Students and recent graduates who are worried about breaking into their industry or economic sector do not have to fear finding a job as long as they invest and prepare. Many students and recent graduates will undoubtedly take a while to find their ideal match for a job- mine took about a year after graduation. However, keeping positive and making the right steps toward finding the right job for you is key. There are five main ways a student or a recent graduate can really break into their industry.

1. Craft All Your Goals and Objectives

As a student or graduate, you need to self-reflect and think about what career goals you want to meet. Thinking of your life on a timetable, such as a five-year or ten-year plan, can help you micro-manage some of your thoughts. Investigating what you want to accomplish or what ways you want to provide skills to a company or community need to be seriously considered. Organizing these thoughts logically are important so you do not become overwhelmed by how many activities you may need to do. Without a blueprint to be the foundation to how you break into your industry, you may become disorganized with everything you want to do.

2. Enrich Yourself Professionally With Internships and Volunteering

Your course may not require you to complete an internship in order to graduate- this is all the more reason to get one. Being hungry for the positions and truly wanting the career is what will get you to where you want to go. An internship or a volunteer opportunity helps you gain some immense pre-professional skills and a chance to test all of your leadership and critical thinking skills in a workplace environment. Internships are indispensable tools at colleges. Colleges network students across the world with private and public sector internship opportunities. Not taking advantage of these opportunities during college could be detrimental toward your ability to stand out against competitors. Volunteer opportunities are also helpful. Volunteering shows your initiative to provide your free time to a company or non-profit and your willingness to help your community.

3. Develop Your Resume or CV

Developing your resume can consume some time, but it is obviously necessary to complete this task with appropriate details. A general resume should be developed that lists your skills, qualifications, work history, and education. After that, though, you should develop a tailored resume for each job you apply to. Each resume you send to a different company or for a job opening should be unique to meet demands. Building the resume based upon the job description is important to show you are a true contender for the position.

4. Networking

Networking is an incredible tool to get your name out there with other professionals. Professional networks include regional professional organizations and social media websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Appearing on a site like LinkedIn or joining local organizations or professional groups allows you to communicate and meet other professionals. Even if it is online, making initial contact is key. Even to follow an industry professional or a company you are interested in on Twitter can turn heads in your direction. Making insightful or genuinely humorous comments garner attention. These interactions can be fruitful for a number of reasons. It may lead to a follow back, therefore opening doors to the real world. It’s all about “who you know” right? Those people you know, may know of job openings in the industry, or others may become impressed by your credentials and want to reach out with an employment opportunity.

5. Invest In Professional Advice on Campus

There are opportunities to gain some advice and information on specific industries that would be impossible to find if you were not enrolled in a college program. Students who have access to unique resources must pursue opportunities in order to find the right one. Some of these resources include faculty or staff in your academic department, the career counseling department at your college, contacting your college’s alumni network, or attending the frequent career fairs that occur at your school. In order to calm your nerves a little bit, when you are meeting with a professional in the industry for the first time, look at it as YOU interviewing THEM. This is good because: 1) Takes the pressure of yourself. 2) You will be prepared to ask the right questions. Recent graduates can capitalize on the alumni network of their school, but after graduating, there are different options available. You can always invest time seeking advice from friends, acquaintances of friends, or family members as well. These talks can not only provide informal advice, but also unique techniques like practice interview sessions or job shadowing.

Tony Bradley is a career counselor specializing in helping students find entry level jobs.

Lovely people from jobstoday.co.uk have prepared a nice infographic showing the state of the employment in the health sector. I feel it’s quite interesting to share.

 

Infographic by http://www.jobstoday.co.uk/

Finding a job in the current economic climate can be difficult – with an uncertain future, many businesses and public sector employers are hesitant to employ new members of staff and are increasingly looking for guarantees that they will see a return on their investment.

However, this is where postgraduate study can come in handy: not only does a postgraduate qualification make your CV stand out, but it demonstrates to potential employers that you are motivated and dedicated to your subject.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ report on postgraduate education found that the number of people undertaking postgraduate education grew by over a third between 1998 and 2010, with nearly a quarter of students in the UK studying at postgraduate level. “The advanced knowledge and capability of postgraduates are highly prized by business and the public sector,” said the report.

“The skills of postgraduates, especially researchers, are critical for tackling major business challenges and driving innovation and growth.

The UK’s ability to provide people skilled to this level is an important factor in attracting global businesses to locate high-value operations here.”

Postgraduate degrees can be taken in almost any subject, and institutions like Middlesex University offer a wide variety of courses, from accounting and business administration to nursing and social work, these courses provide a valuable next step for those who want to specialise in a subject, or even take your career in a new direction. Not only do people with postgraduate degrees earn more, but they find their skills in demand from a wider variety of institutions: everyone from blue-chip companies to leading think tanks and public sector departments seek the expertise of people who have dedicated years of extra study to their chosen subject.

Remember that these courses are typically much more intensive than an undergraduate degree: they’re demanding, fast-paced and require a lot of time and attention, but the rewards can be literally life-changing.

If you’re interested in seeing what a postgrad qualification could do for your career, go to your chosen university’s next postgraduate fair to find out more information and see what your options are. It could well be the route to finally landing that job of your dreams – and if nothing else, the experience you gain and people you meet along the way will be invaluable.

 

Small business owners have a responsibility to protect the sensitive information of their clientele. Even if small business owners outsource some of their work, the owners are still responsible for such sensitive information. The business owners may face repercussions if these details are accessed for the purposes of fraud, which is why it is important to consider secure safety procedures such as the confidential shredding of information.

For the information of such business owners, the Data Protection Act and Secure Document Disposal states that personal data must be:

• processed fairly and lawfully,
• for one or more legally sanctioned purpose,
• specific to the purpose, adequate and not excessive,
• accurate and timely,
• kept no longer than the life of the purpose,
• processed according to the rights of the individual; for the individual to be informed of the information being processed, to prevent such information from being marketed, and to be compensated if damaged by such marketing, and
• not passed to countries outside the European Economic Area.

A description of the personal information of clients to be processed is as follows:

• the client’s racial or ethnic origin,
• the client’s political opinions,
• the client’s religious beliefs or similar practices,
• the client’s affiliation with a trade union,
• the client’s mental or physical health,
• the client’s sexual preferences,
• the act or the accusation of an act of an unlawful nature by the client, and
• an action in court of an act or accusation of an act of an unlawful nature by the client.

Secure disposal of personal information on a small business owner’s clientele is not limited to merely shredding paperwork. Computers with the latest updated firewalls and virus protection programmes are a must-have. Program the operating system to notify users of the latest security updates. Encrypt personal information held in computers so hackers can’t retrieve the information for fraudulent purposes. Keep daily backups for use if the computers are lost or stolen. Remove all personal information if business owners are changing from old computers to new ones. Destroy the hard drive or use technology for such removal. Last but certainly not least, install anti-spyware software, which is often available for free. This prevents hackers from gaining personal information.

Other security measures would include training staff not to relay personal information via email that is not encrypted, nor relay it to groups of individuals. Staff should be trained not to open spam. It sometimes contains viruses or spyware. Staff should know what to look for in persons seeking such personal information for fraudulent purposes.

Robert Dean has been involved in the shredding services for several years and believes in the importance of business security and managing paperwork. He currently works for TheShreddingAlliance.co.uk.

A new initiative designed to support technology start-up firms will be launched in the UK next year, as cloud hosting firm Rackspace prepares to offer £12,000 to businesses for mentoring and hosting. Rackspace has already offered a similar programme to more than 850 businesses in the US, and now wants to roll it out to the UK, making it easier for entrepreneurs to get their ideas off the ground once they’ve registered their company.

Rackspace will work with universities, venture capitalists and co-working spaces to get in touch with start-up technology firms. The announcement was made at Google’s Campus building in London, and ties in the UK government’s recent announcement that it plans to relax the rules regarding internet and technology companies that want to float on the stock market.

Under the proposals, high-growth tech companies could be given a fast-track to the London Stock Exchange, offering a “new route” to the UK’s Initial Public Offering (IPO) market, with reforms to eligibility criteria and reporting requirements. Universities minister David Willetts said: “There is a rich crop of innovative European high-tech companies that will be going to the financial market over the next few years. We’re determined to make sure that as many as possible should do an IPO and float in the UK, not elsewhere.”

The news comes shortly after a survey of 50,000 entrepreneurs by Telefonica found that London is viewed as the seventh best city in the world to found a start-up. Silicon Valley in California was top of the list, but it faced competition from other cities such as Los Angeles, Tel Aviv and Seattle. London currently has about one-third of the start-up activity of Silicon Valley.

“We are now seeing emerging ecosystems beginning to act as real viable alternatives to the traditional centres of technology innovation. This is incredibly exciting, since it suggests that, increasingly, the necessary support infrastructures are in place the world over for bright minds to turn their ideas into reality,” said Gonzano Martin-Villa, chief executive officer of Wayra, Telefonica’s global startup accelerator.

However, one of the main problems identified in the report was that London has a funding gap when it comes to risk capital for new businesses. This is backed up by a recent survey by financial advice firm Grant Thornton, which revealed that 93 per cent of private equity and venture capitalist professionals believe a trade sale was the most likely outcome for private equity firms investing in the technology sector, while only eight per cent believed exits would be achieved via an IPO.

The government plans to tackle this problem by working with the London Stock Exchange to amend regulations that may be dissuading investors from funding growth companies, as well as increasing the availability of equity capital for businesses seeking to open their doors in the UK.

Xavier Rolet, group chief executive of the London Stock Exchange, said: “There is a direct and proven link between IPOs and job creation. Attracting both entrepreneurial businesses and the investors that support them to the UK is key to driving growth and generating jobs.”