Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
CV Service, Help with interviews |
| Disadvantages: |
It takes time and effort to find good information . You need to identify what's useful to your interview and it's VERY boring wading through all the different material available ! ! |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
Never underestimate your university career office. Last year, when I was in my final year at university (at UMIST), I spent a short period of timeliving in there because I had a job interview at PricewaterhouseCoopers. I never realised the vast amount of services these places offer, nor did I realise the vast amount of information they hold on each company.
~~~~MOCK INTERVIEWS~~~~
For instance do you know, on request, the
career office will give you a mock interview for the role you are applying for? This interview is actually recorded on video and after the interview, the staff will make you watch the video (cringe) and go through all the positive aspects and, more importantly, all the negative aspects of your interview which range from not answering a given question fully to constantly playing with your hair. Watching the video actually gives you, the interviewee, the chance to see the interview from the interviewers point of view (if that makes sense) and allows you to constructively then be aware of the bad habits you never realised you had such as nail biting, hair playing, thumb twidling; all very unprofessional and unattractive in an interview.
~~~~CV~~~~
Other services include a CV service. The staff sit down and go through your CV with you, they'll point out flaws and help you tailor your CV to the job interview you're going to. Tailoring your CV is very important. When I was at uni there was plenty of us (me included) that thought one CV would suffice for all job applications. I realised since that each CV should be TAILORED to each job. E.g. If you are going for an accountants job, try to emphasise on your CV (without lying ofcourse) how mathematically gifted you are, how you love accuracy, are efficient, and love all things to do with numbers.
If however you are going for a job with a gossip column in the local paper, emphaise how you are an excellent team player and a brilliant communicator who likes to keep up-to date with "current affairs".
~~~~TESTS~~~~
Also, alot of job interviews (especially IT jobs) have now introduced various tests to idebtify the skills that potential candidates posses. Typical tests include Aptitude tests, Abstract testz, Diagrammatic reasoning and Spatial reasoning. I have done all of these and the first time I saw them I thought I was going to faint. Believe me they are as sacry as they sound! Anyway, your career office has these. They have lots of sample papers with which you can practise. Some are free, some reference only and some you can purchase for a small price, but well worth it if you reeeally want that job!
~~~~COMPANY PORTFOLIO'S~~~~
There also exists individual files on every company under the sun! Each file contains a brief profile of the company, alot of advertisements, and other extracts such as clippings from newspapers and magazines. This is very useful to read as it will allow you to gain some last minute background knowledge to the company if you haven't done any research. If you're lucky you'll also find reviews done by students who have attended interviews. These reviews detail things such as the format of the interview, tests they took and even questins they got asked!! Very handy indeed!
I actually got rejected from PricewaterhouseCoopers but am now working for an IT company which I love. The career office definitely helped!
very helpful
very helpful
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helpful
