Work experience placements What you need to know

Work experience placements What you need to know by Amber Rolfe Sometimes it’s all about what you know and who you know…No matter where you’re at with your career, gaining some hands-on experience in the right industry is absolutely essential to help you stand out from the crowd. Especially if you’re up against stiff competition.To make sure you’re not missing out, here’s a quick rundown of everything you need to know about work experience placements:What is a work experience placement?A work experience placement is a temporary role, which allows people who are looking for employment in a specific field to gain practical experience â€" and find out what it’s really like.The type of work you’ll be expected to do will vary, depending on the individual workplace and type of placement you choose, although it will normally involve a large amount of observation or work ‘shadowing’, alongside assisting with day-to-day tasks and duties.When can I do one?Although work experience placements are most common during summer holidays, it’s possible to find a work placement at any time of the year.Not all companies are in a position to offer you a role, but most local businesses are accommodating when it comes to providing opportunities.Just make sure you get in touch with an employer or apply for a vacancy in advance of when you’re looking to start, so the employer has time to organise dates and work out the formalities. If you give little notice, you’re unlikely to be considered.Who is eligible to apply?Anyone can apply for a work experience placement, no matter what stage of their career they’re in.However, placements are generally aimed at those who lack practical experience in the working world (or in their preferred industry), and are normally carried out by school children, University students, or recent graduates.Students in year 10 and 11, for example, often choose to take part in work experience as part of their study, and to help prepare themselves for the working world when the y leave school.A work experience placement could be also be an essential requirement as part of your degree.  What are the benefits?Aside from gaining new skills and experience, a work placement provides you with a valuable insight into how a particular industry works, and helps decide if the role is right for you.Work placements could also give you the ability to expand your network of contacts within an industry, meaning you could gain positive references to use for future jobs, and other roles might become more obtainable.All in all, work experience is a great way to quantify your skills and prove your enthusiasm and dedication to a particular field of work. Your CV will look more impressive, and you’ll become more employable as a result.The possibility that a successful placement could eventually result in a full-time job is also a plus.  Will I get paid?Whether you are paid for your placement will be dependent on the type of role you take on, the organisation, and the length of time you’ll be working there.Generally speaking, work experience placements are unpaid roles, as they span over a short period of time and are classed as volunteer work â€" although you will often be given subsidised for travel and/or lunch costs.However, if you’re required to do a work placement as part of your degree, you’d usually be entitled to pay.  What kind of work can I do?Work experience is available within most sectors and industries, although the most popular placements are based in media and digital, fashion, finance, art and design, and teaching.Placements in retail are also popular, especially for those looking to leave school and gain some initial work experience and start their career, instead of choosing to take on further study.  How long will the placement last?The exact length of a placement will vary from place to place, and will depend on the type of work, the industry, and the individual employer.They could last from a few weeks, to a few months or a year (although yearlong placements are normally only done during study). Although most are carried out consecutively, some work experience placements can be done over a longer period of time, on a part-time basis.  How do I get one?Securing a work experience placement is similar to finding a job â€" although the roles might not be advertised as widely, and you may need to ask around or get in touch with a company directly.Once youve found an available opportunity, or a company youd like to work for, the next step is to write a work experience letter to attach to your application.If youre struggling for inspiration, our work experience letter template should help get you started.Ready to love Mondays?  View all of our current vacancies now.Find a job What Where Search JobsSign up for more Career AdviceSign up for moreCareer Advice Please enter a valid email addressmessage hereBy clicking Submit you agree to the

Are You A Whiz With Numbers Pick From One Of These Career Choices

Are You A Whiz With Numbers Pick From One Of These Career Choices If you love crunching numbers and can’t get enough of Excel, it sounds like you’re suited for a career based on mathematics. Think about it, you’ll be able to work passionately solving financial problems. How fantastic is that? If you’re not sold on the idea here are some great job options that we feel sure will change your mind. Investment Banker If you know anything about the wall street crash, you’ll probably be aware that the bankers were to blame. They gambled with massive amounts of money on the market and gave loans out to people who simply couldn’t afford them. What you may not realize is that several bankers walked away from the crash with millions after betting against the banks. This is just one story of how investment bankers made millions, and there are plenty more. In fact, if you look at the richest people in society, you’ll have found they have something to do with managing other people’s money. Of course, this isn’t just about having skill with math. It’s also about recognizing patterns and understanding what they mean. The good news is that the reason you are brilliant at math is that you can see patterns and can follow them logically. Essentially, you’re already perfectly suited for this job. Awesome Accountant There’s a stereotype that accountants are boring people. What do they do all day? They crunch numbers. Okay, but they also make a fortune. The average salary of an account ranges between seventy and one hundred K. You won’t start off anywhere near this amount, but it is the type of paycheck that you can aspire to one day take home. As well as this, if you’re good at maths, you’ll find your job is easy and simple. The best part? You don’t need any experience for this type of job. All you need is your CPA. If you look at a CPA review, you’ll find all the information about it that you will need to pass with flying colors. Most people are able to complete their CPA after taking a course that only lasts one year. Actuary An actuary actually holds the title of being one of the best-paid jobs in the world. You don’t even need a degree to sign up for a job like this, particularly if you offer your services on a freelance basis. As an actuary, you will look into different statistical reports and again, find the patterns. Your job will then be to calculate different risks associated with insurance and find a price. Okay, it’s not the most interesting job in the world. But, most actuaries make over a hundred grand a year. Just think about what you could buy with that money working on calculations you could do in your sleep. For a math whiz, there’s is no better career option to consider. We hope you find these job possibilities worth considering. If you’re a fantastic mathematician, you could make a lot of money in any one of these positions. Image credits Main  Markets       Accountant    Actuary   Cat

Impact of No College Degree - VocationVillage

Impact of No College Degree - VocationVillage Dear VocationVillage.com, I have over 20 years of professional work experience, but no college degree. How do I get past this requirement and will I have to take a pay cut with my next job?Signed, AmandaDear Amanda, While some hiring managers might use college education as a screening variable and rule out candidates without the preferred education, there will be other hiring managers who will focus more on your work experience than on your educational background. The latter group will be larger if your work experience is particularly good and your job-related skills are up-to-date.You dont say what career field you are in, but if you are in a highly competitive field where a lot of layoffs have happened, you may find it more challenging than if you are in a career field doing a lot of hiring. One way to optimize your chances of success in landing a new job is to invest more time connecting face-to-face with potential employers and less time applying to advertised positions. This is because once a prospective employer meets you and is impressed, they may care less about education than if they were looking at your resume alone.To connect with prospective employers, get involved in your local prof essional organization for your career field. Attend conferences. Network with colleagues in your field who are employed.If your job search drags on longer than you want and you think the lack of a college degree is negatively affecting your competitiveness, consider enrolling in an educational program and adding it to your resume. You can then put an Expected Graduation date and some employers will view you in a more positive light than if you didnt have that section on your resume. Sometimes all it takes is taking one more class to get a job offer, and then that one class is well worth it.Regarding the potential pay cut, it will depend on the supply and demand in your career field. Some employers are taking advantage of the recession to pay new employees less than the job offers from a few years ago. Also, if you were at the top of the market rate in your last job, it may be more difficult to equal the same salary than if you were in the low to middle range of the market rate for y our career expertise. Professional associations are the single best source for local and current salary data.Hope this helps!

3 Ways To Brand Yourself As A Freelancer - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

3 Ways To Brand Yourself As A Freelancer - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career There are more than 42 million  freelance workers in the United States today. If you’re one of them, branding yourself is absolutely necessary for getting noticed and making sure people remember the kind of freelance work you do. But too many freelance sites don’t do a good enough job of showcasing a memorable brand. A good chunk of freelancers (20.8 percent, to be exact) say their biggest challenge is finding clients. A solid brand helps you accomplish that, and many other common freelance challenges, by making people more aware of your company and services. Here are three major ways to establish your brand as a freelancer: 1. Tell Your Story Great brands tell great stories, and freelancers are no different. Nobody wants to read your boring freelance resume, but they do want to learn more about your personality and skill set so they can feel confident they’re making the right decision before they even speak to you. With an increase in the number of freelancers comes a decrease in the overall quality of the pool. Telling your story allows potential clients to not just find out what you do, but who you are as well. Whether it’s an interesting tale of a fantastic client or a witty detail of your favorite jobs, everybody loves a good story. Tell people why you became a freelancer in the first place, and explain what you were doing before. Use your creativity and business savvy to craft a compelling story that gives potential clients a bit more insight into your professional personality than a resume ever could. 2. Start A Blog This may seem like old news, but having a blog is crucial in maintaining a great freelance brand. A website is great and all, but you want to have as many avenues as possible for potential clients to find you. Creating a blog will greatly increase your reach, and people will be able to gauge how knowledgeable you are about your industry. If you’re hesitant about the benefits of starting a blog, you should know that 60 percent of businesses who have one acquire more customers. If you own your own freelance company, chances are you’re pretty savvy in your industry. The blogs that do the best for businesses are the ones that give informative, interesting, and shareable views on different aspects of the field in which they work. If you’re struggling for ideas to write about, it always helps to have some inspiration. 3. Stay Consistent In figuring out your branding strategy, it’s critical to come up with a website design and logo that’s in tune with the audience you’re trying to target. The design and look of your site creates an incredibly strong first impression that potential clients will remember. Giving your brand a strong visual connection is helpful, but it needs to be consistent across the board. Your website shows the personality of your freelance brand. It’s important to use a similar design in your business cards, stationery, sign (if you have a brick-and-mortar location), and swag. When creating your logo, make sure it’s unique and aesthetically appealing, and reflects the style and work of your company. Staying consistent allows people to better identify with your brand just be sure you’re ok to keep the design you use for a long time! How do you brand yourself as a freelancer?

Resume Writing Tips From NJ Colleges

Resume Writing Tips From NJ CollegesWhen it comes to resume writing, NJ is one of the best states. NJ has many universities and colleges offering many different educational programs for students to get their degrees from. With so many choices, there are tons of people from NJ who choose to go to college because of their great work environment and employment opportunities. Because of this, a lot of people who live in NJ go back to school for their post-secondary education.When writing a student's resume, New Jersey has many options for people. The first step is to determine what type of education that you want, whether it be a Bachelor's, Master's or Doctorate. When you determine what type of education you want, you have to find out what the different degrees offer. Once you know what you want, you will need to get a degree that is the right one for you.Once you know what type of education you want, you can search for a career path that fits your needs. When a person chooses a career path, they need to keep track of how long they have been working on their degree. The more time that they have been working on a degree, the more experienced they will be. Experienced workers can use this experience to help them in other areas of their job. For example, if someone has been working as a teacher for several years, they may consider teaching in another area.Another tip for New Jersey students when it comes to resumes is to include any jobs that they have had in the past. A lot of people tend to keep their resumes straight, but they also should make sure that they add things that they may have been asked to do. It is very common for someone to be asked to write cover letters for people who they haven't met yet. For this reason, people should put in the time to put a few personal letters for these job offers.When it comes to writing a resume, NJ has many people who can help people prepare for their jobs. They will talk to students who have had bad experiences with the co llege admissions office. Sometimes, students will use phrases or templates that will sound unprofessional, which is why the NJ students are there to help. In addition, NJ students will be able to talk with parents about their kids' future.If the parent of a student is helping the student to get their degree, the school career counselor will also be able to help. The career counselor can talk with the student about things that the student is good at and what they might be good at. In many cases, the student will be asked to describe their skills and abilities to a certain degree. The counselor will be able to use this information to help the student prepare their resume.When you are trying to find some great tips for getting the most out of your resume, NJ is one of the best places to look. This is because there are so many people from NJ who work in the education field. If they are already in a career and they see someone who is applying for jobs in the same field, they will be able to give advice. These people will also be able to offer advice on what kind of resume to use and how to go about getting it in the first place.While people from NJ can help you with your resume, you should not be afraid to ask questions. You never know what you might learn from somebody who works in the education field. No matter what career path you choose, you will be able to get in touch with some great New Jersey professionals who can help you get the education that you deserve.

Is Starting a Business Right for Me - CareerAlley

Is Starting a Business Right for Me - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Many people have ideas for a new business, and dream of a day when they might work for themselves. But for most people, this dream never materializes. And for the remaining intrepid entrepreneurs who start a business, there is no guarantee of success. Lets compare entrepreneurship to something not at all related: football. For every player who makes the peewee football team, very few will one day play at the collegiate or (even rarer) the pro level. The same is true for entrepreneurs. While there are many who are theoretically capable of starting a successful business, few will actually create one which lasts, if at all. This is not to say that entrepreneurship is not a good path to follow. On the contrary, it can be one of the best decisions you ever make in your life. But everyone considering starting a business should ask himself or herself the following: Do I Have a Basic, Sustainable Idea? A good business needs to start as a functional, basic idea. Lets say you want to start a baked goods company. First, you should be able to make, package, and ship a great cookie. If you can create a cookie which could, theoretically, sustain your business indefinitely, then your idea is a good one. From the cookie foundation, you can build into other baked goods, expanding your business model. But youve started from a solid platform. Many businesses do not start from a sustainable mode, and its challenging for them to grow from that point. Do You Have a Unique Business Idea? For a business to succeed, it must either offer something that other businesses do not, or it must conduct its business in a way that exceeds others professionalism. Businesses that are redundant do not do well. However, you may have a conventional idea which is not represented by any other local business. Take the average delivery pizza place, for example. Its not that there arent thousands of other ones. But if your pizza place opens in an area that doesnt have competition, your conventional restaurant will have a corner on the market. Do You Understand the Tools of Your Modern Industry? Whether or not youve been to business school, you should understand how people in your business are conducting business today, not 2 or 5 or 10 years ago. Today, many new technologies exist that are continually revolutionizing industries. These revolutions happen in cycles measured in months, not years or decades. So pay attention. Apple Pay has enabled us to offer parents a layer of security and privacy when making electronic payments with our child care centers. says Shourya Ray of SkyChildCare. One may have thought that the childcare industry is one with few innovations, but SkyChildCare is an example of the ways that technology and communication innovations can make the industry safer, more efficient, and more affordable. There are many other questions which one should ask oneself before starting a business, but these are three of the most fundamental. From here, it should be easy to see what other considerations must be made before starting a (successful) small business. We are always eager to hear from our readers. Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions or suggestions regarding CareerAlley content. Good luck in your search,Joey Google+

Setting Yourself Apart with a 30-60-90 Day Plan

Setting Yourself Apart with a 30-60-90 Day Plan If youve been invited back for your second or third interview and you want to really Wow the interview, learn how a 30-60-90 Day plan can seal the deal! What Is A 30-60-90 Day Plan? It is a written document explaining how you will transition and excel and provide value to your future employer within those time frames. It can be as specific or general as you want. There are some really great ideas over on The Career Confidential, Use a 30-60-90 day plan. If you havent heard of a 30-60-90 day plan, they are used a lot in sales roles. But the idea carries over to all positions in all industries. We are all in sales today.   Look for ways you can apply   Peggy McKees recommendations.   Ive summarized some of her points below: The 30 day section of your plan is usually about how you will learn the companys systems, procedures, people, customers/clients and overall culture. The 60 day section of your plan can outline how you plan to continue to assess the company and begin to use your strengths. The 90 day section of your plan shows how you will take what youve learned and begin to put it into action. How will you meet some of the goals stated in the job description? But I Cant Answer These Questions If you have no idea how you would even begin laying out your 30-60-90 day plan and those questions seem too elusive, no worries. During your interview, ask questions that will help you provide a plan. Which is probably another good reason to think about creating a plan BEFORE you begin the interview process. Im pretty sure getting answers to these questions make you a better interviewer AND a stronger candidate. Think about this for a second. Before you start a new job, wouldnt you want to plan or at least think about what your first 90 days on the job will look like? Format Some people create a simple yet professional looking document in Word. Others jazz it up in PowerPoint. Ill leave that up to you based on your role, level and industry. Will Presenting this Plan Really Make a Difference? Only time will tell. I cant make a guarantee. Typically, you wouldnt discuss/show your plan until the final interview. By this point in the process, you have acquired a lot of information and you are pretty sure you want the job. But, what I can promise is that by using this plan you demonstrate to the interviewer that you are serious about their job and their company. Your plan shows you take initiative and you know how to organize your goals. It also shows that you know how to transition into a new job. Maybe youll decide to bring it to Day One of your new job to share with your new boss. Or perhaps the exercise of creating this plan is just for you.   It might help you make a better decision in accepting the job or not.