Job seeking skills presentation November 2017

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Welcome to Job Search Skills
Clive May
Career Counsellor
QUT Your Future Careers Team
clive.may@qut.edu.au
www.bridgetostudy.com.au
www.facebook.com/yourfuturecareer

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Job Search Skills - Enhance your
competitive edge in the job market
Resume
Cover Letter
Selection Criteria
Interview Skills

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What Do Employers Want?
Fit
(the culture and values
of the organisation)
Will do
(the personality,
passion
interests,
ambitions,
motivation)
Can do
(the knowledge
and skills)

4. What graduate employers want
• Self awareness/Self-
promotion
• Exploring and creating
opportunities
• Networking/Negotiation
• Coping with uncertainty
• Personal presentation
• Ability to deal with
pressure
• Motivation
• Communication
• Problem solving
• Teamwork
• Initiative & enterprise
• Planning & organising
• Self management
• Learning
• Technology
Self Reliant Employability Skills

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Skills, Career and Occupational Info
Employability Skills Audit
Career Search
Occupations List – details of each
Occupation including tasks and skill
requirements
Graduate Careers Australia
Career Profiles – career booklets for each
Industry including roles
Job Outlook
Job Outlook Occupations – career profiles
including details of skills and tasks involved

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Your Questions?
Your resume and Key
Selection Criteria
questions?

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The good, and the bad

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The good…

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The bad…

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Before you apply to any
company...
Obtain as much information as you can about:
 Relevant contacts
 The company – what do they do?
Job Specific Info
 The position – tasks and duties
 The position skill and ability requirements
http://www.myfuture.edu.au/occupations

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Your all-purpose
Resume
• Contact Details Only (check your email!)
• Career Objective (optional)
• Key Skills or Strengths (for the job)
• Employment History/Work Experience
• Education
• Licences/Certificates
• Interests & Hobbies/Achievements
• Referees

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Where to start?
Brainstorm all of your experiences!
• Employment/work experience
• Volunteer/community experiences
• Education Projects/Group
involvement
• Licences/Training/Certificates
• Your Achievements/Awards
• Leisure Activities (Teams,
Associations, Societies)
• Referees?

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Prepare examples of your skills!
Transferable Skills
USE THE S.T.A.R PRINCIPLE
• The Situation/Task
• The Action you took
• The Result achieved

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Presentation of the Resume:
Make the resume easy to read
• DO NOT use fancy fonts, coloured or
textured paper etc and DO NOT put your
resume into a folder or binder – just a clip
in the left corner is sufficient OR send by
email
• Be very careful with spelling and grammar
– have it checked by someone else…

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Writing covering letters
A covering letter is to ensure that the reader
will be interested enough to read your resume

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Cover Letter Structure
• Use The Person’s Name
• Tell Them Why You’re Writing
• Tell Them Why You’re Interested in
them
• Tell Them Why You’re Suited – your
skills

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Writing Selection Criteria

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What is Selection Criteria about?
Selection criteria may include:
• Skills
• Qualifications
• Aptitudes
• Abilities
• Experience
• Personal attributes
All are necessary to perform the job you are
applying for
Short-listing is based on how well your
Application addresses selection criteria

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Understand the selection criteria
• As an example, take the capability written
communication skills. The associated selection
criterion could be –
– ‘Well developed written communication skills.
This includes the ability to:
• structure written communications such as
reports to meet the needs and understanding
of the intended audience;
• express opinions, information and key points
of an argument clearly and concisely; and to
• write convincingly in an engaging and
expressive manner’.

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Brainstorm ideas for each criterion
For each selection criterion, brainstorm ideas
from your (recent) work life
• Positive examples of ‘well developed written
communication skills’:
– Project Officer at ... – needed to write
report on project planning methodologies
– when Research Support Officer at
Moreton Bay Regional Council – designed
and compiled a monthly newsletter
– research project when at TAFE – needed
to collate diverse sets of data, organise
the information into topic areas, and
synthesise into a paper for senior
management

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Prepare examples of your experience,
abilities for the skills needed in the job
Help the employer by giving examples
of your skills and abilities:
USE THE S.T.A.R PRINCIPLE
• The Situation/Task
• The Action you took
• The Result achieved

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Hints and tips 1
• Individually address each criterion under
separate headings
• Carefully read each selection criterion.
Break down each criterion into parts and
address each aspect thoroughly
• Always consult the position description so
that you know the purpose of the
selection criteria and for terms,
language, jargon etc

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Hints and tips 2
• Use as many concrete examples as possible to
support your claim to meet each criterion -
education, employment, social, committee
participation, voluntary work, hobbies etc
• If an example applies to a number of selection
criteria, include it under each relevant
criterion
• Where possible substantiate your examples
with indicators of how well you did them. This
might include results, comments, extended
contracts, happy customers etc

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Hints and tips 3
• Do not refer to your resume. Copy
from your resume into your selection
criteria statement
• Use good English. Ensure that your
application is written clearly and
concisely, that it is grammatically
correct, and free of spelling errors
• Get someone to read it through
before you send it to make sure it
makes sense!

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Resume Templates & Guides
• Microsoft Office
• Career Centre Resume Builder
• Career One
• Youth Central (VIC)
• Resume Guide – Myfuture

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Purpose of the interview
• Are you the right person for the job and
organisation?
• Do you have the skills, interests, experiences
to contribute job and organisation?
• Will you fit into the organisation community?
• Are you professionally competent?

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Presenting yourself to
organisations of interest
“Informational Interviewing”
• Ask questions
• Express interest
• Gain information from potential
employers about the job, requirements,
expectations and possible vacancies
• Develop interview skills, knowledge about
your industry
• Create networks!

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Your interview preparation
• Review job description
• Reflect on experiences
• Brainstorm responses to questions
• Practice responses out loud
• Organise portfolio/ folder to take to
interview
• Consider your appearance
• Timing- how long will you need to get
there, park car, find room? …. Let’s
practice!...

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Sample interview questions
• Tell us about yourself….
• Why do you want to work for our company?
• What do you know about our company/organisation?
• What key skills do you have for this job?
• How have you shown leadership in your life? Provide a
specific example….
• How have you shown effective teamwork in your life?
Provide a specific example….
• What is your biggest weakness?
• How do you handle disruptive situations or people? Can
you refer to a specific example?...
• What long term career interests do you have?

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Questions for you to ask
• What is the level and depth of training?
• What are the key priorities for the role right now?
• How will I be managed and supported?
• What qualities do your most successful workers
possess?
• How (often) do you measure an employee’s success?
• How often do you conduct performance reviews?

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Interview Practice
In two’s or threes …
• One Interviewer
• One Interviewee/Observer
1. Take it in turns to ask the ‘Sample
Interview Questions’
2. Observers please note responses and
provide feedback to Interviewee

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Sins! These won’t get you the job
• Criticising previous employers
(What will you say about them…?)
• Talking about personal, domestic,
political, religious issues unless asked
(What’s that got to do with the job…?)
• Reading from your resume
(If you don’t know about yourself…)

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Job Search Websites
• https://jobsearch.gov.au/
• https://www.seek.com.au/
• https://www.careerone.com.au/
• https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/careers/

35. “OK – Clive STOP TALKING !”
Questions?
Your Future Careers Team
QUT Caboolture
H Block
Tel: 07 5316 7666
Email: yourfuture@qut.edu.au
www.bridgetostudy.com.au
www.facebook.com/yourfuturecareer