Tag: advent calendar

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Advent Calendar advice Career planning Covid-19 Erasmus graduation lockdown Mental Health Pandemic

Surviving final year in a global pandemic

Maeve in Madrid

In the summer of last year, I was adjusting to life in a new city having just started an Erasmus work placement in Madrid. I was enjoying my new independence, tapas, and post-work sunbathing. By March of 2020, a global pandemic had well and truly made itself known throughout Spain, and my international experience, like so many other things, came to an abrupt end.

Suddenly, I was back living at home, completing my final year online and coming to terms with the pending post-graduation panic. It was all a far cry from the pre-pandemic blissful ignorance I was enjoying this time last year. 

Final year is stressful at the best of times, with countless deadlines, exams, job applications and big decisions. Combine that with a switch to online classes and a global pandemic looming large in the backdrop, and it’s a recipe for final year fear.

Learning to adjust

The switch to online learning was something I, like many others, found very daunting.  Microsoft Teams classes and breakout rooms were not how I had imagined my final year of university to be, but I am learning to embrace the positives. For starters, I love avoiding early winter morning commutes to 9am classes. Moreover, I’m recognising that the skills I’ve gained by being thrown into the deep end of online working will be highly valued amongst future employers. 

According to the Harvard Business Review, the need for virtual work skills is no longer limited to telecommuters and global teams; it now extends to most office work. The virtual skills I’ve developed through being immersed into the world of online learning are truly indispensable and highly valuable to employers, so I’ll remember to show them off in my next interview. 

Maeve in Madrid

Looking to the future

And as I begin to look at interviews and how my post-university career path will begin to take shape, I’m aware that my comfortable student bubble is about to burst and real adulthood and responsibilities are looming. 

‘What are your plans after university?’ is a question that rings throughout final year, and while some have a five-year career plan up their sleeve, I count myself among the many who haven’t figured out what I’m doing at the weekend, never mind next year. 

If you’re in a similar situation, and are finding your future really daunting, fear not. Here are some tips that have helped me: 

  1. Don’t get caught up on what your friends are doing. It’s easy to feel that just because everyone you know is applying for Big 4 grad schemes, you should too. It’s important to think about what’s best for you, and understand what you really want. Queen’s Careers Service is on hand to help support you in deciding what to do next. You can book a 1-1 appointment with a Careers Consultant to discuss any aspect of your career management or even receive feedback on your CV/LinkedIn profile. 

Book an appointment in MyFuture

  1. Explore your options! Research, research, research. Graduate jobs are not the only option. Think about postgraduate study – maybe a Master’s programme will be the next step for you? Or, with vaccine hope on the horizon and a slow shift back to normality looking increasingly promising, why not think about working, studying or volunteering abroad? Queen’s Global Opportunities Team can advise you about programmes available. You can arrange a virtual appointment with one of the team to chat about the travel options available to you through MyFuture.

Search Global Opportunities

  1. Leverage the new skills you’ve developed. Although this year has not been the most ideal in terms of academic experience, think about the skills you have developed through its challenges. Not only will employers love those new virtual working skills, but also the adaptability gained by facing a having to suddenly adapt to online classes, resilience gained by facing and persevering through your studies during a very difficult period, and undoubtedly problem-solving in overcoming various issues and problems brought about by the challenges of this year. Think about how to showcase this new skillset, considering how this relates to your ‘selling points’ for your next interview. Queen’s Careers, Employability and Skills website has some great interview tips and advice to help you think about this.  
  2. Find comfort in the unknown. Be at ease with the fact that 2020 has been completely unprecedented. It is completely normal to feel anxious and unsure about what your next step is. It’s important to remember that your future isn’t a race or a competition, take your time and don’t be afraid to ask for help from your classmates or lecturers. If you’re feeling particularly overwhelmed, there is support available in the form of Queen’s Wellbeing who are on hand to help those struggling through these very strange times.

Contact Queen’s Wellbeing Service

If you are unsure about your next step after graduation, there are lots of tools and resources available to you on our website. 

Explore your options by School or Sector.

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Advent Calendar advice Applications competencies Interviews STAR

Careers Advent Calendar: Demonstrate your problem-solving skills

Employers want to know how you would tackle problems. Can you use logic and imagination to find solutions? Better still, can you anticipate problems and find ways to prevent them?

Good problem-solvers possess the following skills:

  • analytical skills
  • innovative and creative thinking
  • a lateral mindset
  • adaptability and flexibility
  • level-headedness
  • initiative
  • resilience (in order to reassess when your first idea doesn’t work)
  • teamworking (if problem solving is a team effort)
  • influencing skills (to get colleagues, clients and bosses to adopt your solutions).

How can you prove your problem-solving skills?

You might be asked in an interview to talk about a time you solved a problem, or you could be given a hypothetical situation and asked how you would respond to it e.g.

Give me an example of a time when you ran into a problem on a project. What did you do?

OR

How would you react if given negative feedback by a manager on an aspect of your performance?

In both these cases, you should refer to the above list of skills and how you demonstrated each when giving your answer. 

Developing your problem-solving techniques 

The following situations are all good examples of using problem-solving skills:

  • Sorting out a technical problem with your phone, device or computer.
  • Resolving a dispute with a tricky landlord in order to get your deposit back.
  • Carrying out DIY.
  • Serving a demanding customer or resolving a complaint.
  • Finding a way round a funding shortfall in order to pay for travel or a gap year.
  • Turning around the finances or increasing the membership of a struggling student society.
  • Organising a student society’s trip overseas, overcoming unforeseen difficulties on the way.
  • Acting as a course rep or as a mentor for other students.
  • Course assignments that involve problem solving

Articulating your skills

You will need to explain how you identified the problem, came up with a solution and implemented it. Follow the STAR technique outlined on our website. If you tackled a problem as part of a team, explain how your role was important in ensuring the positive solution, but also explain how your group worked together. This could be an opportunity to promote your teamworking skills as well – bonus!

For more advice on developing your problem-solving technique, visit the Target website

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Advent Calendar advice goals motivation self-motivation

Careers Advent Calendar: Three top tips for Self-Motivation

1.Only compete with yourself

Comparing yourself to others can leave you flat, when it comes to self-motivation, it’s much better to set your own benchmark. Set yourself daily or weekly targets that move you closer to where you want to be.

2. Back yourself

Imagine someone asked you to describe what was so great about your best friend. Now imagine they asked you the same question about yourself. Would you be as kind about yourself as you are about others? Whether it’s through daily affirmations or just by talking to yourself more kindly, positive self-talk can super charge your motivation.

3. Show the haters

There is nothing like the promise of proving the haters wrong to speed you along the path towards your goals. Next time you are lacking motivation, think about that person who said you couldn’t and aim to prove them wrong. 

For more top tips on interpersonal skills, visit the skills section of our site 

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Advent Calendar Leadership personal skills Skills

Careers Advent Calendar: 15 Skills That Make a Good Leader

  1. Honesty and integrity

2. Confidence

3. Inspire Others

4. Commitment and Passion

5. Good Communicator

6. Decision Making Capabilities

7. Accountability

8. Delegation and Empowerment

9. Creativity and Innovation

10. Empathy

11. Resilience

12. Emotional Intelligence

13. Humility

14. Transparency

15. Vision and Purpose

Read more about the 15 leadership skills here

Discover more about leadership on the skills section of our site. 

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Advent Calendar advice communication skills personal skills presentations

Careers Advent Calendar: 5 quick tips for effective presentations

  1. Prepare – think about the audience, what you want to achieve, and create a rough outline of what you need to include and what visual aids you will use. Presentations vary in formality so try to get a sense of what your tutor expects in advance. 

2. Organise – a presentation, like an essay, needs an introduction/overview, main body with clear sections and a conclusion to reinforce important points. A good presentation needs interesting content. Think about how much information you can adequately cover in the time that you have. 

3. Deliver – use notes, cues and prompts (rather than reading word-for-word from a page) and speak to the audience (not to your page!) Look around the room, make eye-contact with the audience, if you can, and speak slowly and clearly. Think about your posture and voice. 

4. Visual aids and handouts – spend some time working on a complementary and informative way to present your information and highlight the main points. This often includes PowerPoint’s: use a large font size, avoid more than six points on a slide and use colour, pictures or graphs to keep your slides interesting. If you are using handouts, avoid large lumps of text; keep these brief and informative too. Be sure to refer to specific slides or sections of the handout in your presentation. 

5. Deal with nerves – A presentation is a performance. To control your nerves, be well-prepared: keep practising and then practice some more! Make a one-to- one appointment to practice in front of a tutor or ask a friend to watch you practice. Make sure that the presentation runs to the right time. Use confident and friendly body language to convey that you are relaxed. Use a clear voice and speak loudly enough. Slow down – it is natural to speed up if you are feeling nervous but breathe and take pauses. 

Want more communication tips? Visit the skills section of our website. 

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Advent Calendar advice group projects group work Learning development personal skills Teamwork

Careers Advent Calendar: Succeed in Group Work – Despite Social Distancing

Tips for the first meeting 

✔️ Make a positive start: Smile, ask questions, offer suggestions, make notes, talk predominantly about your group project 

✔️ Introduce each other: Some people might not know each other 

✔️ Take time: Don’t rush into the first meeting, first impressions are important 

✔️ Identify the task: Make sure everyone understands the assignment and what is needed to successfully complete the group work i.e., read the assignment instructions together


✔️Agree on rules: Everyone should be clear on what to expect, how to contribute and what happens if he/she does not participate appropriately


✔️ Identify areas of expertise: Who is good in what? Look up Belbin’s Team Role Inventories to help you with that process 

✔️  Identify common practice: Who will be taking notes, who are you going to decide on things? 

✔️ Make a plan: In one of the earlier meetings agree on a schedule e.g., when is what finished by whom? 

✔️  Have a set agenda: Agree at the beginning of the meeting what issues need to be addressed 

✔️  Be organised: Leave the meeting knowing what each of the group members has to do 

✔️  Evaluate: Start off the meeting with a summary of what has been achieved so far 

✔️  Be democratic: Let all people have a say and be polite to each other 

✔️  Keep records: Keep clear records of meetings and attendance and make sure there is a record of who has done what 

Things to consider 

✔️ Before you submit or give the presentation make sure
you’ve met all the demands set out by your lecturer or school 

✔️ In case you are asked to work on a written assignment be aware that in should be a coherent piece of work i.e., allocate who will proofread, who edits the paper, how are you referencing, what kind of abbreviations etc. you will use 

✔️ Email communication can be a challenge. Be aware of
your tone of voice as written words can often sound harsher than intended 

Group work will be successful if you… 

✔️ Have clear objectives, agreed goals and allocated roles 
✔️ Reach agreements at most meetings
✔️ Complete tasks as agreed
✔️ Are all participating 
✔️ Are listening to each other
✔️ Generate an open and trusting atmosphere 
✔️ Allow opinions to be questioned
✔️ Respect each other
✔️ Use your time effectively
✔️ Have a systematic approach to discussion 
✔️ Regularly review the process
✔️ Share information
✔️ Can keep up a good communication 

Group work will go wrong if you… 

✔️  Are wasting time 

✔️  Are not taking the task serious 

✔️  Have no clearly articulated roles and tasks 

✔️  Have a weak leadership 

✔️  Lack planning 

✔️  Have no clear agendas 

✔️  Lack support 

✔️  Isolate certain group members 

✔️  Are going into too much procedural detail 

✔️  Shot down ideas of each other 

✔️  Lack innovation and communication 

Learn more about Teamwork and other vital personal attributes to develop at university

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Advent Calendar advice Cover letter

Careers Advent Calendar: The Perfect Cover Letter

DO

1. Be succinct and to the point, your letter should be one side of an A4 page.

2. Use the same high quality paper used to print your CV.

3. Address your letter to a named person wherever possible for maximum impact.

4. Tailor your letter to the job advert and include the skills they are looking for.

5. Get someone else to proof read your letter, don’t rely on the computer spellcheck. 6. Use a professional formal letter layout and make full use of the space available. 7. Ensure you have the company name, address and details correct.

8. Read your letter out loud and delete any unnecessary or irrelevant

9. If posting on hard copy leave space at the bottom and sign your name in pen

10. Show your enthusiasm for the company and the vacancy

DON’T

1. Don’t repeat what is written in your CV.

2. Don’t spill over on to a second page – you’re writing too much.

3. Don’t share unnecessary personal details.

4. Don’t focus solely on your qualifications and forget about your experiences and transferable skills.

5. Don’t include any spelling or grammar mistakes.

6. Don’t address it ‘To whom it may concern’ – use a named person

or ‘Dear Sir/Madam’

7. Don’t send the same cover letter to every employer.

8. Don’t forget to include your correct and complete address, including postcode. 9. Don’t send a letter (or CV) with any marks or stains on it.

10. Don’t fold your documents, use an A4 envelope where possible.

For more cover letter tips, see our help sheet

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Advent Calendar advice Applications Graduate success

Careers Advent Calendar: Job Application Tips

  1. Give yourself time. Some employers expect that you will spend around 6-8 hours completing their application form – including the time taken to research the company/industry. It’s better to do a few good quality applications than lots of poor quality applications, so choose wisely which companies you want to apply to.

2. If completing a personal statement, make sure you address each of the criteria in the personnel specification/job advert. If you haven’t received selection criteria, research the company to identify what they are likely to be looking for.

3. Online forms may time-out so read the questions first, then draft your answers, then copy and paste into the form. This also means you can spell and grammar check your answers.

4. Keep a note of the answers you submitted.

5. Try to include many points, described concisely, rather than one or two points expanded at length.

6. You don’t need to use the full word count, but writing too little means that you’ve probably missed some key points.

7. Use the STAR format when answering questions about competencies: Situation, Task, Action, Result. Employers usually provide details on their website of the competencies they are recruiting against.

For more job application tips, visit Target Jobs

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Advent Calendar Clubs and Societies DegreePlus Homework clubs placements

Careers Advent Calendar: Giving Back with Degree Plus

Ruth Cummings

The Degree Plus initiative at Queens means that you have the opportunity to earn an extra award alongside your degree. One of the biggest appeals of university for many people is the opportunities it gives you to meet new people and engage in activities which interest you and might help you make further decisions with your future career. And with Degree Plus you actually get credit for doing this!

There are numerous ways you can earn your Degree Plus, here are just a few;

Volunteering opportunities – something that always looks great on your CV, helping people for free! Within the university you will hear about many different volunteering opportunities, one of my personal favourites is Homework Club. Volunteering at Homework Club is the perfect activity if you are considering going into a career in education as it allows you to practise the skills needed to help other, younger students learn. And even if a career in education doesn’t interest you, Homework Club gives you skills in communication and is all round just a fun thing to do on a free afternoon!

Homework Clubs at Volunteer SU

Work experience – Any kind of career placement you do (as long as it’s not already part of your degree) can also earn you a Degree Plus. Personally, I can’t think of any reason why you wouldn’t do this. Placements are already great things to do as they give you an insight into your aspired career, give you skills that will make you stand out, and help you make contacts which will be highly valuable when you graduate. Once again, this is an activity that most people would want to do anyway and with Degree Plus you rewarded with more than just the experience!

Society Committees – Another example of activities that contribute towards a Degree Plus is joining a society committee! This is something which I highly recommend you do anyway, it’s a great way of meeting new people with similar interests and making friends, and much like everything else it helps you develop new skills to add onto that ever-growing CV. Joining a society committee is about as university as you can get, it’s something that you’ll never have the opportunity to do again, so go for it!

These really are just a few of the opportunities to earn your Degree Plus here at Queen’s. Hopefully it has given you some sort of idea as to what you can do here alongside your degree to make you stand out from the crowd. So, the bottom line is, go and discover a new adventure with Degree Plus! You never know what it might lead to.

You can check out the full activity lists and details of how you apply on the Degree Plus site.