Keeping records

Don’t worry, I’m not about to post about the virtues of vinyl over downloads or CDs – but I might later if I run out of things to say!

The records the title refers to are for your CV and future job applications.  Perhaps ‘notes’ might have been a better title! I know it’s summer (or is supposed to be despite the gloomy weather here in Manchester at the moment) and you may well be doing all sorts of exciting things which mean that CVs and job applications aren’t at the forefront of your mind. I’m not saying they should be, but there are a few reasons why it might be useful to think about them every now and then…

Unpaid experience

Many graduates would do anything to get relevant work experience on their CV. But how far would you go? Would you be willing to work unpaid for up to 12 months? This is the question companies are now asking graduates to consider when advertising unpaid internships.

Here at the careers service we do not endorse unpaid internships. With the exception of charity and voluntary organisations we will only advertise unpaid positions if they are short, and will clearly benefit you. In our experience, some employers are trying it on to see what they can get for free. Since the start of the recession we have received an increasing number of requests from employers for unpaid interns. In the vast majority of cases we say no as they are proper jobs and should be paying a salary. We offer to reverse our decision if they pay minimum wage or above. A surprising number agree to do this.

What you can draw from this is – don’t be afraid to negotiate. Your time and skills are valuable, and whilst you may be prepared to offer them unsalaried for a while, don’t be afraid to draw a line in the sand at a certain point.

Although we do not back unpaid internships we understand that for many of you they represent your only way to get work experience.  With that in mind we thought we would give you some tips if you are planning to do this…

Social media – your career friend or foe?

I’m one of the Careers Service’s biggest proselytizers of social media for networking and ultimately career development and I regularly evangelise about the wonders of LinkedIn and Twitter to colleagues, students I see, and frankly anyone who will listen! But I think I sometimes neglect to talk about what NOT to do with social media and the perils of ‘overexposure’, so to speak, a subject touched on by Anna on our graduate blog. Perhaps this was because I thought it went without saying. But having seen some students’ completely unprotected Facebook and Twitter profiles, I’ve revised my view – it DOES need saying.

A graduate job – what’s that?

There have been plenty of doom and gloom articles in the news about the employment prospects for graduates due to the recession.  The facts and figures are coming from surveys done at different times with different people so its all pretty confusing.

What do graduates do?

• Graduate schemes – they may be related to your degree but many are open to any degree subject.
• Graduate entry jobs – a degree is a requirement, possibly due to specialist knowledge requirements or for entry into professional training.
• Graduate internships – a degree is a requirement, the jobs are a mixture of those requiring specialist degree related experience and those that will give graduates the experience to get graduate entry level jobs later.

Review your placement/internship and win vouchers!

If you are completing a placement or internship this summer, you can win £5 in HMV vouchers simply by providing a review of your experience on the Rate My Placement website. To date they have 2700 reviews on over 800 companies.

Rate My Placement are also looking for:

• Campus representatives who can earn £1 for every person that registers with the site, and another £1 for each review their fellow students complete
• Guest bloggers to talk about their experiences on placements and internships

More information in their promotional flyer:
Rate My Placement June 2010.