Welcome (back) to Manchester!

Whether you’ve just arrived in Manchester to start your first year, or are returning for your second, third or final year after the summer break, we can help you make the most of your time here and help you land a job for when you leave!

So how can we help you?

Exploring your options

We run a number of events throughout the year which can help you get an insight into a variety of industries and hear from people who do these jobs first hand. Search for events on CareersLink, log in using your university username and password: www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink

Work experience

Work experience, whether it’s a part-time job, volunteering, an internship, work shadowing or getting involved in student societies, is vital to helping you get a job after you graduate! We offer a range of support and advice about work experience on our website: www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/workexperience and we advertise hundreds of part-time and work experience vacancies on CareersLink: www.manchester.ac.uk/careerslink

Applications and Interviews

We offer advice and guidance on applications and interview whether for full-time graduate jobs, part-time work, work experience or for further study.

A good application will get you noticed and get you through to the important interview stage! We offer a range of advice on our website: www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/applications or you can come in for a 15 minute quick query appointment and get your application checked by an expert: www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/students/services/quickquery

Interviews are usually the final hurdle between you and a job! Don’t let your nerves get the better of you, and make sure you’re prepared. We offer practice interviews and have a range of advice on our website: www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/students/services/practiceinterviews/

Accredited Modules

Want to boost your employability and earn credits at the same time? We offer two accredited modules, Career Management Skills which is largely delivered by employers so you can find out first hand the skills they are looking for: www.manchester.ac.uk/careers/students/employable/modules/ and the Manchester Leadership Programme, which combines volunteering with academic study around leadership www.manchester.ac.uk/mlp

‘… But I’ve only worked in a bar, that’s not work experience right?’

WRONG.

Any kind of work- whether full- time, part-time, voluntary, vacation, casual or unpaid can count as work experience, boost your CV and help you land a dream job, even if it is completely unrelated to your future career.

So what skills can you gain from working part-time?

*NEWSFLASH* Places still available on the Manchester Leadership Programme

In case you missed it the first time, see here for more details: https://manchesterundergradcareers.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/the-manchester-leadership-programme-201213-applications-open-4-may/

The Manchester Leadership Programme 2012/13 – applications open 4 May!

“The MLP helped me to show that I have the leadership skills recruiters want….” Take the course that boosts your employability, take the Manchester Leadership Programme.

Apply at www.manchester.ac.uk/mlp/apply

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The Manchester Leadership Programme is in its 7^th year and is established as one of the most unique programmes in the country, as highlighted by leading industry professionals and students for its quality.

The MLP offers lectures from high profile guest speakers, debate and discussion of current issues, accredited volunteering in the local community and the chance to meet students from all disciplines in the university.

Furthermore upon completion of the MLP the prestigious Manchester Leadership Award appears on your university transcript.

Places on the course are open to the majority of university students. For more information and to check your eligibility visit www.manchester.ac.uk/mlp/eligibility/   

 To apply for the programme go to www.manchester.ac.uk/apply

***Registration opens 4 May***

There are a very limited number of places so apply early to avoid disappointment.

Step Up and Stand Out! Employability Development Fair

Wednesday 2^nd May, 12pm – 4pm, Alan Turing Building

Sign up here

With over 20% of graduates unemployed, this event will give you the opportunity to find out more about what you can do to make yourselves more employable and to develop those skills required to secure a job once you have finished your studies and help you stand out from the crowd!

Organised by students, (the majority of us are third years) for students, this event will highlight the importance of extra-curricular activities and give you the opportunity to attend presentations, interactive workshops and speak directly to experts who will be able to help and advise you how to develop those all-important skills.

Hear from representatives from the Careers Service, including talks on Volunteering and Internships, as well as hearing from the employers’ perspective along with the chance to speak to volunteering specialists from Manchester City Council and Student Action. The interactive workshops will help you identify the skills you already have and those you need to develop.

Virtual jobs fair – summer opportunities up for grabs!

Did you know that this week is National Student Employment Week?

To help you find opportunities in all kinds of areas, NASES (who represent university jobshops across the country) are hosting a virtual work fair where you can find out a range of summer work opportunities and internships. These include accountancy/finance, law, marketing, tourism, hospitality, leisure, IT, teaching, summer camps, volunteering and many others.

Organisations include big names like Ernst & Young, RBS and British Heart Foundation, but also some you might not know, including Blue Cow, who raise income for charity by selling milkshakes and smoothies at festivals; and (if you fancy topping up your tan this summer) Cosmo Animación who organise hotel entertainment for children and adults in the Balearic Islands and Spanish coastal regions.

Some of the organisations have closing dates not too far away, so what are you waiting for?

http://www.nases.org.uk/virtualfair

Handling Volunteer Interviews

I decided to begin applying for summer volunteer jobs early, before I would go back to my regular university and job routine for the second semester. I have now got a volunteer interview in London next week and am brought back to the memory of my first interview for my current volunteer job in Manchester. Firstly, when they say ‘please come to our offices for a short and informal interview,’ it is likely to not be short and there still remains the formality associated with meeting new colleagues. The best advice I can give is to be prepared, regardless of the situation presented:

Careers with a difference

Watch out for our semester 2 events – March is “Careers with a difference month”.

Semester 1 sees many of the big corporates recruiting and having events on campus, the “non – corporates” tend to recruit in less regular patturns so to give them a stronger presence each year we focus on them in semester 2.

Just a few of the events coming up:

• Environmental careers
• Development work
• Broadcast journalism
• Entrepreneurship and enterprise
• Voluntary and not for profit sector

For further details and more events keep checking in Careerslink

3 Simple, Stress-Free Ways to Get Ahead!

Now deadlines have past, and with the Christmas break, everyone including myself must be feeling like this:

The best thing you can do now is breathe, step back and relax. I have realised you can do this and still be productive. Here I have compiled 3 little things you could do to get the most out of the break, before revision kicks in:

Can’t find a part-time job? Try volunteering!

Since returning to Manchester following my year abroad (which I spent in Saint Petersburg, Russia), I have been constantly applying for jobs to no avail. At first I was optimistic, assuming my work experience from before my year abroad, and the life experience gained by spending 9 months in Russia, would be enough to secure me some kind of job. As the weeks passed, and more and more of my applications went unnoticed, I decided to try and gain some experience for my CV through volunteering.

After a quick Google search along the lines of “volunteering in Manchester”, I found out about a charity called WRVS (Women’s Royal Voluntary Service – but they do take male volunteers too!) which runs coffee shops and tea trolley services in hospitals all around the UK. Thinking this would be great first-hand customer service experience in an interesting environment, I applied online and heard from them within a matter of days. Not only was this a great confidence boost after so much rejection, I also felt good that I would be spending my spare time helping people rather than sitting around lamenting my dream job. I arranged an informal interview with the WRVS branch at the Manchester Royal Infirmary, filled out the full application form and got my two references, and within a couple of weeks I had a volunteer job.

I have now been working at WRVS once a week for almost 2 months, and I can safely say it’s the best job I’ve ever had. My fellow volunteers are all very talkative and friendly, the customers are polite, and I now know how to use a coffee machine, despite hating coffee myself. Though the job is unpaid, it feels great to offer my spare time to a charity that really needs the help, whilst meeting plenty of lovely people in the process. As we are mostly volunteers, the shifts are extremely flexible and are perfect for students. I am still applying for paid jobs as I could do with the money, but I enjoy this job so much I would continue to do it alongside a paid job (and the heaps of work I have to do in fourth year!) – my only regret is not thinking to volunteer sooner!

Though this post has simply been about my story with WRVS, I hope it will inspire other students to put their spare time to use and gain experience for their CV through volunteering, especially if they have been unsuccessful in finding a paid part-time job in the past.

Some useful links on volunteering:

http://vinspired.com/

http://www.wrvs.org.uk/

http://www.mev.org.uk/

http://www.do-it.org.uk/

 

Naomi Powell – Student Blogger