CAREERS
www.careersnorthwest.co.uk
www.careersnorthwest.co.uk
May Edition
May Edition
NORTH WEST NORTH WEST
Assess all your options......
How to get into the Media Special
Careers North West May edition page 1
Consider all the choices There are now more ways than ever to get in to the industry that you want to work in. So it is essential that you make an effort to research all the possible avenues available to you. We hope to give you the motivation to work very hard in your final months or years to give you the best chance of getting the career you want.
Hello there, This magazine has been put together to give you free impartial advice on your options available, in the next phase of your career. The advice comes with no pressure or recommendation for one particular career path for any one individual or group of people. The only aim for us is that you explore all the options and make the right decision for you. The first piece of advice is simply to say do not panic! There are lots of options out there for your generation, many more than your parents will have had when they were your age. The next few years need to be spent getting life experience. That means in terms of both getting a good education and the knowledge and experience in the industries you want to work in. It also means getting experience in real life situations like group work or dealing with customers, like going on a gap year. There are many jobs that can provide you with this experience. This can develop your transferable skills like good communication and customer service. Transferable skills will never leave you throughout your career so you are already building your range of skills. There is no
guaranteed sure fire method to getting any sort of job especially in today’s world with fierce competition for just about every job in the book. We have to assure you that any decision you make in the next few years does not restrict you from completely changing your career plan in the future. For example if you choose to go to University and do a History degree, you can still have a career in any other industry such as finance or social care. The best advice we can give you is to take your time and get as much experience as possible. Try work shadowing, something done in America, where you ask a company to let you follow them around to get to know the good and the bad side of working in that particular industry. Then press on after this and get some work experience with some local companies. All your GCSE’s are essential but the ones that you cannot afford to slip away and get lower than a C grade are Maths,English and Science. So we hope this magazine can give you all the resources you need. All you can ask of yourself in the end is to do your absolute best. Darren Wells-Burr Editor
City Council Jobs sites http://www.manchester.gov.uk/jobs
Careers North West Magazine is published by Darren Wells-Burr publishing services. Edited, designed and photographs by Darren Wells-Burr. Photographs property of Darren Wells-Burr unless stated.
Careers North West May edition page 2
Stand out from everyone else
The majority of jobs are now over subscribed, one job in Yorkshire which advertised 60 new positions in the police force recieved 180,000 enquiries, showing just how fierce competition is today. This makes even getting an interview very difficult, so getting it right at the application stage is absolutely key. We took the time to find out what will make the you stand out from the crowd when employers or staff at universities or colleges make their final decisions on who they will select by asking Rebecca Nethercott. What are the statistics for what university students do after university, and whether they get jobs? In a study of what students were doing after university from the year 2007, the results said that 67% were working, 7% were working and studying, 13% were studying, 9% were unemployed, 3 % were not seeking employment. Is it easy for someone to change their career path even if they have a job, degree, or apprenticeship which does not relate to their new career plan? Yes, there are many examples of where students have done a degree in a different subject to the job they have got. The degree they took showed the employer a level of academic skills and they could transfer the skills they learnt in that degree to another industry or job. So if you choose the wrong degree or want to choose another career path at the other end, then it is easy to do and won’t be held against you. How important is good work experience? This is very important because it shows the employer that
Rebecca is a qualified careers advisor.
you have already experienced some elements of the jobs you are applying for. It does not matter how old you are there are always ways in which you can get some experience in the role you want. How important is a well designed, functional cv and a well written covering letter? Your application has to make you stand out from the crowd, because employers will sometimes have to look through hundreds of applications at a time. You need to make sure you don’t make silly mistakes and that you highlight the skills you have which you need for the job your applying for. Make sure you consult your teachers or even your local connexions service, so that you know that you are doing things right. How important is having some element of volunteer work on your cv? It adds something different to your application and shows you were willing to work without being paid. It also shows that you were willing to give up your time. There is no need to exhaust yourself, a few hours volunteering if you can fit it into your schedule is fine. Does it matter if your academic record is not that strong? Can I make up for it?It is very important to try as hard as you can to get the best grade possible. Your whole application is assessed as one, they are looking
Covering Letter advice http://careers.guardian.co.uk/cover-letter
at what you offer. Employers do not choose people based on their grades alone. For example if you got a C grade but another applicant achieved a B, if you have considerable relevant work experience but your rival does not have any, you are giving yourself a good advantage over them. You may also want to consider making slightly different applications if the type of job you are applying for is different. So that you can highlight the skills for that particular job. Also do not get down hearted if you do not hear anything back from employers as they do not always find time to reply.
Rebecca recommends the following quick tips for your
Centre align your name and use the bold tool. Do the same with your highest qualification. Write abbreviations in full and then put them in brackets. Only include grades achieved between A and C in your list of grades. Make sure it is laid out so it is relevant to the job you are applying for. It has to be easy to read quickly and word processed in a clear font.
Careers North West May edition page 3
Is a degree right for you? We found a student, who had discovered university was not the best route for him but it took him two years to realise. Two years into university life Nathan Stanier decided it was not for him and made a change in his life and his career. The 19 year-old got accepted onto a University of Chester Media and Advertising degree course and made the move from Essex to the Warrington Campus. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so I applied for University because that was what everyone else was doing, I knew it meant I would not have to get a job for at least three years.” The young man clearly did not know what he wanted to do with his life and by following his friends he ended up doing something he did not get much out of. “I failed my first year because I barely put any effort in as there is nobody to motivate you here. It got to the stage where I would go to bed at 5am and not get up until three in the afternoon.” This meant he never turned up to any of his lectures, in his average week of twelve hours of lectures and seminars. Nathan enjoyed the non academic side of university and stopped concentrating on working hard very quickly. He was easily distracted by late nights drinking and playing computer games with no bed time at all. Therefore his grades suffered. He said: “There is a lot of free time on my course as there is with most courses so instead of dividing that time up into mainly time to work on
Change of direction: Nathan now works in the sales industry. to get a job. He no longer desired my course and a little social time. to have that degree he once did as I spent too much time going out he felt it did not suit the style he spending time with friends and not needed to learn and develop. Instead focussing on what I came to university for, to learn and get a good he opted for a job where he would be able to learn, get paid at the end degree.” Nathan failed his first year and instead of the week and have a chance to progress up the company ladder. That of retaking it he opted for another was a hard task for Nathan to find a course which meant he would not job with the fierce competitive nature have to pay for the cost of re taking of all jobs. He found that it was very exams. Unfortunately he slipped back into the same routine. After paying for hard to even get interviews because of the sheer amount of people the first month’s rent and a deposit, applying for all different jobs. he had to give that up and was lucky “I chose this sales job because it to avoid having to pay out the rest of a £2,700 twelve month contract which suited me to have a regular income and chance to develop my skills and was legally binding. apply for promotion within the With two academic years now gone company quite quickly, this really without passing either year, upon the appealed to me. Obviously in this second year results he decided to environment, I have deadlines to meet move back home to Essex with his and expectancies from the moment parents. He was looking for a change of tack: “I decided to leave because it the shift starts, if I am not performing, I won’t last very long. That was not was not working for me at all, it was certainly an experience but I didn’t get the case at university so it did not suit me at all.” what I wanted from it. The demands Nathan advised us “Make sure you of the degree did not suit me find the right path to suit you and the because nobody forced me to turn up way you learn. Otherwise you will to anything, so I as a result failed to motivate myself enough.” After moving suffer, so do not rush the decision back home he decided that he wanted consider all the pros and cons.”
What does Uni cost? http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2007/jan/10/studentfinance.education
Careers North West May edition page 4
Get a job without further study It can never be emphasised how important it is to try your best in your final two years at school. For those of you who do not want to go to college or university we have provided some useful information of the kind of jobs you can get with your GCSE’s. Accounts Clerk This job includes keeping financial records and preparing accounts. A company will be looking for a person with experience of working in an office. As well as GCSE Maths and good computer skills. Starting Salary £12k to £16k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £22k. Fitness Instructor The job means organising and leading group or individuals with exercise sessions and schedules. It requires gaining fitness instructor qualifications. The qualifcations can also be gained through an apprenticeship scheme,with a fitness center.Starting salary 13k. This job can also be done on a freelance basis where you could train clients on your own. It gives you the potential to run your own business. Engineering Maintenance Fitter This job includes servicing and repairing machinery and equipment. Starting salary £15k-£20k. If you gain significant experience you can earn up to 30k.
Receptionists
Sales Representatives
There are no direct qualifications for this role but you would be expected to have GCSE Maths and English (A-C) as well as good IT skills.
This job role asks you to sell your companies products or services to potential customers. It requires a good general education and sales skills.
Starting salary £12k to £17k
Starting salary £15k-£20k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £21k.
If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £20k or more. Waiting Staff This job involves serving customers. It requires good english and good maths skills and good ‘people’ skills. Starting salary £11k-14k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £19k. Customer service assistant This role includes handling customer enquiries and complaints. This requires good people skills as well as a good general education. Starting salary £13k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £19k. Healthcare assistants This job role consists of assisting healthcare professionals with day to day care of patients. Starting Salary £13k to £16k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £19k
Care assistants The job includes assisting people of all abilities to do day to day tasks. This could mean helping young, old or injured or disabled people. It would be useful to get some experience in this field by volunteering. Starting Salary £12k to £16k If you gain signifcant experience whilst in the role you can expect to earn up to £21k. Medical Secretary Where to go from here? ThisThe rolemain includes as jobs point working of all these administration the national is that you staff needfor a good general health service. Starting salary 14k. education. This means a good
range of A-C GCSE’s grades. Some of the jobs also point out how important english,maths and skills are because they show an indication of good numbers and writing skills. These are common skills needed for almost every job in the modern world. It is also very common for every job to involve computers and technology in some form so a good grasp of the skills needed to use the Microsoft Office suite and good typing skills are also very important. This means doing the basics like emailing and using the internet to research.
Job search - http://www.jobcentreplus.gov.uk/JCP/index.html
Careers North West May edition page 5
Listen to the professional The media has always been one of the most competitive and popular industries. Therefore the standards are very high and opportunities are not always that easy to find. So we asked a former BBC employee for some advice on how to get into the media. The media has always been a competitive place, but never more so than now. Newspapers are looking to cut costs to the bone (that always means jobs) as they try to compete with online news. I guess there will be huge cuts to come in the BBC, with the licence system being mauled over yet again, and that will have a knock-on effect throughout TV and radio. Work experience was considered vital in my time. When interviewing reporters for jobs or students for college places, I always looked for someone who stood out from the crowd: someone who could show their dedication and determination by having knocked down doors to work in newsrooms whenever the chance presented itself. I doubt if that has changed. Interviewing panels get tired by the end of a full day of seeing candidates. Someone with a 4p.m. appointment has to be special enough to make them sit up and take notice. Transferable skills in my day related in the main from switching from radio to TV and vice versa; and between news programmes and current affairs. That is still the case but it has gone much further with online requirements. Broadcasters who thought writing was not for them have had to catch up very quickly to cope with getting their stories on the websites, as this is now popular.
Former BBC producer : Cedric worked for the BBC for over 20 years. Writing blogs:Yes, yes, yes. The best blogs are classic examples of good writing: never a wasted word, pithy, always to the point. The worst are awful. In fact I think online writing (I don’t mean emails) is a very good discipline for would-be journalists, but blogs must never be sloppy and irrelevant. Study the ones you enjoy reading and work out why they stand out. Writing skills can always be improved with practice and I take the old-fashioned view (well I would, wouldn’t I?) that something written crisply, with good construction, punctuation and spelling, will impress any potential employer. Good broadcast journalists. I can only speak from my own experience. All the presenters on Today write well. They may sound casual and informal in their presentation but they work hard on their own scripts. John Humphrys could (and does) turn out a newspaper column to rival the best. Jim Naughtie can do the same. In television: Jon Snow. In their interviewing, they all ask questions that demand proper answers (“why did you?...)
The factual stuff – what the story is, why this particular politician/ official/whoever is being interviewed should be in the introduction. The best journalists ask questions interviewees would prefer not to answer. Books: I am out of touch. Google them. Or get to the library!! and get your head in a good book. I am sure there are plenty out there!
Advice for the skills needed in the media industry - http://www.skillset.org/interactive/careers/
Work-shadowing. Again, yes, Try thinking laterally. whenever you can. But never stay in TV crews swarmed over Haiti, the shadow: persuade your mentor to interviewed anyone who’d speak, and let you try your hand at actually doing left when there were no more rescue the work. The benefit is not just what stories. But what about now? What’s you have observed but how you have not being covered? The media has made use of it. been affected by the global Degrees. A degree in English has recession. This has seen an industry the value of academic achievement in which is tough to get into, become what for a journalist is a even tougher to get into. This means vocational subject. To make it even as someone looking to get into the more practical, is there an English media more attention to detail must course geared to journalism? Could be taken to build your skills and your it be two years not three? Something level of experience. like that plus journalist training would Where do I go from here? be a very good platform. On the journalism side, you do have to There are many different routes decide whether it’s newspapers (or into the media. It is important to the like) or broadcasting that you are seek advice from people in and interested in. Anything else? My only media job has around the industry. Such as people who work for the BBC or been as a journalist. If that’s what in the case of Cedric a former attracts you, my advice would be to employee of the BBC. It could be read, listen and watch as much as useful to write to the people you you can. Rolling news demands that most admire within the media, for journalists endlessly try to move the their advice. story on. Here are a few thoughts: Take the top story of the day Large organisations such as the think of angles not yet covered or ignored. Jot them down and see how BBC are also obliged to reveal all their information on the standards your ideas compare with how the they expect. It could be story is covered later that day. useful to look at these. They can Pick a story from the so-called be found online like this one which quality papers. Re-write it for, say, the Mirror, then compare your version gives advice on writing standards. http://www.bbctraining.com/pdfs/ with what the Mirror actually did. newsstyleguide.pdf Listen to late-breaking stories (you’ll need to record TV news at ten or R4 or Five Live). Write one of It will definately be useful to research information provided by the stories for the next day’s papers. Again, compare your version with the the National Union Training Journalists and the Broadcast actual. Take the same story. How would you Journalism Training Council. Both organisations provide information cover it on Five Live the next day? on the qualfications available and How would you write the intro for a one-to-one, who would you interview, where they can be taken. what questions would you ask? Then They can be found online at http://www.nctj.com/index.html see what they say and compare it http://www.bjtc.org.uk/ with what you wrote in to your version. This will show you what the professionals are doing.
Pic Learning Skills Council
Careers North West May edition page 6
http://www.lsc.gov.uk
Need work experience? BBC https://jobs.bbc.co.uk/fe/tpl_bbc03.asp?newms=se
Pic Yeovil College
What are the courses you are doing worth?
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