Researching occupations and employment sectors

Researching careers No Comments

Many thanks to my colleague Janet Onyia for this blog post which gives an introduction to a great resource for researching occupations and employment sectors. If you are thinking of a career change, or career development within your current sector, I’d encourage you to have a look at ‘The Guide to Occupations’ section of our website. Carol

This blog is the start of a series on the careers resources available to you from the Careers Service and how best to utilise them. This series will guide you through some of the valuable information on our website, MyCareerHub and the Careers channel on MyEd.

In this first post of the series we’ll look at how you can use our website to research different roles and industry sectors. This information mainly sits under the ‘Explore your options’ part of our website in the ‘Guide to Occupations’ Section.

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This section pulls together a wide range of careers information, from job profiles and vacancy sources to industry insights, all in one location.

On the Find Your Sector page we’ve created broad categories, subdivided into smaller sectors. For example, the Science, Environment and Energy category is subdivided into Environment and energy, and Scientific research, analysis and support.

Each sector has an overview and several sub-sectors. Environment and energy, for example, includes Cartography, Extraction and energy production, Environmental protection and conservation, and more. These contain information on different roles within that area, including occupational profiles giving typical job descriptions with duties, entry requirements, average salary information and typical employers.

Whether you already have your career planned out or you’re thinking of a change of direction, this section will give you valuable industry-related information and alternative vacancy sources.

Watch out for our next Resources post which will focus on Vault, a leading provider of company rankings, intelligence and guides, available on the Careers channel in MyEd.

Career decisions: assessing what’s important to you

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We all want different things from a career / job.  Some people want to earn lots of money, some to have a good life-work balance, some to feel they are making a difference to society, some to be constantly challenged, and others may want all of those things and more. Reflecting on what’s important to you in a job and how this fits into the rest of your life can help you to make good career decisions and find job satisfaction.

Many of you will be working alongside your studies but may be hoping further study will help you to progress in your career.  The Wheel of Life is a tool which can help you to take stock of where you are now in your career and where you want to be.  Think about the significant factors for you in career.  In the illustration below we’ve chosen doing something worthwhile, finding challenge in a job, the status a job role gives you, the amount of travel you do for work, using the knowledge gained through study, and achieving work-life balance.  Some of these things may be important to you but you’ll come up with your own list.

Wheel of life - what's important Draw your own Wheel of Life.  For each factor that is significant for you, plot on the wheel from 1 – 10 (where 1 is low and 10 is high) how far you are expending energy current role (as a student or as an employee) is satisfying these needs.  Then do it again to show where you would like the relative levels to be for each factor.  Remember that sometimes you need to make choices in a career so choosing 10 for each of your key factors is probably not going to be realistic; you need to consider how important each factor is and where you are willing to compromise.  Once you have a visual representation of this you should start to see where you would like to make changes in your life / career.  Then it’s up to you to consider how you can make those changes!

If you’d like to discuss any of this with a careers consultant please make an appointment via the link below.

Talk to a careers consultant

Great candidate – shame about the maths!

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If you’ve had no need to use numeracy skills for a number of years it’s quite possible that you may be feeling a little rusty in this area. With numeracy tests becoming a regular part of the recruitment process, particularly with larger employers, a weakness in this area can become an issue. Due to this I wanted to let you know about a free MOOC (on-line course) which could be just what you need to refresh your knowledge.

A three week Future Learn course entitled Numeracy Skills for Employability and the Workplace is being offered by Loughborough University’s Mathematics Education Centre. It is open to all learners who wish to build on their basic understanding of mathematics and aims to support employer psychometric tests. Over 5500 learners have already taken this course so you are not alone. Registration for the course is required by 19 October 2015 and you learn at your own pace.

If this course isn’t for you, or you’d like to find out a bit more about selection tests before signing up, you may want to have a look at the selection tests page on the Careers Service website. You’ll find an overview of the types of tests you may encounter, advice on approaching them,  and links to practice tests through the link below.

Good luck!

 

Communicating effectively

Career Management No Comments

CommunicationThere are many different theories or tools which can help us to understand the way in which we communicate and the impact this may have on others.  Obviously effective communication can be a key feature of good career management.  Some of the ways in which good communication can have a positive impact on career are:

  • communicating what you are gaining from postgraduate study to a current employer (or at interview for a new job)
  • making sure a manager is aware of the contribution you are making to the goals of the organisation you work for
  • building a strong network who can keep you up to date with news and information relevant to your field or link you in to interesting experiences

and there are many more!

I came across something called Wilson Learning’s Social Style model recently which states that there are four main communication styles.  The types are:

Expressive – strengths are open, friendly, enthusiastic, and imaginative.  Communicate with them by:

  • Supporting their views
  • Socialising
  • Talking about people issues
  • Asking for opinions
  • Offering personal incentives
  • Supporting their ideas

Amiable – strengths are supportive, patient, and diplomatic.  Communicate with them by:

  • Beginning with a personal compliment
  • Highlighting people issues
  • Finding common ground
  • Being open and candid
  • Asking “why?” questions

Analytical – strengths are thinking, thorough, and disciplined.  Communicate with them by:

  • Being prepared
  • Acknowledging their expertise
  • Giving credentials
  • Discussing pros and cons
  • Sticking to business
  • Giving more specific evidence

Driver – strengths are independent, decisive, and determined.  Communicate with them by:

  • Being clear, specific and brief
  • Presenting facts
  • Being logical
  • Providing alternatives
  • Focusing on results
  • Asking “what?” questions

The theory says that individuals are much more likely to communicate effectively with people who have the same style.  However, understanding how different people like to communicate, and making changes to your approach accordingly, may help increase the impact of your communication.  You may not recognise which of these four types you, or others, are but that doesn’t mean you can’t incorporate some of the ideas into your communication.  It’s something to think about!

If you’d like to find out more, and decide if you agree with the model, go to the Wilson Learning website.

Pitch perfect – developing a successful elevator pitch

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We all encounter situations when we have only a fleeting opportunity to introduce ourselves to someone we’d like to make contact with and / or impress. My colleague, Susan Bird, offers advice on how to make the most these opportunities:

elevator picture

You’re at a conference or CPD seminar and have just grabbed a sandwich. You’ve just realised that one of the speakers who is influential in your field is also grabbing a sandwich. You have a brief opportunity to introduce yourself in a way that could open up some interesting conversations. So, what do you say?

An elevator pitch is a marketing principle based on the idea of how you would pitch a business, product or service to someone in the time of a quick elevator ride but it can be used equally well to talk succinctly about yourself. It can be used in a variety of professional situations such as conferences, networking events and in interviews.

For many of us, this can feel a bit out of our comfort zone but it’s an important part of professional networking and one that can pay dividends in terms of making an impact and being remembered for all the right reasons.

Being confident about what you say and how you say it is a skill that improves with practice, although some preparation in advance always helps especially as the whole principle hangs on your pitch being 30-60 seconds. So before your next event, start by thinking:

  • Who could you be talking to and what might be of most interest to them about you?
  • Why do you want to talk to them? What are you trying to achieve?

 Seven steps to a good elevator pitch

  • Start with your name and course/work you are doing
  • Come up with two or three key points you might want to get across about yourself, your experience and what you are interested in (…what you are developing as a result of ODL course could make you stand out…)
  • End with a call to action – are you looking for advice? Scope to collaborate on a project or dissertation? An introduction to others in their sector?
  • Write everything down
  • Practice actually saying this – a lot – in a mirror, on your phone or webcam, with friends – before you attend any events until you feel a bit more confident but keep the tone conversational.
  • Keep it under 60 seconds
  • Finish with a question to get the conversation going

Find out more about elevator pitches at:

1)http://idealistcareers.org/a-quick-guide-to-writing-your-elevator-pitch-with-examples/

2) http://www.wikihow.com/Develop-Your-Personal-Elevator-Pitch

Increasing your confidence at interviews

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You’re certainly not alone if you feel a bit nervous and under-confident before an interview. Your nervous energy can be a real asset when channelled positively by giving that adrenaline boost which helps you to make a great impression. But this is not always the case!

So, if this applies to you, what can you do to turn this situation around? Preparation is the key to interview success but there are also a number of techniques which can help you feel more relaxed on the day. A recent article in the Guardian newspaper “Seven ways to boost confidence at a job interview” offers some great tips:

  • Aim to connect with interviewers, not impress them
  • Use breathing techniques to boost confidence
  • Be kind to yourself before the interview
  • Use power poses and relaxation exercises to curb anxiety
  • Imagine yourself succeeding
  • Prepare and rehearse your answers out loud
  • Make friends with your anxiety, and smile

With all this in mind let’s come back to that all important interview preparation. Allowing enough time to prepare thoroughly for an interview will make huge difference to your confidence. Ensure that you gain a really good insight into the job you are being interviewed for and the organisation you are applying to. You also want to be absolutely clear about your motivation for applying for this particular role and what you will bring to the organisation.

Anticipating the sorts of questions you are likely to be asked and preparing how you’ll answer them will help you to feel in control on the day. You can expect questions asked to focus on the requirements highlighted in the vacancy details but it’s good to reflect on what else you know about the role and organisational culture. Don’t worry about formulating word perfect answers at this stage. What you need is a clear idea of the skills, experience, knowledge and personal qualities you possess which are relevant to this role … and to identify specific examples of when you have developed and used these. Having these examples in the forefront of your mind will help you provide convincing evidence of your suitability at the interview.

You’ll find more information on interviews, what to expect and how to prepare, on the Careers Service website.

Good luck with your next interview!

Telling stories about yourself

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stack of books

There are many stories we could tell about our lives – what’s the story of your career?

The narrative approach to careers is about telling your career ‘story’ or narrative in order to understand yourself and make sense of your career. Your career story is your personal perspective on your working life including the objective facts, subjective emotions, attitudes and goals of your career. You could tell your career story verbally or by writing it down.

You create your career story retrospectively as a means of determining and explaining the meaning of day to day events in your life. The basic principle behind the approach is that by telling your story you can get a sense of how you’ve got where you are and how you understand your situation. When you make career choices you don’t separate these from the rest of your life; the decisions that you make are influenced by and grounded in your prior experiences and if you can tell your story it can help you to understand your concept of ‘career’ and what is possible.

The narrative approach is about more than just telling your career story though. When you tell your story it can sometimes seem disconnected, complex and difficult to make sense of. The narrative approach is about reflecting on your story, looking for clues, themes and patterns that emerge. These themes and patterns can become the basis of future stories and career possibilities. Within the narrative approach there are many questions that you can ask yourself to help you make sense of your story and to consider future possibilities. These questions can be grouped into three levels:

Level 1 – information about content and experience. This level is about getting all the details of your career story. Questions to ask yourself include: · What did you do? · What was most satisfying? · Was there anything similar about your experiences? · What skills and knowledge did you use? · What did you do to get yourself to that point?

Level 2 – connectedness and subjective experience. This level is about considering the connections between your individual experiences and the various influences on your story. Questions to ask yourself include: · Where else in your life has this been relevant? · How do you interpret that experience? · How would you explain that? · What have you learnt about yourself as a result? · What does it say about what you are capable of?

Level 3 – identification of themes and patterns. This level is about helping you to understand the important themes and patterns from your past narrative in order to help you construct a future narrative. Questions to ask yourself include: · Are there any common themes running through the experiences you have described? · What do you think will be most significant for you in moving forward? · What will be the essential components of any future options for you? · How does your understanding of your past make you view your future? · How could you move this story forward?

You can find out more about the narrative approach to careers guidance in the International Handbook of Careers Guidance or by reading Career Counselling: A Narrative Approach by Larry Cochrane

Marketing your Masters

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New Picture (21)One of my colleagues, Susan Bird, led an online seminar last month on Marketing your Masters.  She helped Masters students to think about the skills they were developing through their online Masters degree and how they could market these skills to a range of employers in a curriculum vitae (CV).  For those of you unable to participate in the seminar the slides are now available to view here:  Marketing Your Masters

If you have any questions about anything covered in this seminar please get in touch.

“How to crack the case” online webinar – Friday 18th October, 11.00am BST

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One of the employers we work with, Oliver Wyman (a consultancy firm) is hosting an online webinar on Friday on case study interviews.  This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in working in consulting or other business roles to experience a key part of the recruitment process used by most consultancy firms.  The webinar is on Friday 18th October at 11.00am BST and  Oliver Wyman describe it below.

case studiesIs there potential for a new mobile phone operator in India? How much will the UK music download market be worth in 2014? How should a European retail bank realign its growth strategy in the wake of the financial crisis? How many golf balls would fit into an Airbus A380?

Case study interviews are a key component in the recruitment process of most consulting firms, not just Oliver Wyman. In this interactive online session, led by Oliver Wyman consultants, we will work through a case study, providing hints and tips for a successful case and highlighting common pitfalls that candidates encounter. To register for this event please click to follow this link.

E-books now available to download

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We can now offer you a selection of careers-related e-books. They can be downloaded or read online by current students who have access to the University of Edinburgh Library’s e-resources.

The e-books cover a range of topics including preparing for assessment centres, interviews and psychometric tests, planning your career and developing employability skills. A full list of the titles available and information on how to access them can be found on the e-books page of our website.