Have you seen Careers Service Plus yet? It’s well worth a look… it features exclusive premium content for University of Edinburgh students and graduates.
There are so many reasons to explore Careers Service Plus but we’ve narrowed them down to our top five:
1. Identify what is important to you
Career planning is about choosing your next step, not your entire career. Careers Service Plus has 14 self-awareness assessments to help you discover what you want from your next step.
Liam, 2020 graduate, MSc Film Studies, highlights the benefits:
“The career assessment tab on Careers Service Plus is a great tool for really getting to know yourself. It helps you get to grips with exactly how you function; be that in preparation for a job hunt or just looking for some introspection about where your strengths and areas for improvement lie. They are so useful for igniting thoughts about where your career goals might take you, and the easy-to-use interface allows you to track your progress through the assortment of assessments.”
2. Get your CV off to a good start
Once you’ve had a look at the CV advice on our website, you can upload your CV to CV360 to get automatic feedback – you can do this as often as you like! With the basics of your CV in place, you will be able to make the most of a CV feedback appointment with one of our Careers Consultants.
Phoebe, 4th year Mathematical Physics student, shares her view:
“I found Careers Service Plus a fantastic way to help start thinking about important skills and refine my applications. I’d especially recommend CV360, as it only takes a minute to run and can help you polish your CV by picking up on errors that might be tripping you up.”
3. Practise aptitude tests
Aptitude tests are often linked to assessment centres and evaluate abilities, skillset and reasoning. Even if you don’t have an aptitude test scheduled with an employer, it’s a good idea to try the range of aptitude practise tests to experience what it feels like to be timed and perform under pressure, without having that actual pressure. Besides verbal, numerical and inductive tests (three of each) you’ll also find a situational judgement, critical thinking test and an e-tray exercise. Do these tests several times and track your progress.
Xinchi, PhD Chemistry student, echoes this:
“The aptitude tests helped me to understand what to expect. The solutions and explanations are simple to understand and I feel more confident that I have the skills to succeed.”
4. Approach an interview with confidence
Remember, an invitation to attend an interview is an achievement in itself and employers are not expecting perfection. Check out our information on the common types and formats of interview. Regardless of the interview format, preparation is key. Use Interview360 to help you shine. A huge advantage is the option to record and play back how you appear on camera. This will help you hone your interview performance by checking out your eye contact, body language and tone of voice.
Cait, 2020 graduate, Social Policy and Sociology, tells us why she recommends Interview360:
“I think Interview360 is particularly useful as it provides you with loads of commonly asked interview questions and key points to consider in your answer. You can even create a mock interview based on your CV content. That’s quite cool!”
5. Explore the world of work
Whether you’re applying for a job, looking for industry insights or developing workplace skills, you can browse the extensive library of films and articles; what’s more, new resources are added on a regular basis.
Khalis, 3rd year Chemical Engineering student, says:
“I really appreciate the expansive and great resource that is Careers Service Plus. It will definitely help guide my career in the future.”
