We're All In This Together

When I wrote my last blog article in 2016 I hadn't planned to park this site. It just kind of happened that way. My youngest was barely a month old, I was trying to impress the powers that be while acting up with a colleague on maternity leave, and I'd stood down as Trustee for PlaceNet in lieu of increased professional and personal responsibility.

In the intervening years, I haven't really felt compelled to write. The eagle eyed amongst you who have followed my Twitter account over the years, will have seen a cryptic pinned message, which followed an incident with the thought police, who considered my social media presence at odds with my employer. Talk about taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

But here I am in April 2020 and for the first time in years I'm writing. And what strange times we find ourselves in. It is bizarre to think that as recently as two weeks ago the schools were still open, placements were still being advertised in good number, and the lockdown had yet to be implemented. Two weeks. Seems like an awful lot longer don't you think?

Like you, I've been going through a period of adjustment. Working from home full time completely at odds with the norm in which WFH was largely frowned upon within my team. Appointments fully switched online/telephone, losing that daily face to face interaction with my colleagues and that unexpected meeting when someone you weren't expecting walks into the office needing my help. Office phone calls diverted to mobile via Jabber. Departmental meetings over Teams. Zoom meetings and webinars. It is only a matter of time before I'll be asked to do Compliance training via Houseparty.

Within the first three hours of homeschooling my kids, I came to realise that failing to get offered a PGCE Primary place in 2002 was the single best thing to ever happen to my career. I'm not a teacher, I don't have the patience or inclination to make exaggerated phonics noises for the letter N. But we are at the end of week 2, and come through relatively unscathed, balancing the demands of the day job with trying to maintain a relatively structured school day for three primary age kids in different key stages. Joe Wicks is a national hero. The world is on its head.

What has struck me most over the past fortnight is the power of community. I've never been the most sociable person in my department. In fact, during an ill-thought through team development session, my personality was publicly shamed as one of the most introverted in a department of 40 people. Big thumbs up to whoever thought that idea was a good way to bring people together.

But after well over a decade of going to the same office five days a week, it is a very strange experience moving to remote working. True I don't have put up with office politics, gossip and the endless supply of birthday cakes in the kitchen, but the loss of community is stark. Sure, you can check in with emails, messages, the occasional phone call, but it is a very different experience from a career of conventional office structure.

It was with great pleasure then that I took up the opportunity to join the ASET Regional Hub South East meeting yesterday morning. I've not been to a physical meeting with them before, in part due to scheduling conflict with school runs, in part due to my previous association with PlaceNet and not wanting to cross the fence. The silliness of tribalism! But as I logged into Zoom yesterday morning, for the first time in two weeks, aside from a few moments of clapping in doorways on a Thursday evening, I felt a tremendous sense of community.

Thanks to everyone who participated in our South East Regional Hub today. Great to see you all and hear how our members are responding to the current situation. Tomorrow, over to the Midlands! #ASETGoesOnline #ASETTopTips pic.twitter.com/A4Ilb8tClT

— ASET (@ASETOnline) April 2, 2020

We had 75 industry colleagues joining together to bring a sense of normality to the prevailing madness. Shared issues of adjusting to remote working, concerns about dwindling placement opportunities, how to assist our students currently facing furlough or dismissal, not to mention juggling work with children. I couldn't help but raise a smile watching other attendees have their kids appear in shot every once in a while or try to gatecrash the meeting.

While the meeting progressed I listened in as attentively as I could, while managing Maths and English classes for my boys, catheterising and even managing a game or two of Uno. There is a myth than men can't multitask, but I'd like to think that I'm going some way to destroy it.

What I took away from the meeting was a feeling of pride. That despite the immediate difficulties we face individually, collectively and within student recruitment as a whole, we are a resolute bunch who have seen economic downturn before and come through the other side, who will run through walls to help our students to make the best of a bad situation.

We don't know what the full effect of this global pandemic will be, but I can say with certainty that placement professionals will tackle this issue head on, doing their absolute best for their students.

I was so proud of my industry colleagues. I am proud to be a Placement Adviser. We are all in this together and we will prevail.

Guest Article from TheCVMan

I am pleased to welcome to this blog an article from Alfred Ajani (@fr3dsantana). He came to notoriety a few months ago after adopting a creative approach for seeking graduate employment which landed him a job with Asoria  Take it away Fred.....

After unsuccessfully applying for over 300 jobs I decided to take matters into my own hands and get myself the role I wanted, which is what Asoria offered. I am now Marketing, PR and Project manager for four recruitment brands; Green, Energy, Digital and Property.

“What pushed me to go to Waterloo station?” many asked, “I was desperate” many say. I tell them I was ready to work and take my ideas to market. My main idea is self-promotion, what are you doing to stand out?  With traditional methods of applying I would be waiting for a response for at least two weeks, sometimes even no response or and automated message stating unfortunately I do not have enough experience.

Similar to my situation the directors at the Asoria Group shared an identical struggle to land the dream job after three tough years at university, which is noticeable in their internal recruitment process, of hiring young hungry graduates ready to take the first step. Way back when getting a degree and a role in your desired industry went hand in hand, I could ramble on but we know those days are over, as it was way before the time my company directors graduated. Hopefully those days will make a swift return, with the help of a middle man. So I will tell you why I took on a marketing role at a recruitment agency.

I have the freedom to give advice to many who seek it, I will be giving guest lectures at Universities on topics such as social media and how to go viral, perseverance and how to get your foot on the career ladder without sending your CV (A video CV might do the trick though). It’s not your top 10 interviews tips but advice that will really make you stand out, I will call it ‘Guerrilla Interviewing’. I have had my fair share of interviews and know how daunting of a process it can be. It is also tempting to throw down a million CV’s from the tallest building and hope someone catches it and gives you a call after endless rejections. But I had good people around me giving positive advice and I knew the right role will come along for me soon enough where I can have a real impact on an industry. Change won’t come over night, but it is something I am working towards. Many may not see it now but when I look back, I’ll know.

It took me all day to find some inspiration, so I took a tour around the seventh floor and thought back to the times where my imagination was at is most creative point. It was at school when it was drilled into us that only going to University would land us a career, and we were constantly quizzed on what we want to be when we grow up. “Alive!!!” was the response most of my friends made. Should they have been putting so much pressure on us to be the next Tony Blair or Angelina Jolie? But if you do go down the marketing route like me do not limit yourself to social media marketing activities as they are easily ignored by others. The Asoria Group will be engaging in unexpected and noteworthy campaigns and our ideas will spread. ‘Safe is risky.’ I am very equipped and willing to do what it takes to see The Asoria Group move forward in the right direction, starting out at a new company is not a problem; you can grow with them.

Remember it’s a new day, employers are on Social Media too and use it as a point of reference, use it wisely.

See more about Fred's story, via Aimee Bateman CareerCakeTV

Finding your First IT Position after University

This week on #PlacementChat we have a specific focus on the IT sector. To complement this, here is a guest article with some very helpful advice to help you secure your first IT position after graduation

Finding your First IT Position after University

You’ve completed your degree, had you’re picture taken with your cap and gown and now heading out to work full time. But how do you get your first position when you lack experience and competing in a highly competitive area?

Relax!

Whilst I’m not saying go back to your student days, it may help to relax and know that it may be a little struggle at first while you adjust to full time job searching. You’re not alone and with the latest figures showing nearly 1 in 10 graduates not finding work within 6 months and 12.9% of computer science graduates (data source) specifically, getting overly stressed and feeling down may impact on your daily life and job search. Try to relax and make sure that you set time away from your job search to make sure that your health doesn’t suffer.

Careers Services

Whilst you may no longer be at Uni, career services can help you with your job hunt, with some offering to help you up to two years after you Graduate. With the career services, or if your Uni had a liaison officer or specific departmental career advisor,  try and contact them to see if they can help you, after all if companies are getting great candidates from the services it’ll look great for them!

Careers services will work with companies looking for Graduates, or internships, which may not be advertised yet elsewhere and help give you a head start on building the perfect CV or application form for them. And you can extend your tuition fee’s worth out of the place!

Internships and Volunteering

If you were unable to get a placement while at Uni, or didn’t lead to a job then you may try an Internship or work experience placement. While unpaid internships have rightly got a bad rap, an internship or work experience with a small amount of income may work in your advantage as it can lead to a full time job in the long run and show your willingness to work and put in some hard graft.

Or try volunteering at a local library (if there’s any left nearby!) to help people with their IT Skills. It’ll look good on your CV if you can say you can communicate effectively and potentially have client facing skills if you are teaching users who aren’t technical.

CV’s and Cover Letters

Whilst there’s a whole host of CV help and advice available, it’s still important to make sure that you take care with adapting your CV to each specific position. Companies are looking at what you can bring to them so make sure you do so.

If you developed a project in Java (other languages are available) don’t say in your Cover Letter: I’m proficient in Java, or words to that effect. Change it to say that you’ve undertaken tasks to develop software programs from inception to completion in a number of Languages including Java and C++. 

Also make sure that your CV contain a number of  ‘keywords’ that match the job advert to take advantage of companies that use automated CV services. If a job advert wants someone who’s proficient in SQL then make sure your CV contains that you’re experienced in it, rather than saying you have experience with Databases, so your CV doesn’t get thrown in the ‘bin’.

Brush up on your Skills

If you have an interview coming up, alongside researching the company, make sure that you brush up on your skills. Basic skills in coding for IT positions will be asked, so make sure that you don’t forget them and can answer them fairly quickly. Whilst more advanced questions should be asked they’ll likely be more theoretical and should be OK for pseudo-code to work with. They’ll be looking at how you figure things out as well as your coding skills.

Network

Most of all – network! Anyone you meet, or anyone you know, is someone who potentially knows someone else who is looking to fill a job, especially in small businesses. So let everyone you know on Facebook and everywhere else that you’re looking for a job, update or create a LinkedIn profile and start searching Social Media networks for jobs. It may not only just pay off in the short term, but long term connections and contacts can improve your prospects throughout your career!

For help and advice on gaining a graduate position in IT go to a specialist IT RecruitmentCompany such as www.adriasolutions.co.uk

Related articles

• CV templates and tips
• 10 survival tips for new graduates
• Students - perfect your C.V

Guest Article - My Day at the NPIAs

Here is an article written by Dan Garlick, who won a competition to be my guest at the National Placement & Internship Awards. Dan kindly kept a diary of his day and wanted to share his experience of the NPIAs. It was a pleasure to meet him and glad that he enjoyed the event. Hopefully some networking on the day will help him to secure a summer placement later this year in the Financial Sector. Feel free to connect with Dan via LinkedIn if you're recruiting talent. Over to Dan......

07:34 I'm awake, my flatmate is not. He has work at 08:00, but I'm too busy tweeting to move from my bed. If you learn anything from this blog do not buy a Tesco's own iron, it puts more creases in a shirt than you start with. I thought I best wake him, knock on the door, no answer, text him asking if he is getting up for work, reply 'No!' It appears that someone else has the day off work and is not impressed that I woke them, apologies! 

Train is on time, however there's not a place to hang my suit jacket. Lovely spring morning as the train passes the Olympic Park. Off the train at Liverpool Street and head underground to Islington for breakfast with my cousin. Back towards the centre, to St Paul's. I have some time to kill so I visit the Museum of London for an hour and then search for lunch. 

Off to the venue where I meet The Placement Officer who dwarfs me with his sheer height. We get checked in by the RateMyPlacement team, collect our badges and begin to mingle with the other delegates. I'm naturally nervous as I've never been to a networking event but TPO and his university colleagues help to settle the nerves. 

The champagne begins to flow, which loosens the tongue a little and the first business card is handed out. I begin to fend for myself and move away from TPO's shadow and try and network myself. There goes another business card ...

Back into the auditorium for the main event, that everybody was there for. Three top class speakers start the ceremony, with The Apprentice finalist Nick Holzherr concluding with a motivational piece in regards to not giving up. Unfortunately The Placement Officer just missed out on his award, however he should of won it! Definitely a top bloke.

When Dan met The Placement Officer

Bento boxes? Are you aware of these? You get given a wooden oriental style tray and fill it up with food. Genius. After the food the networking continued and I continued to meet new people and gain advice.
Back to Liverpool Street, next stop Ipswich, then bed. 

A massive thanks to The Placement Officer for inviting me and congratulations to the winners and also RMP for hosting a great event! I definitely enjoyed my day in the capital.

Related articles

• NPIAs 2013
• And the award goes to.........

Guest Post - Preparation overkill

My guest blogger returns with this little story about the dangers of over-preparing for an assessment centre. Just because you think you know it all, doesn't give you a green light for success......

Knowledge is power, use that power carefully..

Picture the scene; you have just been invited to the assessment centre for your dream job and so
you start searching Google, high and low for anything that you can find to prepare you for the day.
Aha, you seem to have struck gold, you find a WikiJobs post detailing everything that happens on
the day, including the questions that will be asked and details of all of the assessment tasks. You pat
yourself on the back, for your most excellent research skills!

You read this information religiously, analysing all of the answers on the WikiJobs post, building
a picture in your head of how the assessment centre will be. You feel confident, memorising your
responses to the questions that you know will be coming up. After all, the post on WikiJobs is
detailed and the original poster has confirmed that they have been successful at this very same
assessment centre.

The day of the assessment centre arrives and it is going well, in fact it is just as you read online; a
couple of individual tasks and a group task. In the group task you know the answer before even
reading the brief and so you recite what you have been practising to the group. Other members of
the group don’t seem to understand, but you push on regardless as clearly you know the correct
answer. You feel good, leading the group, finishing the task early, you must have impressed the
assessors. You feel your preparation has paid off, all the revising and reciting, you know you have
given all the correct answers.

A couple of days later you receive a phone call from the company to let you know that you have
unfortunately been unsuccessful at the assessment centre.

What went wrong here? This is a worrying trend that I have been hearing about recently where
candidates have over prepared, so much so that they have blinded themselves to the reality of an
assessment centre or interview, often they have no idea what went wrong. In the scenario above,
even though the candidate correctly completed all of the tasks at the assessment centre, they
committed the gravest sin of them all; they failed to demonstrate their key competencies.

Because this person was so sure they knew what was coming up they didn't listen to what they were actually asked to do on the day. E.g. in the group task, all focus was on going for the right answer. The recruiters weren't necessarily looking for this; they wanted to see how you work together with the group to achieve a shared goal.

Preparation is vital to achieve success in interviews or assessment centres. Just be careful not to take your eye off the ball and allow your eagerness to impress cause you to miss the point of the task.

Related articles

• What do I need to know about Assessment Centres?
• Getting to Grips with Group Exercises
• Guest Post - Cracking Careers Fairs

A year in the making

12 months ago I had the good fortune to attend the National Placement and Internship Awards, RateMyPlacement's annual event that recognises the good work of universities and employers in the placement industry, and celebrates the success of the top interns and placement students. The clip below provides a nice recap of how things unfolded on the day.

I left the event feeling inspired. Maybe it was listening to the stories of triple Olympic medallist Steve Backley, or perhaps it was talking with some of the student nominees about the highlights of their work experience and plans beyond graduation. Whatever it was, when I left City University that evening I felt my passion for placements elevated to another level, and on my journey home the first thoughts about developing a placement-themed blog started to take shape. One year on, and I'm still here doing my thing, so I guess it wasn't such a bad idea.

I will be heading back to the NPIAs again next month, and very much look forward to being inspired again. Only this time, I want to share the experience with somebody else. And that person could be you.

As a thank you to everybody who has read my blog, viewed my Pinterest board, engaged with me on Twitter or taken part in #PlacementChat over the last year, I am offering one of you the chance to be my guest at the Awards. I have two invitations. One of them is for me, the other could be yours. 

2 Invites. 1 is mine. Who wants the other?

If you fancy taking a trip to London town on Friday 15 February and have the opportunity to network with the top placement and graduate recruiters, as well as enjoy the great hospitality of RateMyPlacement, read the small print below and then leave me a comment on this article telling me why you would like to be my guest at the Awards. You have until 9pm on Wednesday 23 January to do so.

Important Stuff

• The NPIAs are taking place on 15 February in Central London. If you can't realistically be in Central London on 15 February, don't throw your name in the hat.
• The times listed on the invitation is 2.00pm - 7.00pm. Going on my experience of 2012, the Awards may stretch beyond 7.00pm so bear this in mind when considering your travel arrangements.
• More information about the event can be found at www.rmpawards.co.uk
• The invitation covers entry to the Awards only. It doesn't cover your travel expenses to and from London or any other expenses incurred. They are your responsibility and I cannot offer any financial support (though if you're lucky I may buy you a drink when the Awards moves to the pub afterwards). I appreciate this may restrict things to people based in the South East, but I can't do anything about the location of the event. 
• The dress code for the event is smart casual. Look at the video clip above and you'll see that the majority of attendees leaned towards smart. Turn up in a hoodie and timberland boots and I'll revoke your invitiation
• It is not a mandatory requirement to do so, but the winner will be invited to pen a short guest article for my blog, documenting their experience of the NPIAs. 
• There is only one invitation available so there will only be one winner. The winner will be chosen by me and my decision will be final. 
• Please include your Twitter username in your comment - I'll need to contact the winner to let them know the good news!

Related articles

• And the award goes to.........
• Rate My Placement - Top Employers Guide 2012/13
• Ignore work experience at your peril
• Today was a good day
• Nobody said this would be easy

Ignore work experience at your peril

On Monday afternoons, I take my turn in manning the reception area of my service. Yesterday, with winter's arrival and a torrent of sleet and snow falling outside, I was expecting a quiet afternoon with relatively few students walking through the door. True to form, the office was pretty dead, and those brave souls who had ventured outside looking distinctly damp and chilly.

In amongst the typical queries regarding part-time jobs, CV checks and booking appointments was a guy who informed me he no longer wanted to do a placement year and would like to know the process for changing his course registration over to the three year full time course. I duly obliged in providing the information that he requested but made a point of asking him what it was about placements that had put him off. His reply, and I paraphrase here was 'Nothing really. I just want to finish my course and get a graduate job instead.'

This wasn't the first time I've had a response like this and I'm sure it won't be the last. However many times I hear it, I still find myself wanting to ram my head through a structurally sound brick wall.

The view from my desk

I don't know if it is just youthful ignorance or whether some students wilfully choose to disregard the information that is put out there by placement officers, employers, academics and the more helpful sectors of the media. Either way, I felt the need to challenge the student over the importance of work experience and offer some facts that I hoped would sway his decision back in favour of placements.

I quoted a statistic from our Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey, which reveals that on average a sandwich placement leaver from his university earns a salary that is almost £5,000 higher than students who complete a full time course without a placement. I pointed towards the fact that students who undertake a placement on average achieve one degree classification higher than their full-time counterparts. The student barely battered an eyelid, thanked me for the information and said he was off to his undergraduate office to switch course mode.

You can lead a horse to water but can't force it to drink. I don't think of my students as horses before anybody sends me a fidgety email, but the proverb holds true in this example. Shortly after this interaction, I noticed that High Fliers had published their annual review of The Graduate Market. Had I'd seen it beforehand, I'd have run off a copy and given it to the student as it makes such a strong case for work experience.

You can download the full PDF report from here but here are some key quotes from the executive summary.

Whilst the total number of graduate vacancies is set to increase in 2013, recruiters expect that over a third of this year’s entry-level positions will be filled by graduates who have already worked for their organisations – either through internships, industrial placements or vacation work – and therefore are not open to other students from the ‘Class of 2013’.

Three quarters of the graduate vacancies advertised this year by City investment banks and half the training contracts offered by the leading law firms are likely to be filled by graduates who have already completed work experience with the employer.

Over half the recruiters who took part in the research warn that graduates who have 
had no previous work experience at all are unlikely to be successful during the selection process and have little or no chance of receiving a job offer for their organisations’ graduate programmes.

These aren't statements put out by placement officers who are touting for business. These are research findings based upon a survey of leading graduate employers. I don't think anything could spell out the importance of work experience in clearer language. A large chunk of graduate opportunities are only open to students who already worked within that organisation, be it a placement, internship or vacation scheme. If you have not already got work experience within an investment bank, you've little chance of getting in as a graduate.

I know that finding a placement is not an easy task. I know it is a painstaking and time consuming activity. I know that people don't like the taste of rejection. I know how disheartening it can be to spend hours in front of an online form only to have an automated thanks but no thanks message bounce back moments later. It is hard, it is tough and there will be times when you may find yourself questioning why you are putting yourself through it all. But I also know how many graduates struggle to secure jobs when they leave university. I know how many come back to talk to careers consultants and regret not paying a little more attention to what their placement officer tried to tell them a couple of years earlier. And I know just how competitive it is to get onto a graduate scheme.With 'no previous work experience' there is 'little or no chance of receiving a job offer' for 'graduate programmes.'

If that doesn't convince you of the importance of work experience, quite simply nothing will.

Related articles

• Student recruitment: what counts in 2013?
• More than a third of graduate jobs will be filled by students who have already worked for employer, study suggests
• Graduate jobs set to rise this year, but work experience more crucial than every
• Students, take note: firms give the best jobs to former interns
• Graduates without work experience will be left out in the cold