Job Hunting

Many jobs are advertised, so it is worth looking in local papers, trade magazines or newspapers and websites that relate to your subject. For instance for agriculture places like farmers weekly, farmers guardian would be worth regularly looking at/signing up to their social media sites.

Many jobs are not advertised (this can be up to 60% of jobs!), so it is worth speculatively getting in contact with employers directly. This can often be a good way of either finding some work experience or a full time job. Before you apply, research the company and find out who to send the CV and covering letter to. Doing these will increase you chance of being offered something, and also give you someone to contact afterwards to follow up on your contact. It is worth asking family and friends if they know anyone who works for an employer you like the look of or who actually employs people.

The careers department is here to help you, feel free to ask for help around this issue if needed!

You will need to have a good CV written. Bear these pointers in mind,

• No more than 2 sides of A4, and make sure that the content is relevant to the position.
• It needs to have information like your name, address, education and previous work experience on it.
• Some people will include a personal statement or profile, which is a 2-3 lines statement which ‘promotes’ you and links you as an individual to the job opportunity.
• If there is space at the end you can put 2 references, one of which will need to be from college. If there is not enough space you can put ‘references on request’.
• Get someone to have a look at it!

Your CV will need to have a covering letter with it to highlight which job you are going for and which also highlights why you think you would be worth considering for the position. So for instance if there is some specific work experience or course work which really helps show that you are suitable, mention it! Make sure your CV and letter ‘mirror’ the job description as much as possible, to show how well you match what is being looked for.

One final tip, make sure you get them read by someone like a parent, your tutor or the college careers adviser, who can spot any mistakes, or offer some suggestions on how to improve.

More information about writing a CV and covering letter can be found at nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice#getting-a-job and prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv

The careers department is here to help you, feel free to ask for help around this issue if needed!

Application forms can take time to fill in properly. As with CV’s and covering letters, it is worth spending the time to do these properly. It is far better to do fewer application forms well than do lots badly! Whether online or not, make sure you get someone to read through what you have put to double check it. Also, try and to answer the questions by ‘showing rather than telling’. If you have an experience that demonstrates a skill the employer is asking about, mention it rather than just saying you have the skill.

Keep a copy of all the application forms you send off. Not only will this be useful if you get an interview, but you can use previous application forms to help you with the next one you fill in.

Always have a copy of the job description/specification with you when fill in the form, as you can look for what ‘power’ words/issues the employer highlights as important. You can then ‘mirror’ these back to them to demonstrate you would be a good match.

The careers department is here to help you, feel free to ask for help around this issue if needed.

Help with application forms - usefull websites
nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/careers-advice/application-forms

prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/applying-for-jobs/write-a-successful-job-application

Interviews can be seem very formal and scary situations! But they can be useful and productive experiences.

Here are some tips to help with getting through them successfully.

• Practise, plan, prepare. Practise your route to get there in time, plan answers to questions you might be asked, prepare what to ask them!
• Be smart! How you dress will be important, make an impression for the right reasons. Also, make sure you read your application or CV again before the interview, to remind yourself what you’ve said about yourself and why you want the job.
• Research. Hopefully you have already done some research about the company when you applied, now do some more.
• Mock it up! Have a practise interview with someone so you come across more ‘polished’! The careers department can help with this. The careers department is here to help you, feel free to ask for help around this issue if needed.

Employers are increasingly using video interviews as part of their recruitment cycle. Some top tips for these include:

• Check out the background behind you - and don’t sit in front of a window!
• Make sure there’s no other noise, e.g. TV or radio and turn off your notifications.
• Dress as you would for a face to face interview.
• Make ’eye contact’ by looking at the camera, not the screen.

The careers department is here to help you, feel free to come for some advice or a mock interview.