CWU Skills for Jobs Workshops

1. CWUSkills for Jobs Workshops

2. Topics • The recruitment process • How to produce a CV • How to write a covering letter • Recruitment Language • Transferable skills • Understanding a job description • Prepare for a job interview

3. Exercise 1 Introduce yourself to the rest of the group. • Name • Where you work and a brief description of what your job is. • How long you have been with your current employer. • Any previous courses or training undertaken. • Any interests or hobbies.

4. Exercise 2 This exercise is to help you understand the recruitment process used by employers • Your handout gives you the first stage of the process. • In your groups, discuss and place in the correct order the other stages in the recruitment process. • What other factors may change this order

5. Recruitment process

6. Recruitment process

7. Exercise 3 Discuss the following: • Identify everything you think should be included in a CV • Indentify things that you think should be excluded from a CV

8. What to include in your CV • Personal details • Personal profile of your self • Key skills and achievements • Career history (most recent first) • Education (most recent first) • Qualifications (most recent first) • Training and development • Outside interest and hobbies • References

9. What to leave out of your CV • Any sort of failure ( business, exams, etc) • Photos (unless applying for modelling or acting jobs) • Fancy borders or patterns that will detract from the content • Personal information not relevant to the job such as: age, weight, height or health • Salary information • Reasons for leaving jobs • Title pages, folders, binders – these can be off-putting

10. Exercise 4 • In groups consider the CV in the handout and identify the bad points

11. Identify bad points of CV • Inconsistent formatting • Bad Grammar and spelling • Name not clear • Stray capitals and lowercase • Dates unclear • Relevance of computer skills • Relevance of hobbies

12. Exercise 5 Personal Profile • What is a personal profile and why do we need one? • How long should it be? • What should be included in it? • Consider some of the words and phrases that can be used.

13. Exercise 6 It will be necessary to send a covering letter with your CV. In groups consider: • The 2 covering letters and identify the good and bad points of each

14. Good Points of Letter • Nicely presented • Structure and layout correct • Addressed directly to employer • Ref clearly stating what the letter is about • Straight to the point • Clear font used • Yours sincerely correct • Enc used to indicate enclosed CV

15. Bad Points of Letter • Own address not in full • Not addressed personally to the employer • No reference • No date • Poorly worded paragraphs • No reference to the position applied for • Thanks is an incorrect way to end a letter • No indication of enclosed CV (Enc)

16. Exercise 7 Using the job advertisements in the handouts consider the following: • Consider the skills required using the job description and employee specification • Identify any skills that you have that will map to the job description and employee specification • Indentify any skills gaps that you may have and consider how you intend to address these

17. Exercise 8 Preparing for Interviews • What is the purpose of the interview • What should you look out for in the invitation letter • Consider the questions you will be asked • Consider the questions you might want to ask • What information should you take with you • What other points should you consider

18. Exercise 9 myguide understanding job hunting online course Go to the myguide website www.myguide.gov.uk Login to the site if you have already registered. If you are not already registered the ULR will show you how 1. Click on Courses on the left hand side. 2. Click on option 3 Understanding. 3. Then on the right hand side click on Online jobs. 4. Then click on Understanding job hunting online. 5. Click on Start at the bottom of the page. The course should take about 30 – 40 minutes to complete

19. Exercise 10 Online job searching Using the useful job websites listed in your workbooks search for jobs that may interest you. Don’t just use one site, use a few to get a feel how the different sites work. After you have searched for some jobs on different sites consider the following points. • Were all the sites the same? • Were all the jobs the same on the sites? • Did the different sites offer C.V writing guides, interview guides, search saves, uploading of your C.V. and did you have to pay to use any of these additional services? • Did you have to register to use the site?

20. Exercise 11 What next? • Write a generic C.V.? • Start looking at what types of jobs are currently on offer? • Do you meet the current labour market needs? • A complete change of career direction? • Sign up to relevant job search sites? • What courses you need to complete to update your skills?