Leicester Award Workshop 2: Part 2

Networking:

  

A large part of our social lives, I hadn't really thought about it as a part of our professional lives.

The lecture that was given during the second Leicester Award for employability workshop, provided some useful insights into how to create your own personal 'brand', by using networking sites. The very first tip that I took away from the session was to Google yourself occasionally to check that there isn't any false or unwanted information about yourself on the internet, that could potentially harm your employability. It was emphasised that in today's accessible world, the majority of employers turn to social networking sites to determine the type of person an applicant might be, before interviewing them. Although not the best source of wisdom I certainly remember this being a storyline in sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which just goes to show how common place it has become.

The other useful thing that I got out of the lecture was how networking can be useful to you. There are many a story that details how people found their job simply by tweeting, but those are always a fluke occurrences. However it is true that these sites allow an applicant to interact and ask questions with an employer, make themselves known and promote themselves outside of an interview environment.

Finally, it was suggested to revise the sorts of things that you post on the sites mentioned here. This might mean making your posts a little bit more PG and less 18+, but also making it more interesting to those who come into contact with it. In a survey shown to us, it was said that tweets that have thought provoking ideas, or random questions that might be in the news or that people can relate to are more interesting than an update of daily life, i.e 'Going to Nando's'. Yet once again a balance needs to be struck, between making yourself sound like an intelligent soul, but also one that has a life and interests.

Here's that How I met your mother clip!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkO2mHwNSn4

Leicester Award Workshop 2: Part 1

The second Leicester Award for employability workshop focused heavily on the job application process and the interview technique, which I personally benefited from immensely.

Firstly I learnt about the fact that nearly all graduate schemes hold interview days or workshop days in order to meet the group of applicants face to face and to see who works well. From the employer presentations, such as Enterprise Rent-a-car,  I found out that small things count, such as body language, introductions and punctuality, and can go a long way. Furthermore you do not want to be known or remembered for the wrong things such as being too pushy or loud; it is hard to strike a balance. 

The majority of the afternoon was dedicated to speed interviews, which proved very useful as well. We were paired up and told to move around the room from station to station. The first station would be a prep station where you prepare your answers to set questions that they may or may not ask at the next station where there would be an interviewer, and then you continuously move from prep stations to interview stations to prep stations etc. I found the prep stations challenging as they often had questions that forced you to think. For example I had this asked of me:

"Describe a time when you failed at something and give the reasons why." 

Now on the surface this looked difficult as it is extremely negative and not something you'd particularly like to share with a potential employer. However if you look deeper, it is really a twist on the classic, most loathed question: What would you say are your weaknesses? I decided that I would give a short anecdote of a time I failed at completing an extra dissertation project (AQA extended project) as I actually went on to complete it a year later. This meant that I could demonstrate that I was dedicated at overcoming my weaknesses; turning a negative into a positive.

At the end of the session I received some feedback, from both my partner and the interviewers. It was noted that I often had good ideas, but needed to explain them further and just have the confidence to continue and promote myself. These are all things that I feel that I can work on easily and so the afternoon was very much a success!