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Most colleges have a Careers Advisor who can work with you to identify a workable, realistic, career plan.
Careers advice is, first and foremost, about you . It’s about what you want, and what you’re good at. It’s also very practical. You might cover some – or all – of the following areas with your Careers Advisor:
. Your strengths and weaknesses
. Opportunities suitable for you
. Planning how to get work in a particular industry
. CV writing
. Work placements
. Summer jobs
. How to make contacts – and make the most of them
Summer jobs
The summer holiday period is the perfect opportunity to gain paid work experience. Because you are free to work in the daytime, the quality of the jobs you can do will be much higher than what’s on offer for evening or weekend-only work. Whatever job you do in your summer break, even if it’s not connected to the industry you hope to work in, it will always benefit you: you’re putting your skills and knowledge to the test, learning about different ways of working, and gaining crucial experience: this makes all the difference to any CV.
Work experience placements
Work placements are an excellent way of getting valuable experience on your CV, as well as a very effective way of making contacts that could be very useful to you in your future career.
Placements can be paid or unpaid, and the opportunities vary. In one company, you may be learning how to do a very specific job; in another, you may be doing more general work that develops your understanding of how that company works as a whole. Both are incredibly valuable to anyone at the start – or re-start – of their career, especially because they give you a clearer understanding of what you want – and what you don’t.
Planning your placement
There can be a lot competition for placements, so it’s worth starting early by working out a plan with your Careers Advisor. Many different types of placements are available which are organised by the company themselves. For some ideas see the link below.
It is also worth considering contacting companies direct. A polite letter and a CV is always worth sending, particularly if you can find out as much information about the company before you send it.
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