How to have a healthy relationship with your job applications

You know those people that get carried away by relationships? They go on a few dates with somebody and suddenly they’re building castles in the sky – planning their wedding, doodling names on their notebook and mentally planning out their life for the next thirty or forty years. Next thing you know they’re sobbing on your shoulder because the other person got freaked out by the intensity and broke it off.

Photo by Mendhak via flickr

Well, it turns out that when it comes to jobs that’s exactly the kind of person I am: as soon as I know I’ve got an interview (arguably the first date of the job hunting process) I get carried away imagining my life if I got the job; I look at possible places to live, think about how I’d get to work and work out where I’d meet up with my friends. I even plan holidays I could take on the salary available. Just like the over-keen person in a relationship I go too far, too fast when there’s no guarantee that the outcome of the situation will be the one I want. As a result, I leave myself completely emotionally vulnerable for the (seemingly) inevitable rejection that ensues.

It’s an easy trap to fall into, particularly if your job hunt is just beginning or not going well: in the former situation every application seems like a dazzling pathway to a better future and you get carried away by the fantasy and in the latter each opportunity provides a glimmer of hope that this time the search might be over and you’ll finally get your life sorted. Either way, you get attached to the vision of the future rather than the job itself, meaning that when you’re unsuccessful you don’t just lose the job, you lose all the plans and dreams that go along with it.

While this may not seem like the worst thing in the world, I’ve learned the hard way that if you keep repeating this pattern with each application you get extremely disheartened about the job hunt and depressed about your future opportunities.

Instead of focusing completely on one role at a time therefore, make sure you have a number of applications on the go at any one time – put the same amount of effort in but don’t dwell on the possibilities inherent in each position. The more positions you apply for, the more possible futures there are, making it less likely you’ll get overly invested in any of them. In addition to this, when you come back from an interview get straight on with the next application – it can be tempting to give yourself a break but resist: taking a break often means you are subconsciously relying on getting the job whereas continuing the process prevents you becoming too emotionally involved with the future that success could provide.

Are you a needy job hunter? Do you get too attached to the possibilities each job provides? Let me know in the comments. For more job hunting information click here.

The Truth about TEFL Part 3: Selling yourself via Skype

Picture by Jakob Montrasio via Flickr

TEFL job interviews are all about one thing: Skype. Occasionally employers may be in the UK during their recruiting period but for the most part your opportunity to impress them with your

There are a few things it’s important to remember however, if you want to become a Skype interview pro.

personality and suitability for the job will be a virtual one. Many people dread Skype interviews, unsure of how they should behave comparably to face-to-face interviews, but once you’ve gotten a few under your belt they’re an easy and effective way to connect with potential employers with little cost to either party.

1.       It’s still an interview so don’t get lazy. You still need to dress like you would for an interview and take care with your appearance – no top half only, no ‘smart casual’ wear. This is your only chance to make an impression and you don’t want to blow the deal before you even open your mouth.

2.       Do your preparation. When an interview is going to take place in your house, it often feels like the urgency is removed. Do not trust this feeling – you need to isolate a block of time before the interview to read up on the role and refresh yourself on what you wrote in your application. Remember that you won’t have the travel time and the pre-interview coffee shop time that you would with a traditional interview. It’s possible to have notes by your laptop for a Skype interview but you don’t want to be obviously fact checking every few minutes.

3.       Think about your body language. Even over a video link the way you present yourself can say a lot about you to an interviewer so it’s as important to consider your body language in a Skype interview as it is for a face to face meeting. Make sure you centre yourself on the screen and sit a sensible distance from the camera – you don’t want to be overly close but you need to be in range of the microphone. Most importantly make sure you look directly at the camera rather than the picture of the interviewer or of yourself, to maintain good eye contact.

4.       Be aware of the pitfalls of the internet. A lot of places that hire TEFL teachers aren’t renowned for their strong internet connections or good wifi coverage so it is quite likely that there will be a problem with the connection at some point in the interview. Obviously if you have prepared your setup properly this won’t be your problem but there are a couple of things you can do to minimise the damage; firstly, make sure you speak slowly and clearly to ensure you remain audible even if the connection becomes faulty and secondly try and minimise the amount of moving you do – the less work the system has to do to maintain a clear picture the better.

5.       Act natural. Lastly, behave as you normally would in an interview. Try to resist the urge to reference or joke about the nature of the process – it might be novel to you but they do it everyday. Trying to keep yourself in a normal interview mindset will also hopefully stop you being too nervous about the different format and should help you to come across well to the interviewer.

Had a good or bad interview experience on Skype? Let me know below. If you missed the first two parts of my series on TEFL you can find them here.

Success means never having to say you're sorry

Picture by Live Life Happy via Flickr

It’s a common axiom that very successful people are driven and ruthless, trampling over people on

Now, I’m not advocating this approach to the workplace, but not embracing the asshole lifestyle doesn’t mean you can’t learn something from these people; in essence, what allows these people to disregard others and strive to become the best is confidence, focus and a refusal to apologise for their actions.

their way to the top without a thought for the cost of their actions to the people they leave behind. Moreover, we tend to think that it is because of this willingness not to count the human cost of their decisions that they become so very successful.

Don’t apologise is one of the most important pieces of advice I’ve ever received: I don’t mean you shouldn’t say sorry if you’re in the wrong but keep it short and simple – don’t try to explain or excuse your actions – this is where you come across as weak and unconfident. Simply acknowledge your fault, express remorse and leave it at that. If you don’t dwell on your mistakes, others won’t either. Late with a project or forgotten to reply to an e-mail? A short apology followed by the delivery of the desired items is far more effective than long-winded justifications.

To put this advice in context, imagine you’re applying for a job, you fit most of the criteria but you don’t have experience in one particular area – it’s still worth applying but you’re not sure how to deal with that particular part of the specification. In this situation it’s tempting to write a sentence  like this: “although I do not have experience with x, I do have an understanding of y because of my work with z.” This way you feel like you’ve shown awareness of the specification but justified your application in its absence. HOWEVER, what you’ve actually done is made sure that their attention is drawn to what you don’t have that they want, rather than what you do. If you don’t mention the area in which you are lacking, but focus on presenting your other skills strongly, you present a much more confident appearance and chances are they won’t even notice – especially if it’s not a particularly crucial part of the person specification.

You don’t have to be rude to be successful: you just have to be confident, focus on the positives and keep your apologies short and to the point.

Interested in improving your job applications or interview skills? Go to the Job Hunting page to find more articles and advice.

Get a hobby: what your interests say about you

There are many parts to a job application and they all have their challenges – how to fit your experience to the requirements, how to sell yourself effectively, how to highlight your skills and aptitudes. One of the areas that doesn’t often get a lot of attention from us as we sweat over jobs applications and endless CV revisions is the things that make us interesting people aside from our work experience and qualifications – unsurprisingly, in addition to wanting you to be fully qualified and possessed of a wide range of relevant experience, employers also want to make sure that they’re hiring interesting, engaging people with a wide range of interests and hobbies.

If you’re like me, you did quite well in the recreational section of your CV throughout school and university – joining sports teams and clubs to pad it out – but once you got into the world of work your interests… narrowed… somewhat. To be quite honest, most days I consider it a success if I manage a conversation with my parents and read part of a book when I come home from work, let alone taking up expensive and time consuming hobbies. Tempting though it is to sink into a routine of work, television and sleep with the occasional friendly outing, there will come a time when you realise it’s a bit of a stretch to talk about the football team you were on four years ago in a covering letter and will find yourself in need of something else to talk about.

Although it may seem like the least important part of your application, your hobbies and interests can say a lot about you as a person and can reinforce that you possess certain desired traits without you having to repeat yourself. So just what do your hobbies say about you?

Team sports: if you play a team sport or can get yourself involved in one, it’s a great thing to put on your CV. It shows that you can work well with others, that you are able to manage your time effectively enough to fit in practice around the rest of your life and it presents you as a healthy, active person who is happy to get involved.

Individual sports: are you a runner or a climber? Maybe you cycle or swim? If so, you’re showing that you’re a dedicated and self-motivated individual who can set themself a goal and work to achieve it. It shows that you can work unsupervised and that you aren’t afraid of a challenge.

Playing a musical instrument: If you play an instrument or sing – especially if it’s with a choir or an orchestra – you show that you have the capacity to learn and continually improve, the dedication to practice regularly and the ability to work in harmony with others and follow direction and you demonstrate that you have an interest in culture.

Physical activities: these include things such as yoga, pilates and dance. Physical activities show that you have a good work-life balance, that you are interested in new experiences and that you are able to commit your time and energy to a long term project.

Arts and crafts: these things might be less common or obviously connectable to your CV but there’s no shame in not being a sporty person. Hobbies like painting, knitting, photography or scrapbooking show that you are capable of taking on projects and seeing them to completion, of developing your skillset and applying it to new challenges and indicate a practical, organised nature.

Hobbies to be wary of: cooking and travel are two things that a lot of people will claim as a hobby; this is fine but you have to be prepared to back it up. Everybody makes dinner, so for cooking (or baking) to be a hobby you have to show that you work to develop your abilities, that you try new things regularly and that you belong to communities or attend show/exhibitions related to your interest. Similarly if travel is an interest you need to talk about places you’ve visited recently, languages you’ve learnt and show that you read around your subject. Handled well these hobbies can demonstrate project management skills, self-motivation, an awareness of the wider world and a willingness to try new things and new places.

Hobbies to avoid: reading, watching TV, listening to music, playing computer games. I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with these activities as pastimes, but they are unlikely to impress on a CV and will not set you apart from the crowd.

Not sure what is the right hobby for you? Take a look at my highly scientific diagram below to work out the best way to spend your free time.

Go North: leave London and live better

I'm not as southern as some people, coming as I do from good Yorkshire stock, but it is seldom these days that I have reason to venture past Oxford, let alone Birmingham. It was with some trepidation then last week that I boarded train to Leeds to visit a friend. Upon my arrival however I saw that all my fears were unjustified - Leeds is an amazing city with excellent transport links to surrounding towns set in picture postcard rurality.

Saltaire

I had been told that Leeds was a superior shopping destination and it more than lived up to its reputation: apart from John Lewis (which my friend assures me is arriving next year) it has all the major chains as well as some fun and quirky independents and boasts a truly superior waterstones as well as that increasingly chimeric creature: a well-stocked HMV. There is also some beautiful architecture, an excellent museum and a wide selection of bars and restaurants. All in all I had a delightful weekend (so delightful that it caused me to miss an update last week - sorry about that) and had my perceptions about Northern loving thoroughly challenged. Why though am I taking the time to tell you all about it?

Well, among the other manifest attractions of Leeds my friend happened to mention how much she paid for a two bedroom apartment with a balcony, covered parking and access to a tennis court. I could only stare dumbly at her as she rattled off the numerous benefits she got alongside her apartment, thinking that you wouldn't even get a room in a dodgy flat share for that in London. I had a similar shock when we walked past an estate agents and I saw how little it cost to buy an apartment in the city centre.

I suddenly realised how affordable grown up life could be if you moved out of London - renting would no longer be a pointless money sink but a reasonable expenditure and getting on the property ladder could be more than a hopeless dream. Additionally, in areas like Leeds you're not really sacrificing anything: it's about two hours by train or driving to reach London (it has taken me this long to travel across London some weekends) and there is more than enough to keep you busy and social. There's even an airport for quick Europe-based getaways.

The only downside is,of course, the comparative scarcity of jobs, making it a life choice that is not possible for everybody. However if you are in a profession - particularly one that pays well - you will be amazed at how much further your money can go outside of the M25. You can love the lifestyle you want and still be capable of paying off your student

loans and saving for the future.

So my advice this week? Go north - if you can. It will be well worth it. And now if you'll excuse me I'm off to do some location based job hunting....

Want more life advice? Check out my post on regaining control or adjusting after uni.

Experience: the Catch 22 of job hunting

When it comes to job hunting there’s one element that frustrates and angers me the most – to the extent that I sometimes feel like jeopardising the occasional interview just to get it off my chest – and that’s the issue of experience.

Photo by amenclincsphotos via Flickr

In the current economic climate experience is prized for two reasons: one, it means that the company doesn't have to train you, nurture you or invest any more money and time in you than is absolutely necessary to make sure you understand the role and two, with the amount of redundancies being instituted across the spectrum of industries, there are an awful lot of experienced candidates out there. Now, in all fairness, you can’t blame companies for this, however it leaves new arrivals to the job market with their very own catch 22: can’t get a job without experience, can’t get experience without a job. 

This is less of a problem if you’re going down the corporate graduate scheme route (although you may still be surprised by the weighting that is given to summer jobs and internships and the expectation that you will have experience of one or the other). If you want to get into any kind of less mainstream career however, the job hunter’s catch 22 can leave you feeling like you’re staring through a glass door that you can’t get through because you don’t have a key – you can see where you want to be, you just don’t have the means to get there.

The unspoken message that companies are sending of course is that you need to get the experience you need in some other way than formalised employment – usually by working for free. It’s unfair, unfeasible for many and ultimately doesn’t do businesses any favours in the long run but these days most graduates without vocational career pathways are resigned to either doing the unpaid legwork, approaching their desired career in an extremely roundabout manner or giving up on it completely.

Unfortunately there isn't a never before heard solution or lifehack for dealing with this problem – if there was, believe me, I would spread the love. However, I do have some ways of dealing with this conundrum that might make the application process a bit easier.

Do the internship but minimise the damage.

Obviously not everybody is able to work for free or has guaranteed parental accommodation but there are strategies for handling the internship to minimise its negative impact on your life. A short-term internship that pays expenses is one option – it doesn’t cost you anything and it can get you on to the next step of your career journey. Alternatively you may be able to work out a part-time internship alongside another, less ideal, job. If you can’t manage a long term internship, at the very least try to get a few days work experience or shadowing in the industry of your choice – anything you can do to inch your CV up the pile makes a difference.

Give them something else they want

Although experience is prized by employers there are other skills and qualifications that you can develop that they may find sufficiently valuable to make up the difference on your CV. Languages are a good example – Spanish, German, Arabic, Chinese and Italian are frequently sought after by employers and there are often adult education classes run by your local authority that are discounted for those not in employment.  Another option is to develop your computer skills – but in a specific area. Everyone is good at MS Office but if you can demonstrate database management skills, knowledge of coding, web design expertise or graphic design abilities you can increase your on paper value to the companies you’re applying to.

Use the power of networking

The adage that it’s not what you know it’s who you know remains true even in 2014 so it’s worth examining your contacts for common ground with your interviewer or the company you’re applying to. If you can manage an informal introduction or meeting with someone before you present yourself formally they will have a face to put with the application – and it’s much harder to reject someone out of hand if they’ve already bought you coffee. Similarly, if you’ve been to the same university as the person in charge of the recruiting or you used to work at the same company or you even support the same football team then you are presenting yourself as someone familiar rather than a complete stranger and they are less likely to focus on your lack of experience if you have a common ground to discuss. Most positions are won or lost face to face, so if you get to that stage, any advantage is crucial. Attending industry events or conferences is another way to build up these connections – even if you don’t manage to meet the people you want to, just being able to talk about the event in cover letters and interviews will put you further up the shortlist.

Obviously, there’s no guarantee that following these paths with guarantee you success but your chances will increase and – most importantly – you will be actively involved in improving your changes rather than feeling increasingly impotent and resentful with every rejection and sometimes attitude is half the battle. Read here for more tips on dealing with rejection proactively.

Job vs Career: the changing face of graduate employment

A Dog walker for life? Or just for Christmas?

I am now four weeks into my first job after university: four weeks of Ups, downs stresses and triumphs. For the first time in four years I am getting a monthly income that is taking me out of debt rather than into it, and I am beginning to make some friends. I see all this as an achievement in and of itself but increasingly I'm finding that other people don't see it that way. Countless times over the past few weeks I have been asked what my plans are for the future, what I'm going to do next, what I want to do with my life...

Obviously my current position is not one I will continue in beyond this year- the spiritual rewards not being able to compensate for the lack of remuneration. However, that doesn't mean that after this year I will have planned out a career path into which I can transition smoothly nor that I necessarily should have.

With the latest figures indicating that the pension age will be rising to an eventual limit of 75, this generation's graduates are looking at a working life of about 50 years at least. When once it made sense to pick a career and stick with it, in the modern job market it just seems unrealistic and a little foolish.

Of course there are people whose degree will have led them into a career- medical students, law students, vet-meds for example and some of the more dedicated scientists but many of the rest will end up in a job only somewhat tangentially related to their degree if that and will probably not pick a ‘career’ as such right off the bat.

The modern graduate is most concerned with two things: making some money and gaining some experience. This can mean choosing ‘jobs’- which I define as positions accepted due to the specific nature of the role rather than ‘careers’- taking a position in a company or field with a view to advancement within it. This is partly due to the modern job market and partly due to the differing temperament and social expectations of today’s graduates. The traditional transition into a stable family situation with a long term partner is being pushed back later and later by young people therefore it follows that their need for the financial stability and job security afforded by taking a position with long term goals is greatly reduced. From my own experience I know that I find great comfort in the fact that I am bound by a one year contract only after which I am free to pursue a completely new line of work altogether if I so choose. I am more scared by the notion of a ‘permanent’ job that I can’t see the end of than I am of financial instability.

Today one also has to bear in mind the rapidity with which job descriptions can change and the hovering danger of last-in first-out job cuts resulting from the recession. People who chose careers in the past and have worked exclusively in one field can often find that their job is written out of existence due to financial cutbacks or technological advancement and they are not equipped to transfer into another line of work because their skills have become so specialised.

My personal belief is that I will eventually settle to a regular line of work, as will most graduates, but that will be more likely to be a role you could play in any number of fields rather than a sector within which you might take on a number of roles. The idea of jobs for life is dead and people should be glad to let it go- mobility in the job market benefits everyone at the end of the day as people keep their skills honed and their interest and engagement in their work sustained. The only career that should matter is your personal one, and you should follow it wherever it takes you.

The Guide to Going to Uni part 1: Money Matters

We interrupt our regular programming to bring you a special announcement… its fresher’s week again. Not all at the same time but over the next few weeks, the next generation of drunken slackers bright young minds will be heading off to uni.

Now of course this guide usually focuses on the emergence from University not the entrance, however with student numbers at an all-time high in an effort to escape the fee hike there are thousands of teenagers in desperate need of our sage counsel- and who are we to deny them?

So the next few posts will provide a three part guide to going to uni that should ease the transition from home to away and answer any questions or worries felt by the freshers of 2011.

The biggest change when you leave for university is arguably the sudden acquisition of financial independence. How much you get and where you get it from may vary but for the first time you will have to consider the costs of food, rent and in some cases even utilities. Whether you’re by nature frugal or extravagant, this will necessitate some lifestyle adjustments.

Spreadsheet Love

Photo by Kikishua via Flickr

The first thing you need is a good spreadsheet; it doesn’t have to be overly complex but some record of your income and expenditure will help you set a realistic weekly budget and enable you to make the decision about whether or not to pursue an additional line of income (and by this I mean getting a job not drugs or prostitution by the way).

If you are an excel virgin you can get a parent or more knowledgeable friend to set one up for you and explain how it works- make sure your balance and total outgoing are linked to the data you are inputting so you get a real-time update of your situation when you add new information. This might seem overly geeky or control freaky way of overseeing your finances but once you have it all set up it will require minimum effort from you and will ensure you always know where your money is going.

An addendum to this is to make sure you have your internet banking set up and that you know all the necessary codes and passwords for accessing it. This will allow you to check your account Balance any time of the day or night and give you access to statements so that if you get behind on your spreadsheet you can easily find the information you need.

Photo by sausyn via Flickr

To Work or Not to Work?

Not all universities allow their students to work but if you are faced with no such restrictions you will probably have given thought to the possibility of eking out your meagre income with some kind of part time job. However, it is worth putting off your decision about this until you are a couple of weeks into your timetable as this will allow you to gauge the amount of time you will have free and the academic workload you will have to shoulder.

It might seem like money is the most important consideration but if your work and social life are negatively impacted than you may want to reconsider. Remember that going to university is about getting a good qualification and meeting new people; if you’re not getting either than why are you paying out all that money?

If you do decide to get a job try and fit it around your university life: if you have few lectures look for jobs with early morning or late night shifts, leaving the afternoon and evening for work and socialising. If you have morning lectures find evening and weekend shifts so you can still see your friends and get work done.

You can also try and find a workplace that fits with your schedule: working in a library will allow you to merge work and study, bar work will let you socialise with your friends during work and after as will working in a coffee shop.

Whatever work you decide to do make sure you confine it to a maximum of three or four days a week to minimise the negative impact on university life.

Photo by Eun Byeol via Flickr

Food, Glorious Food

Buying food will eat away (no pun intended) at your weekly budget unless you take control of your spending right from the start. There are many ways to cook on a budget (these will form the bulk of a future post) but here are a few of the simplest and most effective.

Firstly, buy dry goods (such as pasta and rice) in bulk and take advantage of multibuy offers on canned goods. Both of these groups of products do not go out of date and are essential for most recipes, so a larger initial expenditure can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Secondly, don’t be a food snob: people on a budget don’t have that luxury. So buy the basics option if there isn’t much difference in quality and look for cheaper cuts of meat- chicken thigh fillets taste just as good as breast fillets but cost half the price.

You can also save money by cooking with friends: cooking for four (or more) usually lowers the price per head. If you take it in turns to cook the cost of the more expensive ingredients is shared by the whole group and food doesn’t go to waste.

Finally go shopping at night- expensive things like ready meals, meat and bakery products get severely marked down in price the night before the expiration date so a certain flexibility can save you a lot of money.

Do you REALLY need it?

The last piece of advice I have for you is regarding the ability to distinguish between essential and non-essential purchases. I know everyone’s human and we all give into temptation- I myself once lived for a week on £15 due to the inadvisable purchase of a pair of gorgeous shoes (for the record totally worth it). However, the point is I did then rein back my spending, I didn’t just carry on regardless. Too many people these days are happy living in their overdraft or on their credit card- I am terrified of the latter and only do the former when I know I have money coming in.

Obviously you shouldn’t deny yourself a pair of new hole-free jeans or some underwear but that doesn’t mean that you need to head for Levis and Agent Provocateur when New Look and La Senza will do the job.

Yes its unfair that some text books cost more than a designer handbag, but one is a necessary purchase and the other is a luxury (hint: the necessary one doesn’t come with a shoulder strap). So next time you’re out shopping and you spot a ‘lust have’ item be realistic about what you can afford.

Then go home and put it on your Christmas list.

If you’ve got any questions about managing your money or any handy hints you’d like to share let us know in the comments section. Join us next time for part 2: making friends.