Interested in the U.K?

If the idea of working in the UK appeals to you, it could be a good idea to register to participate in the Prospects UK Virtual Careers Fairs.  These are scheduled to run from 9th -13th November 2009.  Registration will allow you to upload and submit your CV, apply for jobs, and talk on-line with a range of UK graduate employers. 

Find out more at www.prospects.ac.uk/prospectsfairs

Massey university wants you!

Learn how to upskill, improve your career prospects or extend an interest at Massey University’s careers evening in Wellington, New Zealand. With flexible study options including full or part-time study, on campus or by distance education – study anywhere, anytime to suit your lifestyle and give you the competitive edge.

 Choose from more than one thousand programmes including: • Business • Psychology • Public Policy • Finance • Human Resources • Management • Exercise • Accounting • Economics • Teacher Training • Design & Fine Arts • Engineering • Health & Environment.

Meet our academic advisers, students and lecturers for one-to-one personalised course and career advice:

WHERE: Holiday Inn, 75 Featherston Street, CBD, Wellington, New Zealand.

WHEN: Wednesday 11th November 4:00 – 7:00 pm.

PRESENTATION: 6.00pm – Professor Claire Massey, Head of the Department of Management at Massey University, will discuss: How to Maximise the Value of Study.

Light refreshments and snacks provided.

For further information, contact Lorraine Archbold at:

Tel: 0800 MASSEY or email NLR.Liaison.WN@massey.ac.nz

 

Massey Manawatu Careers events – sport; environmental and planning

If you are a student on Massey University’s Manawatu campus, or an extramural student living in the area, these events may be of interest to you -

1: Environmental & Planning Career Evening – Manawatu campus – Wednesday 20 May – 4.30 pm until 6.30 pm – Social Sciences Lecture Block Foyer

The purpose of this event is to provide information to students currently studying degrees such as:

• Bachelor of Resource & Environmental Planning
• Bachelor of Engineering (Environmental)
• Bachelor of Environmental Management

 Or to those who wish to move into these sectors as career pathways.

 Those attending will move around each organisation in small groups at 20 minute intervals. Organisations will be speaking about areas that include the types of projects being undertaken by their organisation, what they look for in graduates and the future of planning as they see it.

The School of People, Environment & Planning will also be showcasing some of the project work past students have been involved in.

To register your attendance please book-in on http://careerhub.massey.ac.nz

2: Sport @ Massey Career Evening – Manawatu campus – Wednesday 27 May – 4.30 pm start – Social Sciences Lecture Block Foyer

This is an invaluable opportunity for all students interested in a career in the sport sector to find out more.

• Hear about the exciting and varied career paths graduates have taken since leaving University.
• Find out about some of the exciting research our academics are currently involved in.
• Discover what it takes to be a teacher, nutritionist or psychologist!
• Sign up for volunteer work.
• Be in the draw to win a fabulous prize!

You will be introduced to the world of Sport at Massey and will then move around the five areas to find out all you need to know about opportunities in this field.

 To register your attendance please book-in on http://careerhub.massey.ac.nz

Ways of working

It’s a sign of the times for sure, but there is a wealth of press articles at the moment profiling people who are following ‘less traditional’ work patterns.  For example, in the New Zealand Herald a couple of days ago, an item noted ‘kiwi workers going solo’.  This highlighted the significant number of NZ professionals who would consider taking on a contract role. 

Then, true to my roots, I was also browsing ‘The Scotman’ on-line recently.  There I came across an article claiming that ‘students are the new entrepreneurs’.  This noted that “record numbers of students at Scotland’s universities are setting up their own companies as a way of ‘creating their own futures’ according to new research from a business support body”.

Make no mistake though, self-employment is not for everyone.  Rather,  it suits individuals with a particular mix of skills and traits.  These include resilience and the ability to cope well with stress and pressure.  Also, self-motivation; time-management; creativity; problem-solving; financial skills; communication and promotion abilities and managerial competence.  

Setting up, maintaining and developing a business takes an investment in money and time.  It takes multi-tasking and sacrifice.  However, if all of this hasn’t put you off help is at hand – some of this can be explored through the following links:

 

• Career Services Rapuara information on Entrepreneur
• Massey’s Bachelor of Business Studies (Enterprise Development) programme
• The e-centre – The business incubator at Massey University’s Albany campus
• Business Information Service
• Business New Zealand
• NZ Chambers of Commerce
• Inventors’ Trust
• Poutama Trust

Expo info

If you’re a Massey University student (internal or extramural) living on – or near – the Manawatu (Palmerston North) campus then our imminent career fairs are events you’ll probably not want to miss.  They are -

• General Expo (Manawatu campus) – May 5^th 2009 – 11.00 am until 3.00 pm in the Student Dining Hall and MUSA Coffee Lounge, Turitea.
• Agribusiness/Applied Science/Engineering/Science Expo (Manawatu Campus) – May 6^th 2009 – 11.00 am until 3.00 pm in the Student Dining Hall and MUSA Coffee Lounge, Turitea

For more information see:

• Career Expos

Crucially, if you’re planning to attend take time to look at the resources on how to prepare for the expos.  You’ll  find these under:

• Career expos – information for students and graduates

Another short post

Another short post today, but it offers links to a useful resource.  My friends at Career Services Rapuara have a number of slideshows on their website, looking at ‘a day in the life of ‘ people in certain occupations.  Check out their slideshows for:

A clinical psychologist

An early childhood teacher 

For information on the Massey University qualifications in these fields the following links will be useful:

Early Chilhood 

Clinical Psychology

Latest musings…

It was an article in last Monday’s New Zealand Herald that got me working on this post.  The article, headed ‘Graduates adjust to shrinking job market’ notes a shift in graduate expectations as they seek to enter a recession-hit labour market.  It quotes a colleague from the careers team at the University of Auckland who sees employers having “the upper hand” at the present time.  Whilst he believes that most graduates will still find work their expectations will have to be realistic; their job search may need to be broader than it might have been before and their skills may need to be refined.    

I’m finding that some employers are still looking for new staff but that many others are playing a waiting game.  Not surprisingly, the number of employers offering pay increases has shrunk markedly and some have instigated pay – and/or hours – cuts and a reassessment of benefits offered to staff.  Coupled with this, there is likely to be a trend in older workers delaying their retirement and there can be no doubt that the talent pool that employers can draw from when hiring has widened. 

As has been highlighted in previous posts, those with the best chance of finding work are those with easily transferable, up-to-date skills that are in demand.  This has led to an increase in those taking on – or considering – a return to education or training.

FAIRly obvious

A very brief post today, as work away from home beckons for me.  However, I thought that this might be of interest and use to the NZ/Australian graduate job seeker:

• 2009 Virtual Careers Fair

Sector savvy

What gives someone the edge when they’re job seeking?  Well, a number of things but – in this post at least – I’ll be stressing the need to be sector-aware.

Potential employers will, of course, be interested in how convincingly you can write – and talk about:

• Why you want the job – and what you know about it
• The relevant skills; knowledge and experience that you have
• Evidence of what you can bring to the role
• How you can ‘hit the ground running’ and ‘add value’

However, they’ll also be interested in what you know of the sector they’re in; what you’ve done to find out about it and what you feel is its appeal to you.  I’d argue that this sector knowledge can also help you to decide what to do and where to apply – for example, are you concerned about joining a sector that may be in decline?  What are the trends in the sectors that interest you?

All in all, it’s crucial that you keep up with news and developments in sectors you’re interested in. A great way of doing so is through the use of RSS feeds from news sites such as

• The New Zealand Herald 
• Scoop
• Stuff
• TVNZ

Then, not to be overlooked are professional organisations.  For an outline of some of these see:

• Graduate Opportunities

Get social – network!

Most current job-search articles will stress the importance of being ‘creative’ when looking for work.  Rather than hoping to find ‘the job of your dreams’ advertised through the traditional channels, it’s vital to identify more obscure and/or specialist vacancy sources; build networks of contacts and apply ’speculatively’ to some of the organisations that you’d like to work for (where they do not explicitly ask you not to, of course!) 

Within all of this, one of the most marked trends of late has been the growth of on-line social networking sites such as Facebook.  This phenomenon is detailed in a recent article ‘When job seekers invade Facebook’ in the McKinsey Quarterly.  In this article, the authors note that ‘the increasing popularity of on-line social networking is changing not only the way people manage their careers but social networking itself’.  Gone are the days – if they ever existed – when such sites were simply quick ways of discovering what friends were up to, and letting them know of your plans and activities.  Now, they are increasingly used by organisations when looking to ‘headhunt’ potential recruits – or indeed to search for details of people who’ve applied to work for them, and – in some instances to ‘monitor’ existing staff! 

In addition, there are groups for people working in the same organisation and - for some job seekers - social networking sites are a way of finding and approaching potential contacts for their networks.  If you’re thinking of joining the latter, a word of caution!  As with all of your networking endeavours, not everyone will welcome your approach.  Think carefully about who you’re contacting and why?  They’ll be more likely to be willing to help those who show an interest in them – what makes them good at their job; the skills, knowledge and experience that they have etc.  Also, people who are clear about what they want; know something about the role they’re exploring and who can talk convincingly about their own relevant skills etc.  I’d avoid like the plague asking for a job straight-up.  Instead, seek information in the first instance.  More on this later though…