be afraid to take the credit when you do something right. The idea is to try and build your personal brand, some way to differentiate you from the hundreds of other applications.

The most important thing that you can do yourself is take a personal interest in getting the job done, don’t wait for people to come looking for you. Make sure that you’re the first to do everything, this way you stand a much better chance of climbing up the career ladder as quickly as possible.

Hiring Help

Once you’ve done all of the things that you can do to help yourself you might like to consider hiring a career advisor, there are a number of different executive coaching experts all over Australia, many of which can offer very useful services.

One of the most popular career advice websites is CareerSavant which can be found at www.careersavant.com.au. This site is wonderful because it puts you in touch with the business experts that you so desperately need to see, the cost of the service is very reasonable, and considering what you get should make all the difference to your career.

When using the services of CareerSavant you can either find a mentor through the website and then pay using them as an agency, or you can also look at private listings.

www.careersavant.com.au

Moving Beyond the Typical Careers Advice for a Successful Career

There is no shortage of people offering careers advice to graduates throughout the United Kingdom. This advice comes with the best of intentions but most graduates are focused narrowly on getting their foot in the door within their industry. There are a few proven bits of career advice that graduates can take with them through their first year on the job.

All graduates need to keep advanced education opportunities open in their early careers. Advanced education can take the form of an online education program, an advanced degree program at a traditional university or a comprehensive training program within the workplace. Graduates just entering the work force need to think of tuition costs and fees as an investment in better wages down the road.

Graduates also need to show their interest in advancement early and often to their managers. Young professionals make the mistake of assuming that their hard work and completion of major projects will show their desire to move upward in the workplace. Every graduate should sit down with their manager as soon as they realize that they want to make their job a career and develop a path up the corporate ladder.

It is also important to build a network of colleagues and contacts throughout the workplace for support as a career progresses. Graduates make friends with their office mates but many overlook important contacts in different departments and different levels that can help them meet their career goals. The use of full staff meetings, parties and outings as networking opportunities can help a graduate build a list of references unparalleled by their peers.

In many industries, graduates need to begin publishing early and often in trade publications. Graduates who want to expand their possibilities within their particular industry should seek out every opportunity to promote their professional skills. Trade websites, blogs and conferences allow graduates to meet with experienced colleagues while showing off their acumen. The process of publishing itself shows the resilience and intelligence of a graduate before they ever get their first credit.

Graduates need to reassess their career goals on an annual basis to keep their perspective on their career path fresh. The idea that career goals are set in stone has been eliminated by the transient nature of modern employment. A graduate will change career paths and jobs several times in their lives which makes an annual reassessment of long held goals is the smart thing to do.

Career Advice: Tension’s Brewing Over Internet Use; Know The Rules

By

Ramon Greenwood

There’s tension building between employers and their staffs over use of the Internet at work for both personal and business uses.

Younger staffers, who are usually more tech-savvy than their bosses, are pushing for more access to social networking and others sites, both for work purposes and for when they’d like to take a break from their jobs.

At the same time, many are finding that the sites they are expected to use for researching and communicating for work are blocked; and they are unable to take a break to read a news story on line or check their personal e-mail or social network accounts.

Meanwhile, employers want the advantage of Internet technology, but are concerned about security for confidential competitive information, time being wasted and legal exposure. The result is that many lean toward blocking all or most access.

Career Tip: The Boss Is Always Watching

According to a study by the American Management Association, 76% of the companies surveyed monitor Internet usage; 55% store and review e-mail; 51% use video surveillance; 50% store and review computer usage;

22% record telephone calls

“Wide-open Internet access is the risky approach,” says Chris King, Palo Alto Network. “But to close off all access is “increasingly untenable for cultural and business reasons.”

The wise careerist makes sure he understands his employer’s policy before blogging, tweeting, sending personal e-mails, to say nothing of watching sports and downloading movies. (Nearly half of U.S. employers have policies against visiting personal networking or video sharing sites during work hours.) If there’s not a policy in place, he ask for guidance. He can be sure that his employer is probably looking over his shoulder, stated policy or not.

Career Guidelines

The Associated Press offers career guidelines for using the web and other electronic devices at work:

• Remember that anything you do on a company-issued computer or cell phone–in or out of the office–could be tracked by a boss, the courts or a regulator. Many employers monitor web site use, keystrokes, instant messages and e-mail. Some even archive text messages on work cell phones.

• Avoid mentioning your company, boss or co-workers in outline postings unless you have permission to do so.

• Avoid using any device to take or transmit any company-related photos, videos or other recordings without permission from management. This rule includes any images of company buildings or logos and embarrassing or unprofessional photos of co-workers or clients.

• Know your company’s policy on social networking, video web sites, e-mail and other tech-related activities.

• Regularly delete personal e-mail from your work account.

• Remember when searching for a job that many employers check social networking sites, blogs and other online activity.

The wise careerist follows two pieces of common sense career advice:

1. Know the rules your employer is enforcing for use of electronic devices.

2. Never post anything on a company-owned electronic device that you wouldn’t want to appear on the bulletin boards where you work.

Career Advice: There Are At Least 14 Ways To Sabotage An Interview

You’ve been invited in for an interview for a job that looks to be just right for you. You are confident that your qualifications are a good fit for the requirements of the job.

Now, it’s up to you to conduct a winning face-to-face interviews with those persons who will make the final hiring decision. It’s time to sell the total package that is you and the benefits you can deliver. In other words, it’s time to close the deal. Will you make the sale? It’s not likely if you commit one or more of the most flagrant errors of omission or commission. Here are 14 such bombs that can sabotage your interview, along with advice on how to avoid them.

1. Be over confident. Assume the interviews are just a formality on your way to a job offer.

2. Fail to gather information about the potential employer before the interview such as mission of the organization; type of business; where the job you are interviewing for fits in the hierarchy and culture of the organization.

Having this information in hand enables you to demonstrate your interest and to tailor your presentation to fit the requirements of the position.

3. Fail to lay out a map for the case you want to communicate; include the points you mean to make and the questions you will ask.

Know the impression you want to leave with the interviewers. Identify at least three points you mean to communicate as well as a brief summary. Rehearse, rehearse, preferably with some one who can and will critique your presentation.

4. Be late for the interview.

There is no surer way to show a lack of respect and interest than to arrive late for an interview.

5. Fail to pay attention to your physical presentation from the moment you enter the premises of the potential employer until you are well away from all contact.

Remember, you are selling a total package.

Strive to make a favorable impression on everyone you meet from receptionist to the final interviewer. Adhere to the code of dress. Unless you know for certain that the environment is casual dress in business attire. In any case, be well groomed.) Walk briskly, heads up, shoulders back. Don’t slouch when seated. Avoid the dead-fish handshake. Speak distinctly. Keep in mind that everyone you encounter is important to your mission. Be courteous to one and all.

6. Fail to concentrate on the interviewer and the give and take of the discussion.

Maintain eye contact; avoid gazing out the window or admiring the artwork on the wall. Unless forced by the interviewer, avoid chitchatting about the weather and the score of last night’s big game.

7. Ask about work hours, time off and other benefits before an offer is in hand.

8. Fail to treat the interview as a two-way communication process. Sit out the interview like a knot on a log. Let the interview become a monologue conducted by the interviewer.

Asking well-informed questions demonstrates you are interested in the opportunity and shows off your qualifications, as well as personality. In addition, they develop information you need to evaluate how the opportunity serves your career goals.

9. Waste valuable time bad criticizing your former employer (s) and people you have worked with.

10. Lie about your qualifications.

11. Let your guard down when it appears the interview is over.

A canny interviewer may act as if the interview has ended, then blindside you with questions in order to see how you react to the unexpected. What appears to be an off-the-cuff comment or question could be among the most vital parts of the interview.

If you are invited to a meal, keep in mind that you are still being interviewed. Mind your manners. Avoid alcohol. If the interviewer insists, limit yourself to one glass of wine. Don’t order food that can be difficult to eat without making a mess.

12. Overstay your welcome.

Once the interviewer has signaled that it is time for you to go–even though you are anxious to keeping selling–wrap up the discussion and leave in short order.

13. Fail to make it absolutely clear that you want the job.

14. Fail to express appreciation for the opportunity to interview; thank everyone with whom you had contact during the interviewing process.

Here’s the core message to this career advice: To conduct a successful interview present yourself as a product to be sold. Mind your total packaging (i.e. dress). Identify the benefits you can deliver.

Career Advice

If you are facing such a situation or maybe you are just looking for a change in careers, this article provides career advice on how you can find work from home job opportunities that are legal and above board.  We have added a few tips on how to avoid the scammers so settle down for an interesting read.

Career advice recommendations for work at home projects:

Despite the number of scams, there still are legitimate online jobs available. Check out the following work for work at home opportunities.

There are many companies that need direct representatives and it is a good way to make money.  Avon and other big names in the cosmetic industry are always on the lookout for additions to their teams.  You have to invest in the initial kit and you can use the products for demonstration and on yourself as well.  Taking a franchise is fast catching on, but watch-out for sites that ask you to invest huge amounts of money.  Go for companies that offer products that are low cost and low maintenance. Online tutoring that requires people to teach English or math, communication skills and a whole host of other skills.  You may have to provide proof of your education or any training you have undergone, so if you plan on making a full time career shift to online tutoring, invest in some formal training. You can sign up on a couple of good, safe sites to do writing, editing, translation even administration and technical programming.  Assess your skills and apply for skill specific jobs.  You get to work from the comfort of your home and enjoy great flexibility in timings. Be wary of scammers, the legitimate sites do not require you to pay a registration fee, ergo, anyone asking for your credit card details right off the bat should send the red flag way up.  Check the email addresses listed on the site – stay away from those who list gmail, yahoo and other generic email addresses.  Don’t touch sites that ask for references with the initial application, that’s not the way legitimate sites work.

Good Financial Career Advice for You

A lot of careerists think of job security and hence they stay stuck to a single job. But then there is one thing you must face with, job security is something of the past. You have to keep your guard up because you have to recognize when your job is in danger. You also need to have a stand by or a plan b which you are going to follow if you lose your job. The first tip in financial career advice is that you have to have a backup job if you lose the one you are currently in.

Now there are various signals which you will see which is going to tell you that you are in trouble.

The first is that you have performance rating which are bad or even mediocre. Then you should be searching for a new job. No one will keep someone who has bad performance rating.

The second is if you see that the business if falling apart. If you see that there are rumors going on saying that the company is having trouble then your alarm should go ringing and you should start looking in the classified ads.

Finally if you see that your employees are being cut off or fired then there might be a chance that you will be as well. Or if you see that managers are dropping out of the company then it should be time to jump ship. So check out if other companies want employees like you.

After all you don’t want to be left unemployed when you are fired from your job. So the second finance job tip is to find a job the moment you think something is wrong and to not stay unemployed.

There are a few other finance job tips, you need to lean everything you can about the state of business that your employer is in. then you need to make sure that your resume is up to date this way if you are laid off then you can immediately start job hunting. You won’t have to waste your time updating your resume.

After all time is money. Then you need to have an emergency account which will help you if you can’t find another job. Another thing you can do is trying and pick up new skills.

As times change the pattern of demand in the market also changes and if you are updated with your skills then you will have a better opportunity of finding a job. Finally you need to make sure that you have proper contact. You need to stay in touch with people who are important and who could help you in the future.