CareerPassport.net News

Preparing Children for their Future

Sun, 29 Aug 2010 12:00:00 -0400

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is the well-meaning conversation topic raised with many children from the time they are able to play dress-ups at preschool. With toothy grins and great confidence they tell you “a fireman”, “a doctor”, “an aeroplane pilot”. On the surface this is just a childish conversation, with no consequence or real meaning. Yet research has shown that children as young as six have already eliminated possibilities for their lives, while others have internalised unlimited potential. Our hope as parents, and as teachers, is that our children grow up with a deep belief that anything is possible.

The irony of the “what do you want to be” question is that within society today we are constantly creating and recreating what we want to be. While the post-war workforce commonly had just one occupation, sometimes even one job, during their working life, now people commonly transfer their skills and experience into different contexts, different industries and different occupations. The successful person today demonstrates strong employability or entrepreneurial skills, with a deep appreciation of what they can contribute. They understand how to negotiate the pitfalls of the world of work, and proactively direct their career to suit the life that they desire.

Just as we must now educate our children for a world in which using technology is a basic skill, so must we ensure that they develop the competencies that will enable them to make the successful transition from child to “producer and director” of their own lives. The first step in taking charge is the recognition that they do, in fact, have the power to influence the direction that their lives will take. This is a powerful concept. If we, as parents and school communities, work together to foster these competencies through school work and co-curricula activities, through responsibility and teamwork, through self-knowledge and community participation, we will be empowering our children and our students to be fulfilled and become the best that they can be.

Jenni Proctor
http://CareerClarity.com.au

Writing Your First Resume: 10 Things You Must Include

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 16:00:00 -0400

1. Contact details
Your name, address, email and telephone number, clearly displayed
- Is your email address appropriate?
- Is the message on your mobile phone appropriate?

2. Career Objective
Only include this if the job you are applying for
- is part of your career plans
eg To gain experience in office administration prior to studying for a Bachelor of Business in 2012
- Is related to something you are passionate interested in
eg To use my many years of horse management and riding experience to assist in the care of performance horses.

Don’t include a career objective if you just want to “get a job” which has no relation to your interests, career plans or prior experience.

3. Education
Your school and current year level.
- If your grades are good include them. If they aren’t it is better to leave them out.

4. Achievements
These important aspects of your life tell a prospective employer a lot about you. This is not the time to be modest or to underestimate what you have achieved.

Try to write your achievement statements starting with a strong verb eg Achieved, Created, Lead, Managed, Won, Assisted or a passive verb eg Awarded, Given.
• Awards
• Leadership positions in school and sport
• Certificates
• Special responsibilities
• Membership of Associations, Choirs, Service Groups eg lifesavers
• Membership of sporting teams and years of involvement
• Achievements in the Arts – Music, Art, Drama

5. Skills
• Languages
• High level of mathematical ability
• Musical ability
• Technology Skills
Basic computer use – Indicate the level
o Word
o Excel
o PowerPoint
o Internet
Advanced computer skills
o Graphics
o Photoshop
o Video editing
o Excel
o Solving hardware problems
o Solving software problems
o Programming
Other technology skills
o Electronics
o Film making

6. Work Experience
Paid, informal and volunteer work all tell the prospective employer a lot about you.

a) Paid work:
Any work that you have done for an employer where you had to give them your tax file number
Include
• Job title
• Name and address of employer
• Dates that you worked for them eg Jan 2009 – April 2010
• Responsibilities

b) Informal work:
Baby sitting, helping in a family business, pet care or gardening, school work experience.
Include
• Job title
• Name and address of employer
• Dates that you worked for them eg Jan 2009 – April 2010
• Responsibilities

c) Volunteer work:
Fundraising, door-knocking for recognised charities such as Red Shield Appeal, caring for elderly relative or neighbour, assisting at a school or church function.

7. Interests
Let them know something about you as an individual eg singing with a band, running in fun runs, surfing.
- Modelling, fashion or shopping aren’t interests to list….unless you are looking for work in a fashion retail store and then it would be important to mention these interests!

8. Referees
Referees are people who know you as an individual and are willing to speak in support of you. You must ask someone first before putting them as a referee on your resume. Consider asking a teacher, family friend, sporting coach or a parent of one of your friends if they are happy to be a referee. It must be someone who actually knows you as a person, not just someone who can say they have known you since you were born but doesn’t really know much about you as an individual.

Put their name, relationship to you, phone number and email address at the bottom of your resume. Referees are likely to contacted if a prospective employer is thinking of giving you a job, so it is great if you hear that they have rung your referee.

9. Personal Characteristics
Try to demonstrate these in your achievement statements and/or your cover letter. You can have a section that outlines the sort of person you are, but it is more powerful if you can show them what you are like through the way you write your resume.

10. Layout
• Simple clean layout
• One font throughout
• Consistent formatting
• No spelling mistakes (Don’t trust spellcheck on the computer!)
• No grammar mistakes
• No typos

Jenni Proctor
http://CareerClarity.com.au

How To Write A Resume For A Job

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 21:38:00 -0400

Knowing how to write a good resume is a survival skill because the resume is an item that helps you open doors. Without a good resume, you can't get an interview, which means you won't be able to get the dream job you have been waiting for. So if you are looking to get a job (not just any job, but the job you want), be sure to do things right and learn how to create an outstanding resume. Here are some quick tips.

1) Promotional content.

Your resume is a piece of writing that you use to promote yourself. So don't be shy about using any promotional content that you can think of. For instance, many candidates will just include previous work experiences. You can go one step further by including testimonials from high profile individuals. Spend some time to think about the kind of content you can include to make yourself stand out.

2) Organizing the content.

Now that you have the content ready, and you know what you want to include in your resume, be sure to present everything in a well organized manner. Place the cover letter in front. The cover letter will explain why you are applying for the job, and why your skills are a good fit for the job. Don't send in cookie cutter cover letters. If you have downloaded some samples, be sure to customize them to the positions that you are applying for.Next, present your personal details. Use sub-sections like "Contact Details", "Educational History", etc. to make your resume easier to read. Finally, include your work history, experiences, and any other references or testimonials that you may have.

3) Pay attention to small details.

You may think that your resume looks good at this point. Unfortunately, that is what a hundred candidates are thinking of as well. They all have well organized resumes. So what will make yours stand out? Your attention to small details could be the key to success. Number your pages and place footnotes to clarify anything that may appear vague. If you have many pages of content, be sure to include a table of content, as well as an executive summary. You must always remember that HR personnel has to spend hours to scan through thousands of resumes. Your goal is to make their job easier by sending in a clear and concise piece of writing.

4) More on the cover letter.

The cover letter is probably the first thing that the HR personnel sees. So spend more effort in perfecting the cover letter. The subject header should be straight to the point, indicating the position that you are applying for. The first paragraph should be a summary of the entire letter. Note that HR may not have the time to read the entire letter. So be sure to say everything to wish to say in the first paragraph. The body of the letter should elaborate more on why you are applying for the position. There are a plethora of resume samples available online. Some are high quality samples and you can use them as references.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/career-management-articles/how-to-write-a-resume-for-a-job-938824.html

Download Customer Service Resume and other Sample Resume.

Paperless career management: The advantages of an ePortfolio

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:05:00 -0500

Applying to undertake some further study, or to have your qualifications recognised in some way, can become like a paper chase. The search for certificates takes you into parts of the filing cabinet you forgot existed while less significant pieces of paper, such as acknowledgement of taking part in a short training course, may never be found.

Similarly, the frantic attempts you sometimes need to make to gather together enough examples of your work to present a portfolio as a showcase of your skills and talents. At the time you always mean to file things well, but life gets in the way of good intentions!

Then there is the journey that you have been on in your career, significant to you at the time but lost in the dim dark recesses of your memory. Why did you make that career decision? Who knows! What was your motivation when you created that picture, music or sculpture? Can’t remember!

Using an ePortfolio can solve all of these problems. It is an electronic way of managing and storing all your career related documents, artifacts, and information. An ePortfolio can be set up once then used in multiple ways, whenever you need to use it. It can be the secure repository of copies of all of your significant documents, combined with an online resume and examples of your most significant work. It can even provide a place to keep an online journal, one that enables you to link your thoughts with examples of your work, so an artist can have their art work as well as their explanation and rationale for the work all together in one convenient location.

An ePortfolio can be adapted according to your needs, allowing you to only show aspects of it to the public but also allowing you to change what is visible under different circumstances.

If you are still involved in a paper chase every time you need to make some career change or application, or if you simply prefer to utilise the advantages of technology in your life, perhaps it is time to consider an ePortfolio such as vumi.

Jenni Proctor

www.careerclarity.com.au

11 Keys to Career Success - Key No 1: Self management

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:20:00 -0500

This is the first of eleven articles about the key competencies that will help you stand out in your career, at whatever stage you are at. In fact, these competencies are so fundamental that every school student needs to develop them before being let loose on the world of work, and it is the same competencies that are needed by the managing director of major companies.

The first of these competencies is Self-Management. Being able to control your emotions, your temper and your whims in the workplace allows you to work effectively with other people.

Usually when someone experiences serious work problems it is as a result of working with someone who doesn’t manage themselves well – the bully, the nagger, the criticiser, the nasty commentator, the yeller, the drama queen, the underminer, the inappropriate-joker……the list could go on for pages! Do you identify someone you have worked with in one of those titles? Think of the damage they cause to the people around them.

People who don’t have self-management skills are often barely aware that they are causing problems, or they are likely to blame others for the problem. In their lack of self awareness they also lack the ability to recognise that their behaviour is the root of the work problems. This person is usually pointing the finger, without recognising that the other three fingers are pointing squarely back at them.

Another aspect of self management is your ability to motivate yourself and to see your own skills, experience and value in the workplace realistically. As an employee it is easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you have no control over your own career, but that isn’t the attitude of a person who aims to achieve career success.

Gone are the days when the company you worked for was in charge of your personal career development. They are to the extent that they want to be, and when world finances are tight businesses often cut back on the “extras” they can offer their employees.

But taking charge of your career is not an “extra”, it is fundamental to your future success. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

Do you know what you want to achieve in your career in the future?

Are you in the right occupation, or will your current work lead to the right occupation?

Are you a good fit in your current workplace?

Are you undertaking additional education/training to take you towards the work you should be doing?

Are you actively seeking opportunities to take responsibility, to undertake projects, to stretch your horizons at work?

To achieve career success, to be offered interesting opportunities and to be a person that others enjoy working with, your self-management skills need to be strong.

To your career success!

Jenni Proctor