Susan Bird, Careers Consultant, gives her suggestions of useful ways to pass some time.
We all know work experience plays a big part in making somebody a strong candidate for a job. But it’s not the only thing employers look for. All sorts of other experience and skills can improve your chances. Here are some that you can do from home when Covid-19 restrictions are in place……
1. Online courses
Employers will recognise the knowledge, skills and personal attributes you are developing by studying an online course. Think how they might link to the requirements of roles or sectors you are interested in or do it for interest or fun.
Just by learning, you are showing an employer you can be proactive, adapt, learn new things and show resilience in challenging times. Skills useful for the workplace might include:
· Coding/data science skills such as Python or R
· Digital Marketing (features in a LOT of current job ads)
· Foreign Language skills
Many of the above courses are free via, for example, the following platforms:
· edX
· Coursera
· Linkedin Learning (offers more than 3,000 courses in Python alone!
· Duolingo
2. Start your own blog/vlog/ or get to grips with all the new social media channels. WordPress or Blogger are two platforms that are easy to use. Your blog can be a general one or specific to a theme.
3. Use LinkedIn
Have a look at our advice on how you can use LinkedIn. It can be a great tool for students and graduates to research potential occupations, research potential employers and connect with alumni and employers to find out more, including how to develop and what to learn.
4.Try a business game
CIMA Grad Club (Chartered Institute of Management Accountants) has been designed to bring together job opportunities (internships, placements and graduate), and support in securing them (videos, blogs and webinars).
They have now added an online business game which enables you to develop your employability skills from home and be awarded a certificate upon successful completion to share on your online profiles and CVs.
5. Virtual taste of work experience
Inside Sherpa offer online work experience projects. Register your details including university and you can then choose which organisation work experience projects you want to do. There are 40+ experiences and the projects reflect what you may work on if you were on an insight day or short internship . The projects are hypothetical but based on real pieces of work . The majority of organisations are large, international corporates or law firms and give you a flavour of their work
6. Study skills
Brush up on your study skills with online resources from the University’s Institute of Academic Development.
7. Digital skills
Upskill your digital experience and confidence by using the digital toolkits developed by University of Edinburgh’s Information Services (IS). These are curated collections of videos, activities, and articles that you can read, watch, listen to and participate in. Whether you are starting from scratch or developing existing knowledge, you can pick and choose the resources most relevant to you.
These are just a few suggestions. If you’d like to discuss how you can use this time to develop your learning, book an appointment with a careers consultant or post a question on MyCareerHub
And find out more about how we can support you at this time, and what you can be doing, in our FAQs and updates.
(Image by jairojehuel from Pixabay)
(Image by jairojehuel from Pixabay)
