5 tips to help boost your CV

1. Tailor it to the role Before you start writing your CV, think about the person who is going to read it, what do they want to know? The job advert is a great place to start, go through it and highlight key skills and experience that the employer is looking for and then think …

How to make networking work for you?

Many jobs are filled by personal referrals and recommendations. In other words, your chances of getting an interview increases when you know someone on the inside of a company or organisation. To do that, you need to network. This is basically connecting with people that you either know or are even strangers to ask for …

Situational Judgement Tests – Thinking Ahead

The thinking behind psychometrics – selecting candidates for types of jobs based on fair but competitive assessment of their intelligence-based behaviour – has been around for thousands of years. Situational judgement tests (SJTs), however, have only been around for fifty years. It took a while for them to gain ground in the recruitment landscape – …

Revealing Psychometrics

The thinking behind psychometric tests has actually been around for about 4000 years. It was applied by Chinese emperors for many hundreds of years in deciding who should be at court and the positions they should have before Confucius said of differences between people, “their nature might be similar but behaviours are far apart” (c. …

Thinking about PhDs?

Many of you who are enjoying and performing well in your studies at undergraduate and Masters level could be considering doing a PhD in the near future. This can be a fantastic opportunity if you find a topic you are passionate about and are willing to work hard and take responsibility for your own research …

Are you interested in working in a Creative and Cultural job?

One of the things that I hear from Arts students is that there are no jobs in the Arts for Arts students. Now, whilst I agree that the Creative and Cultural sector CAN be challenging - people work in the sector so there must be jobs, right? So where are they and how do you …

Student Stories: our spring week experience

Spring weeks or insight days offer early year students the opportunity to gain work experience, build connections in competitive industries. These pre-internship experiences are popular and important for those considering a career in investment banking but they also feature in other sectors such as professional services, law, accountancy and consulting. They last from a few …

Reasons you should write a cover letter even when the job description says it is optional.

Writing a cover letter for every application is tricky as you have been told that you need to target it to each job.  So, when you come across the words “cover letter optional” or it is not even mentioned on a job posting, you might feel a weight lift off you. After all, your application …

What is happening in graduate recruitment?

A few weeks ago, the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) conducted a Pulse Survey with scores of graduate recruiters across the UK to see what their student recruitment plans were. The context is a (now official) UK labour market recession but with a few emerging signs of the start of a gradual recovery. This type …

I have been accepted onto a postgrad course. Is 2020 a good time to undertake postgraduate study?

A Mathematics & Statistics class Congratulations on completing your undergraduate degree. Undoubtedly, this is a challenging time in which to transition into your next career step. If your career plans led you to apply for and accept a place on a Postgraduate Study programme for this Autumn then you may a degree of safety in …

Job searching and applications – Q&A

Finding a job can feel like a full-time job in itself and after spending hours on an application and putting your heart and soul into it, it can be really disheartening to receive a rejection e-mail with no feedback on why you didn’t get the invitation to the next stage. In today’s blog, I’m going …

What should be on an entry level CV?

Getting an ‘entry-level job’ is a competitive process. When you look at job descriptions and see the lists of skills and experiences companies are looking for the prospect can be overwhelming. You know you are ready to start a great career so how do you convince someone to give you an entry-level job? That is …

5 ways to develop your skills at home

Finished exams and coursework and looking for ways to develop your skills online? In this blog, we'll explore 5 ways you can develop your skills and experience from the comfort of your home. 1. Take part in a virtual internship Internship Experience UK - 3 day virtual internships, content delivered by industry experts and leading …

Career Progression Strategies During COVID-19

Although this is a global pandemic, it has spread across the globe in such a way that entire regions move into and then beyond peak levels of infection at different times. All areas of life, culture and employment are affected, differently, according to region. More on that below. We know of course that the virus …

Getting over the rejection from job applications

The CV that goes off into the online application ether. The call for a second interview that never comes. The rejection letter after all the effort you put into that interview that hits you hard. No matter what stage you are at in the job search process, it is likely that rejection has come your …

Get Ahead of the Game with Informational Interviews

COVID-19 arrived in March like a tornado, disrupting and changing all our lives in ways we could never have imagined.  Now, three months on, and the academic year behind us, your thoughts may be turning to new opportunities beyond studies.  If you’re wanting to explore a new career path, or start making applications for graduate …

Lockdown and Stress – It’s Personality!

You really don't need me to tell you that all of us – including Careers Managers, Students, Academic Staff and all our friends and families - have been affected by the Covid 19 Pandemic, and the lockdown in particular. For most of us no changes come without some stresses and strains, and the bigger and …

The New Creative Normal

Question: What do the people below have in common? Alex Smith, XpoNorth Paul Wilson: Musician, Snow Patrol Julie Fowlis: Musician Joe Mcalinden: Musician/ Composer/ Producer Mark Allen: Music Supervisor Mark Gordon: Owner, Score Draw Music Pete Fletcher: Producer, musician, studio owner, Black Bay Studio Dougie Brown: Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival/ Artist Manager/ The Gathering/ Blue Kirkhope: SMIA/ Artist Manager Caroline Campbell: Ironworks Venue/ Belladrum Tartan Heart …

5 Steps you can take to plan your future

Are you about to graduate and thinking about your next steps? Or perhaps you’re in 1st, 2nd or 3rd year and while you are at home, you want to spend some time thinking about your future direction? Well in this week’s blog, I discuss 5 steps to start planning your future. STEP 1: GETTING TO …

Job Interviews on Zoom

Hello to you all. I hope you are keeping well. All of us Careers Managers are keeping busy during lockdown offering lots of careers consultations via Zoom. For me this has included a lot of mock interviews for students and researchers who have been offered job interviews via Zoom. So yes, some vacancies may have …