Careers and Employability January Newsletter

1. NEWSLETTER
12 Days of Christmas Job
Hunting Action Plan
January 2011
Christmas Opening Times
12 Days of Christmas – Your Action Plan for Job Hunting
Teacher Recruitment Fair
during the festive season
The Legal Sector (Source: Jobs& Courses)
Day 1: Update your CV
Graduate Opportunities If you haven’t been able to secure an interview; it could be down to your
CV. Most recruiters scan CVs, spending less than 15 seconds on your
first page. Prepare a draft of your CV and arrange a meeting with a
Popular Resources careers adviser for professional feedback on your CV
(http://tinyurl.com/bnhhopr)
Day 2: Plan your applications
Before sending off application after application,
think what you want to do and how it matches
with what you are qualified to do. There might
be career options open to you of which you
have not thought. Come and discuss with a
careers adviser.
Day 3: Social networking
Use Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to search for jobs. Many companies
use the social media channels to advertise their vacancies.
Day 4: Make contacts
Chatting to recruiters informally and keeping up to date with their
companies is a great way to find out about jobs before anyone else. Get
on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Day 5: Tidy up your online presence
Many recruiters will Google your name, so make sure you keep those
dodgy Facebook pictures private.
Day 6: Brand yourself
Why not have your own site showcasing your capabilities? You should
tailor your project to your job interests, so a wannabe web designer
should showcase beautiful and functional websites.
Day 7: Do your research
You have found a job you like. Now make sure you do your research
thoroughly. Look through the company’s media centre and see what it has
been up to in the press. Read articles about the sector it operates in. Be
critical. Think about what you would do to improve the business.

2. Day 8: Be resilient
It is easy to be downhearted over Christmas if your job search isn’t going
Careers and well. Don’t take rejection personally and remember that a recruiter’s
Employability‘s term in needs change, so that ‘no’ could become ‘yes’.
numbers: Day 9: Update your wardrobe
Sometimes you need a treat. Make sure you are ready for a potential
interview by dressing smart and feeling good.
 The Careers team have
held 188 individual Day 10: Broaden your horizons
guidance meetings, You are probably already looking for jobs near where you live or study,
answered 130 on-line but have you considered relocating? How about moving abroad – Europe
queries and delivered and the US are always popular choices?
56 sessions into
academic Day 11: Set your 2012 goals
Make your New Year career resolutions early. If you need help in starting
your career action plan, book a meeting with a careers adviser when you
 We are approaching come back to Uni.
our 2000th on-line
careers query Day 12: Relax
answered and the You are now prepared for the January job hunt. It is Christmas!
numbers using our
‘advice by e-mail’
service have jumped
from 29 in November Christmas Opening Times
2010 to 56 in November
2011 Monday 19 Dec 10.00 -12.30
Tuesday 20 Dec 10.00 – 12.30
 22 students Wednesday 21 Dec Closed
responded to our Thursday 22 Dec 10.00 – 12.30
feedback survey and Friday 23 Dec 10.00 – 12.00
22 of them will
recommend the our The Careers Information room will
close on Monday 23 December 2011
services to their
for a Christmas break. We will be
friends offering some appointments in the w/c 9 January 2012.
Our normal service will resume on Monday 16 January 2012.
 Over 80 students
have now enrolled to
do the EGG Scheme The Careers and Employability
on our Moodle site
Team wish you all a very happy
Christmas & New Year!

3. Teacher Recruitment Fair
Popular resources Calling all teaching students!
 Destinations® - Come along to the Annual Teacher Recruitment Fair which will be
held on Wednesday 11 January 2012 between 12 and 2pm in
contains all the
rooms AP014 and AP016 of Hardwick Campus, Cheltenham. There
resources you need to will be representatives from national LEAs, the University Careers
plan your career, Team and other recruitment specialists.
including videos,
interactive tools,
downloads and
Graduate schemes and opportunities:
answers to frequently  Edelman Graduate Scheme (PR) – deadline for applications
asked careers 31 December 2012
questions.  Graduate Software Engineer – apply now
 Useful Downloads For more check out www.gradsouthwest.com
– here you can
download our useful
guides on job hunting Graduate Attributes (according to PWC)
and applications,
vacancies websites In a recent interview for ‘the gateway’ newspaper the head of Student
by sector and watch Recruitment for PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Richard Irwin talked about the
things the firm are looking for in graduates i.e. ‘driven, motivated and
videos resilient people with intellectual agility and curiosity, who can stay focused
and get things done’. The high degree of self-awareness is also valued –
 Gradsouthwest – this is the individual understanding of own strengths, weaknesses and
for the latest jobs and development needs. Candidates who can demonstrate their zest for
learning and developing their abilities will also score well. Richard Irwin
opportunities, notified says: ‘To demonstrate these attributes, it’s important that candidates go
to us. through an honest process of self-analysis and think about what they’ve
achieved in the context of the skills we’re asking for. For example, a
candidate may demonstrate their drive and motivation through having
 Prospects - the sought out a valuable internship and gained skills from the experience. It
official graduate doesn’t matter whether you’ve been involved in voluntary work,
careers website academics, sporting activities or work experience – we’re interested in
packed with what you’ve learnt, rather than the context in which you did it’.
information about The EGG Scheme will help you develop your self-analytical skills by
jobs, sectors, asking you to complete the personal statements of achievement and to
postgraduate study reflect on how you have developed your skills and what you have learnt
and more from your extra-curriculum activities. Get involved now and you will not
only gain an award but be more confident at completing graduate job
applications in the future.

4. Hunting for the UK’s The Legal Sector
most talented
The Legal sector is more competitive than ever but still offers a
undergraduates wide range of roles, apart from the traditional solicitors and
Win big prizes from big barristers; there are opportunities as legal executives, legal
recruiters! secretaries and paralegals. Remember that dedication to the job is
a must for any graduate wishing to take up a career in the sector.
There are 12 Awards up for
grabs to identify the top
undergraduates in IT and Recent Law graduates from the University secured jobs as
Computer Science, Paralegal, Legal Assistant, Case Handler and Due Diligence
Management, Law, Arts and Administrator.
Humanities, Business and
Finance, Engineering, Social
Sciences, Construction, Based on the 2011 Guardian survey of the UK top 300 most
Engineering and Design, Low popular employers, students who were interested in law were quite
Carbon, Accountancy and likely to get involved in campus activities, have high salary
Economics plus two special expectations and expected to work very long hours. The top ten
awards: the ‘Future Business legal employers according to this survey were:
Leader’ Award open to students
from any discipline and the 1. Allen & Overy LLP
‘First Year’ Award open to
undergraduates from any 2. Clifford Chance LLP
course who have just started
their second year. 3. Slaughter and May
The rewards are great: winners’
4. Eversherds LLP
prizes include laptops, 5. DLA Piper LLP
internships and all-expenses
paid trips to New York, South 6. Linklaters LLP
America, Florida, South Africa
7. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
and continental Europe.
8. Simmons & Simmons
If you make the final 10, not
only will you be very close to a 9. Pinsent Masons LLP
fantastic prize, you will have
proved yourself to be amongst 10. Herbert Smith
the best and most employable
students in the country. More about the sector:
Enter at:  http://targetjobs.co.uk/law
http://undergraduateoftheyear.c  http://www.prospects.ac.uk/Iaw_sector.htm
om
Closing date for entries: 31
January 2012