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Our Top 10 Top Posts December 30, 2011

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Languages, Law, Marketing, Marketing, Advertising & PR, Media, advertising and PR, arts administration, career profiles, city jobs, civil service, diversity, employability and skills, entrepreneurship , add a comment

From creative CVs to interviewers wearing pjyamas, this blog has covered them all this year. When we write these posts we think about our target audience of University of London students, but are mindful that people all over the world access these pages and may need different things.

Many of the ideas for posts come from conversations with students. Issues such as being put off during a Skype interview because the interviewer was sitting on a bed in a hotel room wearing boxer shorts. Or navigating the graduate job market with a lower degree result than you were hoping for. Other posts come from campus workshops we facilitate, including my interest in LinkedIn and social media as a career development tool.

Whilst most of the (unpublished) comments are offering cheap viagra, instant Facebook fans or very personal cosmetic surgery, others have provided genuine debate on the issues. It’s nice to get comments and to be able to respond to such queries.

So here is our Top Ten Top Posts of 2011 based on readership, with a bonus 11 and 12 thrown in as a holiday special. Have a great New Year!

Internships in Europe with the Leonardo da Vinci programme
Creative CVs for creative jobs – inspiring examples
“Testing Testing” – BBC Production Trainee Scheme Presentation
Your results – what next?
Top 5 Creative CVs
LinkedIn: Why bother?
We’re back with news on Internships
Commercial Awareness
Roles in publishing – video profiles
The rise of the non-geeky scientist
Fancy working in Singapore?
Job Hunting – where to start

Our Careers: Bitesized in the Beeb December 15, 2011

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Our Careers, Publishing , 2comments

The next post following the previous occupations of The Careers Group employees is from our Head of Content and Information, Lakshmi Hughes.

How do you get a job with the BBC within nine months of leaving university with a 2:2 in history?

Answer: You don’t… unless you have some luck, some passion and you’re prepared to put in some self-effort.

So luck first:

I had a family contact working in a CD-Rom Children’s publishing company. She needed some casual work so after university I was able to get some useful work experience and a small income. Here I learnt to do basic research, word processing skills and adjust to working a five-day week in an office.

The role was temporary so the clock was ticking to find a job. I had a vague idea about going into media but I wasn’t too sure how. I thought the only way people got jobs was through networking and word-of-mouth. I didn’t really understand how this worked so was very relieved when a friend had applied for (and got) a job advertised in The Guardian as a press officer at the National Theatre.

Shortly afterwards a role came up at the BBC looking for an online editorial assistant. The description looked interesting and matched some of my skills. I persuaded myself to apply and told myself that it was better to try and fail than not to try at all!

Following my interest:

The BBC job wanted a person with an interest in education and the internet.

I’d always loved learning and the children’s publishing house had learning outcomes for its products.  I also had an addiction to BBC television. The internet was still new in the mid-nineties so my interest was based solely on a book called “The Virtual Community”. It described a digital network where people shared ideas and problems/solutions with others all over the world.   It sounded amazing and something I wanted to work in.

I also realised electronic media was a less competitive area than mainstream television and that I stood a better chance of getting a “foot in the door”.

Self-effort:

It took a lot of time to fill out the application form. I concentrated most effort on the part about what made me suitable for the role and the previous employment sections. I weaved their words and requirements into these sections and highlighted the skills I had that met these.

When I got the news I had an interview I read through my application and found out more about the skills I didn’t have, such as HTML. I remember spending an afternoon in front of a computer trying to get to grips with it. I also splashed out on a suit for the interview.

Pre-interview test: my nerves were the real challenge, after much crossing out I finished the task!

At the interview three people quizzed me.  After putting me at ease I was able to answer the questions spontaneously.

Outcome:

I got the job and was given an amazing opportunity to work with intelligent, skilful people for the next 15 years. I never stopped learning and worked on some extraordinary projects including setting up a Schools Online service GCSE Bitesize, BBC Four online and even the BBC Homepage.

If you are interested in careers within the media sector, our Facebook page has lots of useful information. We also have hundreds of resources on Careers Tagged. Specific information about the BBC can also be found on Careers Tagged.

Working in publishing December 12, 2011

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : Publishing, RHUL Careers, arts administration , add a comment

Originally posted at News

Publishing continues to be a popular career path for students as it integrates creativity with commercial drive. It is also a very broad sector with so many different opportunities within it. Category Publisher with Dorling Kindersley, Peggy Vance spoke to students at Royal Holloway’s Creative Careers event earlier this year.

Creative Careers – Peggy Vance – Category Publisher from RHUL Careers on Vimeo.

Top 5 Creative CVs December 8, 2011

Posted by Andrew Falconer in : CVs, Performing arts, Publishing, employability and skills , 2comments

CV writing can become an art form. Getting across your education, experience, motivation and personal qualities in just two (or one) pages can be really challenging. How do you stand out from the crowd?

One of the employers interviewed on Career Player’s “Sorting your CV” video warns about being frivolous and being quirky for the sake of it. Being creative isn’t the same as being wacky.  Even a, one page CV for investment banks can have creative flair. You need to think about your audience. What sort of CV would the employer most prefer? What is appropriate for the market?

There are many great examples of really creative CVs, so here is my top five….

Number 1 – Michael Anderson

If you are working in Information Graphics what better way is there for you to showcase your abiliites than with your CV in infographic form? This attractice, colourful CV uses a range of techniques to give a professional career overview, with a strong sense of the author’s personality.

Number 2 – Kristian Walsh

Project management tends to use charts as a visual means of understanding scope and timelines. This board-game approach is novel and clearly highlights the achievements and “bench-marks” in her life.

Number 3 – Yingshu Luqiu

When you print this CV you end up moving the paper around to see all of the text. That makes it very tactile and you feel much more engaged with it than a typical CV.

Number 4 – Chuck Lay

Another great use of the candidate’s professional skill – a graphic designer using their experience to grab attention. This has a good level of content whilst demonstrating creativity and competence.

Number 5 – Ksenia Goryacheva

This is so simple yet very effective. The use of colour is very effective and the crucial information is very accessible.

Brilliant business cards – creative examples November 15, 2010

Posted by Helen Curry in : networking , 1 comment so far

Since you all loved the Creative CV examples, I thought you might like these…

Try getting these at Prontaprint

Probably illegal

Make a point...

See Cardonizer for more – a website dedicated to creative business cards.

Good to demonstrate what you do

Mmm letterpress

REACTOR

In honour of Movember

Although perhaps the clients won't want to share one...

But how do you dial the number when it takes both hands?

Scary!

Favourite

Not one for the wallet...

Sweet

And if you liked those, you might be interested in this book. We have a copy in our library. It is essentially a coffee table book of designs. Lovely.

 

Creative CVs for creative jobs – inspiring examples June 17, 2010

Posted by Helen Curry in : CVs , 6comments

If you are applying for jobs and internships in very creative areas, like graphic design, fashion, illustration or film, why should your CV be cookie cutter dull? While you should still include all the standard elements – personal details, qualifications, skills, experience – you can also make an impression and show off your passion and originality by getting creative with the design.

Fancy giving it a try? I really recommend the book ‘Creative CV Guide’ by Jan Cole which we just got in at the library – it is full of essential advice about when to get creative, what you can and can’t change for different kinds of job, as well as plenty of gorgeous examples, which inspired me to find some more online examples (below).

First of all, think about:

Remember – getting a second opinion on your CV is all the more important – is the design distracting? Does your design ‘fit’ with the company you are applying to? Following it up with an email or call to get feedback might be a good move too.

And now, the gorgeous examples:

Clear, easy to print, yet still highly distinctive

Such an original concept

Love the colour

Here you can see the standard CV information is still clear and easy to read

Great character

Sweet yet practical and professional

Such attention to detail

Showcases illustration skills

Post your design online, and it might even go viral like these :)

What do you think? Are these bold approaches risky?