i’m a deli assistant!

woo yeah 5 years at Uni = me doing the washing up for 8 hours a day (not including the time at the end of the day when i do it for mum and dad as a token of my thanks for them still caring for me at the age of 23!!)

it’s not all bad though i get free lunches and out of date meat that might make me properly sick.

woohoo and the government wants 50% of the population to spend 20 grand so that they can be like me!

madness!

if this doesn’t make you want to go out and find the job you want now you’re probably a bit unbalanced.

i might sound bitter but i’m not. i’m doing what i want i’m writing and i’m being creative. and noone pays you to be creative until you’ve actually done something and got people’s attention in the first place.

i just read ann’s blog and i love the chinese saying

“you can’t become chubby with just one bite”

i suppose it means either ‘if you’re fat it’s your fault cos you’ve been a bit of a heffer and scoffed all the sweets on several occasions’

but it can also be taken to mean ‘if your desire is to get fat then you’ve got to work at it and keep eating!’ well that’s what i’m doing and that out of date meat might be dodgy but it’s definitely making me stronger.

I’m applying for the national and local newspapers and everything in between.

Here’s what to do:

1. Read the paper where you’re applying to work and get a feel for it.

2. Telephone the paper and ask for the name and job title of the person who deals with work experience applications. This is where you will address your application and it will give you bonus points.

3. Send a letter of application (including dates of availability) and a “journalism” CV (one that shows relevant experiences/achievements that will show you’re a good candidate).

4. Include with your CV cuttings of your published work. If you have none write a review of a film/book/tv programme/concert or write a comment piece about a subject that has been running in that newspaper.

Good luck! Maybe I’ll see you on the other side.

PS. While you wait for a response keep busy writing. I like to watch football games and write my own match report and compare it against the one that is in the paper the following morning for tips. At the moment, though, I’m writing a sit-com and you never know it might mean I can skip this tedious stage out!

Hello!

I’m depressed. I graduated with a 2:1 nearly 3 months ago. I still don’t have a job and I’m claiming JSA. :'(

A quick synopsis of my plight so far goes as follows…
I’ve never really known what I want to do as a career. Recently, though, I have decided I like writing and I think I’m good at it, so I’m going to pursue it. There isn’t exactly an abundance of jobs floating around at the moment, however, so I’m applying for work experience.

This whole situation wouldn’t be so depressing if I had been more pro-active while I was at University – making full use of the available contacts and opportunities.

Hello there!

It’s been a while and I know you’ve missed me, unless you don’t know that you’ve missed me but, don’t worry, you have. To get you up to date: it’s summer, I’ve graduated and I need a job… so I need a CV!

I’m actually on my way from York to Newcastle today in order to get my CV checked for the second time (yes, I require a second time and I didn’t even think it was that bad!). The service provided is so good that I’m willing to travel 90 miles up north especially (in a stinky coach sat next to a stinking bloke ‘cos I’m skint).

Yes – CV. It’s important. I keep hearing that “doing one well is vital!” so I’m going to try and quickly convince you that it is. So if I do manage to persuade you, or if you didn’t ever need persuading, my advice is: the Careers Advisers have lots of experience and a very good idea of CVs so GO TO THE CAREERS SERVICE AND GET IT CHECKED!!

If you don’t you may (I want to write ‘will’ here but I realise that isn’t strictly true (although it’s definitely more accurate than ‘may’!)) miss out on jobs without them ever meeting your smart, lovable self in person! And if that isn’t quite the case (that is, you being lovely) I suppose you miss the opportunity to attune for your bumbling buffoon-like interview personality with a superb written account of your boudless abilities (I’m sure)!

By the way, I had the lovely Nadia, an avid blog-reader, as my Careers Adviser and she helped me thoroughly, so here’s a shout out to her blog-styley! I am assured, however, that all the advisers are equally smart and lovable.

Right. Now that I’ve made my play at getting you to go to the Careers Service, I can give you a bit of advice, so that you don’t turn up looking like a right moo, which would have helped me.

I realise I’m stating the obvious here but a CV is all about selling yourself.

You have to be arrogant and show-off even if that doesn’t come naturally (I find that getting my Mum to write bits for me helps in this department). For example, you may have got a 1st with commendations and awards and all sorts of platitudes coming out of your belly-button ‘n’ ear-hole ‘n’ elsewhere. However, if all you write is a summary of the awards you received, it seems, the people reading your CV will not understand that you’re a brilliant person who they need to employ instantly. You have to instead say something like “I performed remarkably well throughout the three years of Newcastle University’s very demanding Environment course, exemplified by me being voted biggest-brain in the big-head competition“. Well not that exactly because that sounds rubbish and anyone with commendations coming out of their ear-hole would write something way better!

Making the most of experiences and achievements that are relevant to the job you’re applying for and saying directly how they are relevant is also important.

Again, you have to spell it out because the people who read them are themselves buffoons (I’m positive about this!!). Although if you manage to get called for interview that attitude isn’t conducive to getting employed, which I hope you do do and I give you all the luck that is physically possible for one person via a virtual connection to give!

This covers the basics to what I found out the first time I went about my CV, I most certainly wouldn’t follow what I say word-for-word but the rudimentary ideas I missed are here. Just go see a Careers Adviser! 🙂

By Nicky Noo-Noo

Hello

I have not written a blog for a while as I have been inundated with coursework, field trips and more coursework. But that is all sorted now, just my dissertation to complete, which would be going well, if the weather would stop raining.

I am currently re-writing my CV as I am hoping to apply for jobs within the next few weeks. I am looking for jobs via recruitment websites and the careers service which have been most helpful.

For your CV layout I would recommend the following sections:

1) Education, a brief description of the skills you feel you have gained from your degree, followed by a summary of the modules you have taken that would be relevant to the job you are applying for.
2) Work experience, a brief description of the skills you feel you have gained from your work experience.
3) Additional skills and possible memberships.

I would also suggest that when entering dates for your education, you say Sept 2005-present, for example, so that the interviewer can ask you what you did between June to September

As the Easter holidays approached I found myself beathing a heavy sigh of relief in the fact that there was uni free month ahead of me. After putting off much of my work for the holidays I found myself having a nasty shock upon my return to the city.

Having let my work load build up I have been left with an email inbox bursting to the brim, a mountain of assignments and to top it all off I’m out of printing credits. Could my day get any worse (well only when I tried purchasing credits online). Note to self, NEVER AGAIN!

Knowing I still haven’t even looked at my work, I found facebook and twitter to be far more engaging and to an extent rather mind stimulating.

I did however do something useful with my time over Easter, attending the annual conference of FEJS (Forum for European Journalism Students). Such a great week, I wouldn’t know where to start!

Look out for my blog about the conference, but for now I better make some sort of dent in this work.

I think I’ve wasted at least 10 minutes more of my life there, good work!

Well, wish me luck! x