Job Hunting Part 1: A guide to getting a job.
As the academic year comes to an end and the summer approaches, many of the older students and readers will be thinking about getting a summer job. I have written a number of blog posts about summer jobs and writing a good CV, all of which will be linked below. This post will revisit a lot of those ideas and marks the start of a new mini series I will be doing for the next few weeks moving away slightly from academics and talking more about jobs, internships, extracurriculars and options after schooling to prepare you for life after the school year ends. This blog post will talk about the benefits of getting a summer job, how to get one and next week will continue on talking about how to write a good CV in detail. I will provide links to my own blog posts below as well as some websites you may find useful for more ideas.
What are the benefits of getting a summer job? In my last blog post, I talked about how change is difficult, especially the change in routine. One of the biggest advantages of getting a job is simply the routine that it provides you with and it makes the transition from school to the holidays and back again slightly easier. It also stops you from getting incredibly bored in the holidays as we have all been there! You also develop new skills, gain experience for your CV and make some money on the side.
So how can you go about finding a job? There are different ways to go about it depending on what kind of job you are looking for - if you want something that doesn’t require much past experience or isn't very specialised such as waiting tables or being a barista, the easiest way is to check online for major companies, or simply go in person and ask the manager on shift if they are looking for any extra help - make sure to bring a printed copy of your CV! Going in person is often the most effective as emails or messages can be missed. If you are going for a job that is more specialised or a job that has specific requirements or experience needed such as jobs in marketing or any other field, websites like indeed.com or other job hunting websites can be very useful. These websites allow you to apply to many jobs quickly, and are used by many companies as they have in-built aptitude tests that you can do, for example, a job in accounting may ask you to do a quick numerical aptitude test as you apply.
Regardless of how you find a job, the one thing you will always need is a CV. A CV is a document that essentially highlights who you are, your skills, achievements, capabilities, experience and what you are looking for in a job. It is important as this will often be the first impression potential employers will have of you, so a good CV is vital. Next week I will share my tips for writing a good CV and talk about it in more detail. In the meantime, some links that may be useful are:
CV writing:
https://www.prospects.ac.uk/careers-advice/cvs-and-cover-letters/how-to-write-a-cv
https://jobs.theguardian.com/article/how-to-write-a-cv-video-
Old relevant blog posts:
