Careers Advice

Whether you have just graduated from university, been made redundant or chosen to pursue a change in job it is important to get careers advice from somebody who is trained to help. First and foremost you will need to chose a career path to go down and a careers counsellor can aid you in your decision through the use of aptitude tests alongside talking through your interests, qualifications, experience and goals. Contact you local jobcentreplus office to arrange a meeting with a careers counselor. Narrowing down your list of potential careers may take quite a lot of time and effort as you soul search but it is worth the investment to avoid ending up in a job you are not satisfied with.

Once you have chosen a path you will need to find open job vacancies in that field and we have provided a guide to job searching on this site. We also list many of the specialist job boards and recruitment agencies in the major sectors.

Job application forms can sometimes look daunting, especially if they ask you lots of challenging questions about yourself that are designed to test your creativity and written communication skills. A careers adviser will be able to help you understand each of the question and also what they employer is looking for when they ask such questions.

Along with any application forms you will be required to submit your curriculum vitae, or CV for short, which details all of your personal details, qualifications and experience along with any achievements you feel particularly proud of. Writing a concise but impressive CV need not be a difficult task with help at your side checking the layout, grammar, spelling and punctuation while also helping to word things so that you sound as employable as possible.

Finally, good careers advice centres (such as those found at the job centre plus) should be able to put you through your paces with mock job interviews so that you can practice responding to what will sometimes be very tough or open questions. A good interview manner can set you well ahead of the rest of the applicants come interview day and if the day ends with the recruiters still thinking about you as a potential employee then you stand a good chance of landing that job.

Next article: Choosing A Career

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