Tag Archives: skills development

Managing your postgraduate journey

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Studying for a postgraduate award through online learning allows a lot of flexibility but most students are balancing their studies with other commitments such as work or family.  As a result we find that students often report their studies as a very intensive time and welcome support that will enable them to engage with their studies more effectively (and in a time efficient way!).

The Careers Service and the Institute of Academic Development have developed a new resource, Supporting taught postgraduates, to help taught postgraduate students to engage quickly and effectively with their studies. The resources provide support during your programme to help you to achieve academically, and take opportunities for career enhancement, and to support you to make and realise successful career decisions.  It pulls together a lot of information that is scattered around other parts of the University website and ensures it is directly relevant for postgraduate students.  Covering topics such as academic writing, time management, critical thinking, and career planning, we hope it will be of use to you as you continue your studies at the University.

You can get an overview of the topics covered in the image below or go directly to the website.

Supporting taught postgraduates

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Great candidate – shame about the maths!

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photo calculator

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

Networking No Comments

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

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

Events No Comments

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.

 

Marketing Your Masters

Applications Events No Comments

New Picture (21)If you would like to consider how best to market the skills and experience you are gaining from your distance learning course then sign up for our online workshop, Marketing Your Masters.  It will give you the opportunity to identify and assess the skills and experience you have developed through your distance learning masters course and reflect on what aspects you need to develop to move forward in your career (whether within academia or industry). It will also ensure you understand how you can market this experience most effectively in your CV.

The seminar will be run on Friday 20th September from 13:00 GMT until approximately 14.:15  To access it go to this link in good time for the start of the seminar.

If you can’t make this time then the seminar will be available to view afterwards on Career Connect.

Making it easier to have confident conversations

Career Management No Comments

In a previous post my colleague Darcey talked about the importance of learning from conversations.  While we know this is important for good career management sometimes it can be difficult to have constructive conversations with others.  For many (but not all) of you as distance learners, conversations with a current employer could be an important part of successful career management.

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