Vic Careers

The answer is a resounding yes!

If you send in a cover letter which is generic then you’re missing out on your opportunity to talk about how your skills (and what might be your unique skill-set) really make you and that organisation a great match. Employers will be looking for that kind of information in your cover letter too, and if they see a generic template they’ll know you haven’t taken time to consider and address the specific challenges of that role or environment – that can look lazy and disinterested.

Yes, changing your letter each time takes much more effort, but its an effort that will pay off.

If you’re after more information, we have plenty at Vic Careers but I’ll endeavour to expand on this topic in blogs to follow… I think next we’ll take a look at how to address and format a cover letter.

Congratulations! You’ve finished your studies and worked really hard to get your first ‘real’ job. This is a huge accomplishment and hopefully you’re feeling exicted and ready for the challenge. If you have already had part-time work or an internship, you’ll be a step ahead, but a new job or a new workplace is a daunting and nerve-wracking experience for most.  I know that being the ‘newbie’ can be quite stressful too; you want to fit in and make a good impression, but don’t want to overdo it.  

Here are some simple ways you can use to make your first days as painless as possible and to help you conform to the etiquette of the company. But first, just what is ’work etiquette’ anyway?

Work etiquette incorporates all types of manners and behaviour in relation to work dealings such as how you come across as an individual, how you relate to others both within your own organisation and externally and how you make use of the tools with which you can communicate. Etiquette isn’t fixed and rigid. Workplaces are very different when it comes to what’s considered acceptable behaviour and conduct and the formality of etiquette will vary between companies.

Source: http://www.worketiquette.co.uk/

Dress appropriately

Before you start, find out the right dress code for your job. Ring the organisation if necessary. You will feel really out of place dressed in jeans if everyone else in business suits. If you are required to have your own gear, like boots for outdoor work, make sure you have them in advance.

Listen and observe

Not only will you learn a lot about the environment you will be working in, but you can also see how your colleagues behave and learn from them. Also, remember you don’t know what you don’t know; try not to jump in and take over or suggest changes too soon as this is likely to annoy people with more experience. Innovation is a good thing but you first need to earn the respect and trust of your co-workers.

Ask questions

Don’t be afraid to ask questions! You are not expected to know everything straight away and most employers would rather you asked than went blindly head making mistakes.

Take notes

If you are given instructions, write them down! It is impossible to remember everything in your first few days and having notes to refer back to can be very useful. This way you won’t have to ask your supervisor to repeat themselves. Plus, learn how to work the equipment you are expected to use! Whether it’s a photocopier or a fork lift, you need to be able to operate it to do your job effectively.

Be proactive

As the new kid on block, you will probably not be overloaded with work while you settle in. If you do find yourself at a loose end, offer to help other colleagues where you can. 

Mind your manners

Be polite, respectful and courteous to everyone in the organisation. And a sincere thank you and a friendly smile goes a long way.

Understand the workplace rules

Make sure you understand the rules surrounding e-mail etiquette and the use of your mobile phone. Rock on but quietly – use headphones for music if  this is allowed. It can be useful to listen to the grapevine but don’t engage in the gossip or bad-mouth your colleagues.

Remember to enjoy your new job and in most instances, common sense will tell what you do!

This week I attended an evening event to recognise and thank the 2010 Victoria University Campus Coaches. These coaches support and help new students during their first few weeks at Uni. All part of a superb orientation programme. The 90 coaches helped 950 new students. A job well done and along the way they developed attributes today’s employers are looking for. They were trained fully and their involvement with the programme enhanced their communication, interpersonal, leadership, teamwork, initiative and problem solving skills.

Some of the Campus Coaches will also be a part of the Victoria Plus Award programme where the points they gain from this student support work goes towards their activities component.

Maybe you would like to apply to be a Campus Coach for next year -look out for the job advertisement in November on CareerHub. I have talked to the Coaches about the role and they are all really positive and have learnt heaps.

This is a particularly heavy recruiting period for law and commerce students looking for summer internships or graduate work for next year.  If you are in the enviable position of being offered an interview, make the best of this opportunity!  Remember that an interview is a two-way street.  It’s as much about you finding out everything you need to know about the job and organisation as it is for the employer to find out if you are the right person for the job.  So, in addition to being prepared for the questions you’ll be asked, make sure you’re prepared with questions of your own.  It will show the employer that you have a real interest in learning about the company and the job.  

It’s perfectly acceptable to refer to a notepad during the interview and refer to questions you have written down beforehand.  This simply shows good preparation and planning on your part.  Useful questions could include asking the interviewer for his/her own experiences, for example how long they have been with the company, why did they choose that company and what have been some of the highlights for them.  Other questions could focus on what the organisation does better than its competitors, what are the biggest challenges coming up and what are its competitive advantages.  You might want to ask them about the management style of the organisation and even what kind of employment previous employees have gone into. 

A really interested applicant will always have good questions.  Remember that employers are looking for people who not only can do the job, but really want to be there.  Show them that you, too, are interested in more than just the job – that cultural fit and a challenging, enjoyable working environment are key criteria. 

If you’ve missed out on our interview workshops or don’t have time to attend one before your next interview,  access our online interview resources at  http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/Students/job_hunting_preparation/interviews/index.aspx  or access this excellent interview tutorial at:  http://www.quintcareers.com/job_interviews/ 

Best of luck with those job interviews!

Congratulations to everyone so far who has successfully completed Graduate Recruitment applications. You are probably trying to navigate your way through what can feel like an amazingly complex process.

We are here to help! If you have a quick question just email us at careers-service@vuw.ac.nz or phone 463 5393 or use the 15-minute Careers Drop-in service – times and locations are advertised on Victoria CareerHub.

If you have lots of questions and need more time, book an appointment on CareerHub by clicking on the ‘Appointments’ tab on the right-hand side of the home screen (you may need to scroll down) and selecting ‘Career Consultant 1′  or ringing the office. We also have a limited number of ’Mock Interview’ appointments which you need to book by phone. 

Learn from other students and graduates who are generously sharing their experiences as they go through application and selection processes for:

• Accounting & Professional Services
• Investment Banking & Financial Services
• Retail Banking
• Insurance
• Advertising, Media, Marketing & Public Relations
• Management Consulting
• Energy & Utilities
• Engineering
• IT & Technology
• Law
• Public Sector & Government 

Visit Wikijob at: http://www.wikijob.co.uk/forum

Whether you like it or not, people size you up in a very short time, actually only about 3-5 seconds. Your dress, mannerisms are also factors influencing what someone else thinks of you and whether you inspire them.

In your job interview or during social networking, what you wear will create that important first impression and will definitely affect whether an employer will take you seriously or consider you for hire.

What do your clothes say about you?  What does it mean to dress business casual? Try to be yourself, but look smart.  Check out some practical tips on grooming and interview attire:

http://www.career.vt.edu/jobsearc/interview/appearnc.html

“If you’re going to look and act sloppy in an interview, then the interviewers will think you could well act sloppy when you’re working for them.”  Read more in a recent article in the ‘Dom Post’:

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/job-market/3515227/Dressed-up-for-a-confidence-boost

Dress for Success Wellington supports women on low incomes in their quest for employment by providing them with clothes for interviews at no cost.  If you require assistance contact Vic Careers as we can arrange a referral for you.

Times are tough. There aren’t enough jobs out there to apply to. It’s hard to get your foot in the door.

The above may all appear factual, but in reality this need not be the case. There are actually many jobs out there, lurking around, waiting to be unlocked. But if you are waiting for them to appear on advertisements, you may never find them. Simply, before these jobs ever make it to the advertising stage, they are filled by people within the network, referral or word of mouth. Often, employers can’t be bothered with the lengthy recruitment process, but if there’s someone around them who is capable and available, they would take them onboard.

How to tap into this hidden market?

• Approach employers directly
  Identify the organisations that you are interested in working and contact them directly, let them know that you are looking for work.

• Attend professional events
  Employer presentation, Careers Expo and Careers Seminar are definitely a good place to start! You get to gain valuable contacts, learn about different organisations and roles, and talk to employers about opportunities in their organisation such as work experience, summer jobs, part-time and full-time work.
• Follow up with valuable contacts
  Now that you have obtained their contacts/business cards, what’s next? Follow up! Remind them of your existence and check for any possible openings or positions.
• Volunteer yourself
  Volunteering is a great way to gain work experience, develop skills and establish a network of valuable contacts. Often it leads to a job offer.

The pathway to the hidden job market is endless, start digging now!

Most of us have an internal ‘moral compass’ that indicates to us what is right and wrong with regard to our own thinking and actions and that of others.  Integrity while difficult to define in a few words, could be defined as the personal quality of having high moral principles, being reliable (consistent), honest and trustworthy.

Ethical behaviour requires that we use our moral compass to guide us in our interactions with others. Ethical behaviour is also about the ability to inspire trust in others.

In a graduate recruitment context assessing the moral compass of candidates is a common and legitimate concern particularly where the organisation’s ethical values are enshrined in their mission or values statement. Employers want alignment between their organisational ethical values and those of prospective employees. You in turn may choose not to apply to an organisation if you have ethical concerns about it, or any individual within it.  

Carrick Courtney writing from a recruiter’s perspective states that “once a low integrity culture is embedded it is very difficult, and time-consuming, to change”. By implication in a high integrity culture, recruitment processes need to be rigorous to maintain the status quo.  Read more at http://smartlist.yeedog.com/newsletter.php?newsletter_id=16

At interviews employers will often ask candidates about situations they have actually experienced that raised moral and ethical issues for them and how they dealt with them. Mary Gentle’s article A Beginner’s Guide to Raising Ethical Issues at Work can be used as a framework for reflecting on situations that you have experienced. It may be that you were unable to deal with the situation at the time but the article and other reading will allow you to consider and describe how you would deal with that situation today http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/02/you_know_whats_right_but.html

Amanda Becker in her article Can You Teach Ethics to MBAs? quotes “in most real-life business situations, you already know what’s right. The hard part is figuring out how to act on that knowledge”.  Her article also includes an opportunity for you to test how you would respond to four workplace ethical dilemmas. http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-353458.html?tag=width;feature

Test Yourself: Would You Act Unethically on the Job?

Finally, Gwen Francis writing from an educator’s perspective provides a simple framework as a starting point for what she calls “ethical principles for the ‘upright’ person”. These are: Wisdom – We should be sensible; Justice – We should be fair; Truth – We should be honest; Love – We should be kind. Read more at http://valueseducation.co.nz/guidlines.html

I have just been recruiting for a position and continue to be amazed at how slack people are in their applications.  Do they really want a job?  Out of 60+ applications, only about 6 of them were really ‘quality’ applications.  If you are applying for jobs, the following DO NOT WORK!

• Smiley faces at the end of your cover  letter
• “Hi there!”  at the start of your cover letter
• Redfoxylady@hotmail.co.nz – email address must be professional;  using your name is the best approach
• Cover letters which do not refer to the title of the position being applied for or the name of the organisation
• Letters addressed to the wrong person and/or wrong organisation
• Typos and grammatical errors (proofread carefully!)
• Gaps in work history – long periods out of work or study without offering an explanation
• Not addressing selection criteria – if IT skills are required you need to be very specific about what IT skills you have and the level of competency i.e. intermediate, advanced, expert
• Cover letters which do not give any indication of WHY you are interested in either the position or the organisation

If you have been applying for jobs and not getting to the interview stage, some of the above may be the reasons why.  Drop into the Vic Careers office and have your CV checked now! Drop-in times can be found on our website:  http://www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/careers/about_us/hours.aspx

If you’re serious about getting a job, it should be more than an full time occupation, say David Perry, who posts his blog at: http://guerrillajobhunting.typepad.com/guerrilla_job_hunting/2010/01/work-full-time-to-find-full-time-work.html

How many hours a day are you spending on your job search?

If you’re currently employed, you should carve out 3-5 hours a day to look for your next job. Mr Perry says smart job seekers use the time that others waste!   His suggestions to make more time for job search includes, to screen your phone calls; skip one television show every night; get up 30 minutes earlier and go to bed 30 minuter later on weekdays.