You have a treasure trove of skills

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Communication skills? Excellent command of written English? Innovative problem solver? Research and analysis? Organisation and self-motivation? Creativity? If you took or are taking an arts and humanities degree, then some or all of these must apply to you. These are the ‘transferable skills’ that your degree has given you.

‘Transferable skills’ is a buzz-phrase that you won’t emerge from your degree without hearing to the point of being sick of it. But happily, it is a genuinely useful way of marketing yourself to a potential employer. When you graduate, most employers won’t expect you to have huge amounts of specific industry expertise, but they will certainly be on the lookout for soft skills.

In a 2014 survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, over 70% of employers surveyed rated leadership, team-work, written communication, and problem-solving as the qualities they look for first in a graduate job-seeker. These are skills that arts grads generally rate highly in.

Just remember, writing a list of skills and sending it off won’t impress an employer – you need to provide examples from your experience that prove you’ve got the goods.

“Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career” is a guest blog series written by Claire Kilroy.  Claire works as a content writer for leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. If you’re looking to get a start in your career, take a look at their graduate jobs London vacancies, or for more graduate careers advice, head over to their blog.

University is worth enjoying

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: ILGWU Local 25 couples enjoy social dancing at the ILGWU Workers University, April 18, 1955. Arthur W. Calhoun is present. Image from the Kheel Center.

Getting a degree takes three or more years, so it’s definitely worth taking something you have a genuine interest in. Long hours in the library, all-nighters spent smashing out essays, and straining to understand complex theories all take their toll even if you love the subject; if you don’t, you could burn out.

There’s also the fact that on the whole, we tend to enjoy the subjects we’re good at. If you’re choosing between a ‘sensible’ degree that you would struggle with and one you love and are good at, the latter is the better choice. Employers care to some extent what you studied, but they also care about what grade you received.

Many graduate schemes have qualification requirements, such as excluding anyone who received less than a 2:1. Other employers might not specify grade requirements, but use them to filter applications. Of course those with lower grades often still manage to get the career of their dreams, but picking a subject that you know you’ll do well in is certainly worthwhile.

“Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career” is a guest blog series written by Claire Kilroy.  Claire works as a content writer for leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. If you’re looking to get a start in your career, take a look at their graduate jobs London vacancies, or for more graduate careers advice, head over to their blog.

You have plenty of options

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your career does not have to be determined by the degree that you take. So no matter how many times people ask you, studying English doesn’t mean you have to become an English teacher, and a Philosophy degree doesn’t condemn you to a life of writing intellectual homilies and trying to grow a distinguished beard.

In fact, an arts or humanities degree sets you up to go into pretty much any career you want, except of course those few that, like medicine, demand certain qualifications. Unfortunately, ‘History graduate’ will rarely be written on a job specification, but there are lots of other ways you can fit the bill.

As well as careers in anything from media, marketing, and finance, arts graduates can go on to have successful careers in the tech sector. It may not seem like the most natural fit, and you may encounter some raised eyebrows, but many leaders in the industry believe in the importance of hiring people with different academic backgrounds.

In 2010, Steve Jobs attributed Apple’s success to the fact the company didn’t rely on technology alone, but rather ‘technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities’. Non-techies have to understand the technology they’re working with, but their ability to visualise multiple solutions to one problem, and to translate paragraphs of jargon into plain language makes them highly valuable.

“Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career” is a guest blog series written by Claire Kilroy.  Claire works as a content writer for leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. If you’re looking to get a start in your career, take a look at their graduate jobs London vacancies, or for more graduate careers advice, head over to their blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image: The Temple of the Liberal Arts, with the City of Bern and Minerva. From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository

If you choose to study an arts or humanities subject, you’ll probably come across a lot of false assumptions about your degree. Some – ‘you never do any work’ – won’t put you off, but others can be a bit worrying, especially the idea that your choice of degree will make you less employable than someone taking a technical subject.

Arts and humanities aren’t vocational degrees, and don’t lead straight to many clearly defined career paths. While you wrack your brains for ideas about what you want to do, there will be times when you envy a friend studying medicine for their certainty about what they want to do. There will be other moments when you wish you’d taken an engineering degree and had employers lining up to hire you.

But there’s no reason to despair! Over the next week, we’ll be publishing a series of blog posts covering four great reasons why studying an arts or humanities degree can have a positive impact on your career prospects. Watch this space…

“Why arts and humanities degrees are valuable for your career” is a guest blog series written by Claire Kilroy.  Claire works as a content writer for leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. If you’re looking to get a start in your career, take a look at their graduate jobs London vacancies, or for more graduate careers advice, head over to their blog.

Earlier today I was sitting in Gordon Square, one of the most beautiful spots in London in my opinion, watching endless people wandering zombie-like while staring at their mobile phones and completely ignoring the idyllic scene around them while they hunted for Pokemon.

Friends and colleagues have defended Pokemon Go! by saying it’s just a game, and it’s fun, and it’s surely better than slobbing on the sofa playing a computer game in your living room. They also claim it has helped them meet and connect with fellow Londoners, as they bang into them on their way to capture an imaginary critter, which I do appreciate, and blimey does London need more connection between strangers!

However, purely from an outsider’s perspective (as I daren’t download the app) it just looks like all that’s wrong with our society right now and the pinnacle of this rising tide of distraction that has been washing over us since smartphones and 24 hour connectivity entered our lives. We spend every waking hour (definitely including myself in this) eye-locked in to our computer screens, or jumping to check a notification on our phones. Meanwhile, this constant distraction means we’re always in our heads, find it increasingly difficult to concentrate on one thing at a time and are less attuned to what’s actually around us.

But what’s this got to do with careers, I hear you ask! 

Well, there’s a recent career theory called Planned Happenstance, which suggests that rather than having a rigid career plan and charging off towards set goals (rather like those Go! players storming around the streets of London to find a rare Pokemon) another more effective approach to careers might be to consciously put yourself in situations and in a mindset where unexpected opportunities might arise. The theory suggests that sometimes careers aren’t things we can plan for (what with a constantly shifting labour market, plus so many jobs and roles out there right now that we’d have no idea existed) but that we’re better off being flexible and open-minded, and ready to jump into action should something come up.

To do this, we need to be curious and creative, we need to follow our interests and make sure we’re creating chances for ourselves by being in the right place and the right time, and we need to maintain a positive attitude to turn serendipity into opportunity. 

So, for example, you meet a person at an event and get chatting and the organisation they work for sounds super interesting, so you ask more questions about what they do and how that person go into doing what they do, and make sure to add them on LinkedIn. The connection you build during that conversation means that when that person is hiring for a new project they’re running, they write to you to see if you know anyone who may be interested. The job itself is too senior for you, but you decide to take a punt and ask if they might have any need for extra support on the project, to which they respond and say yes actually, they were thinking they might offer an internship, and invite you in for an interview!

For this kind of approach to work, you need to be alert and aware. At events, you need to be looking out for who you could connect with rather than sitting in the corner Whatsapping your mates. You need to be fully involved and present in the conversation in order to make the connection a meaningful one, and you also need to think laterally to spot potential opportunities that might not be so obvious.

All of this requires mindfulness – the ability to be alert and focused in the present moment, and fully aware of what’s going on around you. In this world of WhatsApp, Pokemons and SnapChat pulling at our attention, this is harder than ever, and really requires practice. Here are some of the ways you might do this…

> Start meditating– mindfulness meditation is probably the most direct way to train your brain and practice getting back to the present moment. There various ways of doing it, but all revolve around choosing a point of focus (say the breath, or the sounds around you) and spending some time (maybe 10-20 minutes) intentionally bringing your attention back to this focal point. This is not as easy as it sounds, and your mind will wander, that’s what minds do, but the important thing is to keep bringing back and to try not to blame yourself when you lose focus, because it’s all part of the process. Every time you notice you’ve lost attention and come back to the breath or whatever you’ve chosen as your ‘anchor’, the more that part of your brain is strengthened, like a muscle.

> Everyday mindfulness – another thing to try is to choose an activity that you do every day, say brushing your teeth, and decide that for that activity, you will try to remain fully in the present for the whole duration, bringing your focus back every time it wanders off. Or you might choose a doorway you often walk through and choose that as your prompt to bring your mind back into the present, wherever it’s wandered off to.

> Have a digital detox – why not decide on a time in the evening where you will turn off your phone and computer and any other digital device and leave it off until you wake up the next morning? I’ve started doing this, at 9pm every night, and it’s surprisingly hard to stick to, but my sleep has got a lot better. Or you could choose a half day at the weekend to try this. If the thought fills you with dread, maybe it’s a sign that it would be a good thing to try!

> Take a mindful walk – choose a walk you do every day, say the walk to the Tube, and make a special effort to stay present, really noticing what’s around you with all your senses – the colour of the leaves, the faces of the people walking past, the feel of the ground beneath your feet, the smell of the grass. I’d especially recommend doing this in Gordon Square – it really will take your breath away!

The more we practice being mindful, the more we gradually are able to be in control of our thoughts and are less susceptible to distractions. We also notice more, which might mean we’re better able to spot those amazing career opportunities when they come our way, rather than spending a potentially fruitful conversation mentally planning what to have for dinner, or going past a really interesting event poster because we’re running off to catch a Pokemon!

Good luck, and if you’d like some extra help, there’s a great phone app called Headspace which offers a really good, engaging introduction to mindfulness.

UCL also has a programme called Ten Minute Mind , which helps you learn to manage your stress through ‘mindfulness meditation’ for only ten minutes a day. You’ll be emailed a short track every morning to listen to. There is also an online course called ‘Anxiety: Beat it and Regain Your Peace’ available for students free for 6 weeks.  It consists of a mixture of talking head, video, audio and  written lectures. The longest lecture is 11 minutes but they are on average 2-3 minutes long so you will be able to engage at your own pace.

By Anna Levy, Careers Consultant

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

‘So, have you got any questions for us?’

If you’ve had an interview any time in the last century, you know this question is inevitable.  Ironically, having made it through all the questions fired at you, many people find this section the most challenging part of the interview to prepare for.

How do I prepare for this?

First piece of advice: be sure to ask a question.  This is extremely important.  Interviewers want the chance to talk. They’ve just listened to you for 45 minutes, give them a break!

What can I ask?

This is your chance to get some real insight into the organisation, so don’t blow it by asking something that can be found easily on the website.  Also, try to avoid questions best directed at HR, such as how much holiday you’re entitled to, what the normal working hours are, etc.  You can always ask this over email, in advance of the interview.

Can I ask about the salary?

You can, although it might be a safer bet to raise the question of salary either in advance of applying (for example emailing HR for an idea of the salary range on offer), or once they’ve been offered the role as part of the negotiation phase.

Some winners:

‘Can you share insight into what you see as the key priorities of this role, particularly in the first 3-6 months of the job?’

‘I’m curious about the ways of working in this role – is it primarily independent, or does it interact with other teams within the organisation?’

‘What does a typical week in post look like?’

Feeling bold?

If you feel there has been a strong rapport created, you could try: ‘I’m curious about your own experience in this organisation.  Can you talk through what you find as the most rewarding aspects of working for xxx?’, or even, ‘can you tell me something of your own career and how you’ve come to be in your current role?’

Final tip:

While it is good to ask questions, be sure not to overstay your welcome.  If the panel are cutting their answers short, looking at the clock, it’s time to move on.  Usually 2 questions is a safe bet, and if they are warm and invitign you could stretch it to three.

And finally, feel free to close the interview thanking them for their time, and re-iterating your interest in the role and the organisation.  A firm handshake and eye contact should leave them with a good impression of you.

For more tips on preparing for interviews visit our website here…..

By Katie Bisaro, Careers Consultant

As part of UCL Careers’ Media Week back in December, we held a panel discussion on careers in TV, film, and radio. See below for a summary of top tips from our panellists. The next Media Week run by UCL Careers will take place in the autumn term of 2016.

With panellists representing all three sectors (see here for bios), we heard some great advice about how to get into and progress in this popular and competitive industry. Some key highlights from the session are below and we would like to thank Kate, Eduardo, Matt, Anya and Alex for giving up their time to share their insights!

Advice
> This industry is all about ideas. Note down your ideas, develop them, base them on things that really interest you. Don’t be afraid to share them – even if someone takes it, have a new one ready to go! Make documentaries about interesting people that you’ve met.
>  It’s also all about storytelling and people still love storytelling – even though the mediums may be changing, the premise is still the same. Social media is an easy way to reach audiences – make videos on your phone and share them with your friends.
>  Network network network! Make it your business to know everyone and for them to know you.  Attend lots of events and make the most of them. Keep trying to maximise the changes of getting your first start in this industry.
>  If networking events aren’t your thing, make direct contact with someone and invite them for a coffee to have a one-to-one conversation. Ask them to recommend two people you should contact, and then act on that.
>  Play to your strengths – work out what you love and you’re good at.
>  Persistence is key! ‘Every day you persist is a day someone else quits’ – you have to keep trying (but be polite in doing so!)
>  Be prepared to go in at the bottom, work as a runner and make tea – just be good at it! Show lots of enthusiasm and talk to people (but also be aware if someone doesn’t want to be talked to!). If you ‘do your time’ in the lower roles, you will progress within the industry.
>  When you get to the researcher level, you will reach a “crossroads” and will need to determine whether you’d like to down the production route or the editorial side. It can be hard to move once you’ve decided so think hard about which you think is best suited to you.
>  If you want to work in TV you need to be able to collaborate, compromise and take criticism.
>  Find your local radio personality – each station will have different types, so what works for you? (Thanks to Kate Lamble for demonstrating her Radio 4 voice!)
>  Most importantly: Be humble, focused and strong-willed. Get on with people, go for what you want and stay true to yourself.

Opportunities
>  The Roundhouse in Camden has lots of great initiatives, such as production courses, mentoring schemes, projects and master-classes.
>  The BBC has various short work experience schemes across different areas, such as television, radio, journalism and business. You are strongly encouraged to apply for these.
>  Creative Access has internship opportunities to help those in under-represented backgrounds get into a variety of roles.

Resources / Useful Websites
>  Careers Tagged – a fountain of knowledge about various sectors, including film, TV and radio
>  BECTU – trade union for the entertainment industry
>  Prospects – a useful website for finding out more about different roles and sectors, see here for roles in broadcasting
>  AIB – Association for International Broadcasting
>  So You Want to Work in Television? – advice on all matters relating to television production, presenting and pitching.
>  British Council, Film – a detailed list of membership organisations
>  RSGB – Radio Society of Great Britain

By Rhiannon Williams

Are you already feeling like you’ve missed out on the top graduate jobs and big graduate schemes? Don’t worry, there’s a great opportunity that you may not have thought of, that might even suit you better. Apply to work at an SME.

So, what is an SME? Small Medium Enterprises make up more than 99% of private sector business in the UK and the US, and are characterised by a lower number of employees and lower turnover rates.

Importantly, it seems like staff are actually far more content at SMEs. Research by TUC discovered that SME employees are not only most satisfied at work, but also most content with their freedom to choose working hours, most engaged by their employers, and subjected to much lower levels of stress and bullying.

Besides the statistics, why should you apply to work at an SME? Well just to start you’ll…

• See Your Influence Immediately

Unlike with graduate jobs at larger businesses, you’ll see evidence of the consequences of your work from day one. You can chart the success of projects and tasks you’ve directly worked on and it will hugely increase your confidence to be able to tell future employers, family and friends that ‘Today I did _____’ as opposed to ‘Today I was part of the team that implemented_____’

• Given Responsibility Straight Away

Due to the smaller teams employed at SMEs you’re far more likely to be given responsibility much more quickly. You may find that you’ll be put in charge of accounts or projects almost immediately and allowed to suggest your own ideas for consideration with much more success.

You’ll regularly be working closely with the people who charge all of the large decisions from early on, so you’ll discover that you’ll have far greater control over exactly what your day to day job involves.

• Progress Fast

You’ll find that chances to progress are available to you far more rapidly at SMEs, due to your proximity to the people that make the decisions, you’ll be able to wield influence more easily. At larger companies, you’re likely to be face with a clearly defined career path to progress within a number of years, but at an SME, you could find yourself rising up the ranks immediately.

• Have a Varied Working Day

Again, due to the nature of the small team, you’ll be able to take on ad-hoc duties that appeal. Furthermore, due to the responsibility you’ll yield straight away, you’ll be working in a much more reactive way. A day’s never boring at an SME!

 

• Face Less Competition, Easier Applications

The truth is less people apply to SMEs and so the competition is lower, and the application process is often less exhaustive. They rarely have more than one round of interviews and you’ll find that pretty soon you’re dealing with your potential direct line manager or even the CEO. This way you’ll be able to get your personality across much more easily than with a faceless HR department.

• Start When You Want

Many graduate schemes have a lengthy process of application and will start only once a year, but at SMEs they tend to hire for graduate jobs all year round. This means that if you’ve missed the boat on those big application processes, or have decided to take some time out, you’ll be able to get stuck into applying whenever it suits.

• Work in a Calmer Environment

A lot of SMEs will offer a more chilled out working day. You’ll quickly get to know everyone at the business, including top level management, and so you’ll quickly feel part of the team. Smaller companies understand that their employees are their most important asset, and so, even as an entry-level member of staff you’ll be treated with a greater level of respect.

• Learn to Solve Problems

Instead of spending your first couple of months on a very systematic training programme where you’ll be shown exactly how you’re expected to work and perform at the business, you’ll be challenged to think innovatively and deal with incoming problems straightaway. This is significantly more mentally engaging as well as being a beneficial transferable skill to have.

• Develop Entrepreneurial Skill and Commercial Understanding

Due to your proximity to the company’s management team you’re far more likely to find out about the inner workings of the business, from finance to management decisions. Not only will this kind of commercial knowledge look impressive on your CV, but if you want to start your own business at a later date this entrepreneurial knowledge could be instrumental in your success.

• Boost Your CV

When you decide to move on to another company down the line, starting at an SME may be the best way to make your CV look highly impressive. Hands on experience of dealing with clients, making key decisions and examples of how you’ve directly improved the business appear more impressive to many companies than qualifications or training that you’ve received in house, particularly as they can always provide specific training themselves.

 

Article contributed by Inspiring Interns

When you’re applying for graduate jobs straight out of university, your CV may well look similar to lots of others. As a result, one of the best ways to differentiate yourself is with a stellar cover letter.

However, many graduates tend to make the same mistakes on their first cover letters. Without years of professional experience, often your communication skills will be more important to a potential employer than anything else, so if you can produce an effective cover letter, it can really make you stand out.

Let’s start with the number one big graduate cover letter faux pas….

1. It’s all about you

Yes, your cover letter is an opportunity to sell yourself, but you should always be approaching it from the standpoint of how you’ll benefit the company.

If the employer won’t be able to relate the skills, personality or experience on your cover letter to how it will benefit the company, then it shouldn’t be on there. The whole point of the cover letter is to personalise your attributes to the specific role that you’re applying for.

Really think about what it is the company wants in the successful candidate, and make sure that everything is tailored towards how and why you’ll be a good fit. If your cover letter is just a re-hash of your CV then you may as well not have bothered.

 

2. Not doing your research

This starts with making sure there’s no element of obvious ‘templating’ going on. Never use ‘I really want to work for _____’. It screams of a complete lack of personalisation.

Even if you’re applying to lots of companies, try to always keep it original. Doing some basic research on the company will give you the opportunity to discuss some of their work you like, or a process they use that you think is great. The fact that you’ve taken the time to research this will always come across as more genuine than a declaration of love.

 

3. It’s Too long

The natural inclination on length is to keep yourself to no more than a page. However, even this may be too long; this survey from 2011 found that more than 70% of employers would prefer a half page document.

While you certainly shouldn’t go over a page, if you find yourself waffling and putting in irrelevant content just to get it up to a page, you’re probably doing more harm than good.

Ideally, you want it to be jam packed with concise, impressive information. Tell them exactly what they need to know to give you the job, and no more.

 

4. It’s Too formal

When trying to impress an employer, it seems attractive to write in an overly formal tone. The truth is calling yourself an ‘erudite, grandiloquent alumnus’ is likely to put everyone off. No matter what sector, a lot of graduate jobs involve some kind of client contact and your potential employer will want to see that you’ve got clear communication skills.

The key to quality cover letter writing is that it’s concise, and overly formal language is likely to confuse the message you’re trying to get across to your potential employer. While of course you don’t want to be using slang, read your cover letter out loud and if any of it sounds unnatural, it’s probably not going to work. Think, polite, conversational language.

If you need some help on simplifying your cover letter, something like the Hemingway App can be really useful in simplifying language.

 

5. Using too many negatives

Especially when applying for graduate jobs, a lot of people feel like they’re constantly lacking, particularly in experience or skills. Despite this, you never want to overtly point this out to a potential employer.

It’s never a good idea to start a sentence with ‘While I may lack….’ or ‘Even though I’m not the best…’.The key is to focus on exactly what you do have to offer to the company, without coming across as arrogant about your attributes.

 

6. All filler no killer

‘I’m a passionate, hard-working, enthusiastic graduate’ or ‘I work well as part of a team as well as individually’ are huge turns offs. Listing positive attributes with no examples is completely unconvincing.

Make sure you back up every claim with examples. Think of a time when you’ve worked in a team successfully, or a time when you’ve had to pull off a 16 hour working day instead.

 

7. Oversharing

It is becoming increasingly more and more important to employers that their new recruits fit into the ‘company culture’, particularly for graduate jobs. This doesn’t mean that your table tennis prowess or active social life is going to cut it.

If you’re keen to show you’re a cultural fit for the company, use their social media and online presence to find their values, and demonstrate how you share them. It’ll show you’ve done your research on the company, and that you care about the same things they do.

 

8. Using the same old format

Don’t be afraid to use bullet points, so long as it’s not more than once. Use subheadings to make it easier for an employer to find the information they want if they’re scan-reading your letter.

If you’ve got any adobe skills don’t be afraid to use them here too. If you’re applying for a creative role, some minimalist design additions to your cover letter could really help you to stand out.

About the Author

Matt Arnerich is the Content Writer over at leading graduate recruitment agency Inspiring Interns. Matt writes about everything to do with graduate employability and how to get ahead in the competitive grad market. For the latest graduate opportunities, check out their graduate jobs London page or, if you’re looking to hire a graduate, take a look at their innovative Video CVs.

 

You’ve had your CV checked, your application is in, and an employer has just told you that you are through to the next round of the application process! What do you do next?!

Here are our Top 5 Tips for approaching interviews in a professional way:

1. Do your research! Read the company’s website, annual reports, look at LinkedIn, news articles; speak to current employees. UCL Careers fairs are all in the first semester, but stay tuned next term for more employer events and themed weeks such as Health and Life Sciences and Charities and NGOs for more opportunities to network with potential employers.
2. Use this information to enhance your interview answers. Questions like “Why do you want to work for us?” are very common in interviews, and generic answers like “Because you are a global company” give the employer little information about how much you know about them. Enhancing this with the research you have done gives a much stronger, informed answer.
3. Be accurate, avoid lying. Exaggerating the truth on an application means you may get caught out further down the line. Remember that your integrity is very important to a future employer, so tell the truth. An anecdote from an employer was shared at a recent UCL Careers event, where an applicant had said they spoke fluent French. The interviewer started the interview in French accordingly: it very soon transpired that the applicant did not speak French, and the application did not go any further. So remember, be truthful!
4. Telephone and video interviews should be prepared for and treated as seriously as a face to face interview. Ensure you are in a quiet place with no interruptions, and in the case of video interviews, make sure you have a nice background behind you like a blank wall- an unmade bed doesn’t send the best impression! If it is a video interview, dress up smart, like you would in a face to face interview. Practice beforehand: book a Practice Interview through UCL Careers, and use our interview simulator to see how you come across on screen.
5. If you agree to have a telephone interview at a certain time, be ready for the call! We hear feedback from employers of people stopping interview calls to speak to friends, being out on the street where you cannot be heard, and so on. This may be the first time you speak to an employer- think about how you are coming across to them.

– Hannah Posner, Careers Consultant, UCL Careers