Sunday, 17 February 2013
10 Career Tips
10 Must-Know Career Tips
VISUALIZE YOUR GOALS
Know what you want and set goals. Long
term planning helps you keep on track with career objectives.
FIND A MENTOR
Experienced co-workers have a wealth
of knowledge to share that you won’t find online or in a textbook.
NEVER STOP LEARNING
Attend seminars and workshops to help
improve your skills. What about courses and furthering studies? Most companies
welcome this and will sometimes even help pay if it’s relevant to your field.
DON’T SKIP AFTER-HOURS
HOMEWORK
Keeping up to date with industry news
and developments shows your enthusiasm for your career and gives you a
work-place advantage.
NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
Build good relationship with clients,
colleagues and mentors. Remember that trust and respect is earned - you have to
work hard to get it, but it’s always worth the effort.
KNOW YOUR WORTH
Having a sense of your skills and
value helps you justify a raise when the time comes. Keep in mind that you
can’t just demand a raise, you need to earn it. Whatever increase you ask for
needs to be in line with what you were recruited to do. You aren’t entitled to
a raise - you need to earn it.
AVOID LOOKING LIKE A
JOB-HOPPER
Holding a job for at least a year (18
months is ideal) makes for a better track record and will give you enough time
to get decent experience out of the time you’ve invested.
LEAD A BALANCED LIFE
Devoting enough time to family,
hobbies and fitness is good for mind and body and healthy employees are more
valuable to companies.
PRACTICE INFLUENCE
Effective influencers have good
rapport with others and build ever stronger interpersonal relationships.
ALWAYS DO THE BEST
Get the most from your current job by
being a valuable, positive employee and making sure the job gets done.
VISUALIZE YOUR GOALS
Know what you want and set goals. Long
term planning helps you keep on track with career objectives.
FIND A MENTOR
Experienced co-workers have a wealth
of knowledge to share that you won’t find online or in a textbook.
NEVER STOP LEARNING
Attend seminars and workshops to help
improve your skills. What about courses and furthering studies? Most companies
welcome this and will sometimes even help pay if it’s relevant to your field.
DON’T SKIP AFTER-HOURS
HOMEWORK
Keeping up to date with industry news
and developments shows your enthusiasm for your career and gives you a
work-place advantage.
NETWORK, NETWORK, NETWORK
Build good relationship with clients,
colleagues and mentors. Remember that trust and respect is earned - you have to
work hard to get it, but it’s always worth the effort.
KNOW YOUR WORTH
Having a sense of your skills and
value helps you justify a raise when the time comes. Keep in mind that you
can’t just demand a raise, you need to earn it. Whatever increase you ask for
needs to be in line with what you were recruited to do. You aren’t entitled to
a raise - you need to earn it.
AVOID LOOKING LIKE A
JOB-HOPPER
Holding a job for at least a year (18
months is ideal) makes for a better track record and will give you enough time
to get decent experience out of the time you’ve invested.
LEAD A BALANCED LIFE
Devoting enough time to family,
hobbies and fitness is good for mind and body and healthy employees are more
valuable to companies.
PRACTICE INFLUENCE
Effective influencers have good
rapport with others and build ever stronger interpersonal relationships.
ALWAYS DO THE BEST
Get the most from your current job by
being a valuable, positive employee and making sure the job gets done.
Sunday, 10 February 2013
Do You Know Your Study Options?
Matrics have to make numerous stressful decisions during their last year
at school, and they are often neither equipped nor able to access concise and
accurate information which will have an extended impact on their lives. Dr
Felicity Coughlan discusses the options available to potential first year
students.
One of these decisions – whether to study at a college, university or
private higher-education institution – can be particularly baffling. Especially
when students continue to be confronted by myths that certain kinds of
institutions are inherently “better” or guarantees employment upon completion
of studies.
Dr Felicity Coughlan, Director of the Independent Institute of
Education, says choosing where to study is a personal decision that must be taken
with care, as the various institutions are not interchangeable and one size
does not fit all. When you are making a decision about what to study and where,
it is important to note that there is a wide range of different opportunities
and that the decision is ultimately a personal one.
“You need to consider what you need, what you can afford and what you
would prefer to get from a learning space, and then choose your institution accordingly.
“Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande recently encouraged
matriculants to not only think of universities when looking at furthering their
studies, but to consider all the different opportunities available to them,
within the post-school education and training system.
“Our youth must start realising that our post-school education and
training system offers far more options than just what our universities have
traditionally offered,” he told the class of 2011.
Dr Coughlan welcomed the increased focus on options outside the
traditional offering. However she reiterated the minister’s words of caution
that students must ensure they are signing up to a reputable institution –
whether public or private - that meets their specific needs, to avoid losing
precious time and money.
“Always ensure that the institution is registered with the Department of
Higher Education and Training, but also speak to students and investigate the
reputation of an institution before committing money and time,” she says.
Faced with the baffling choice of post-matric institutions available,
Coughlan says the following needs to be understood:
1) There are two key institutional types available to prospective
students:
a) Public institutions (subsidised
by the state)
b) Private institutions (no state subsidy)
b) Private institutions (no state subsidy)
2) Both the public and private sectors also host two different kinds of
institutions:
a) Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges
• Qualifications are linked to a specific range of jobs or employment possibilities, for instance from beauty therapy through plumbing to IT and business studies
• Currently qualifications normally go no higher than NQF level 4, and are not part of an academic route leading to higher education
• Qualifications are linked to a specific range of jobs or employment possibilities, for instance from beauty therapy through plumbing to IT and business studies
• Currently qualifications normally go no higher than NQF level 4, and are not part of an academic route leading to higher education
b) Higher education institutions
• Qualifications such as degrees, certificates and diplomas from NQF 5 to 10
• Only public institutions are allowed call themselves universities in South Africa - Private higher education institutions can offer the exact same range of qualifications up to doctoral degree level, but may not use the term “university”
• Private and public higher education institutions are subject to the same regulation and quality assurance
• Qualifications such as degrees, certificates and diplomas from NQF 5 to 10
• Only public institutions are allowed call themselves universities in South Africa - Private higher education institutions can offer the exact same range of qualifications up to doctoral degree level, but may not use the term “university”
• Private and public higher education institutions are subject to the same regulation and quality assurance
“Each institution – whether public or private, FET College or higher
education institution – has a character and focus of its own,” says Coughlan.
“Several are generalist and you can follow a range of study options,
while others are very niche and focused and offer a limited range of specialist
qualifications. Prospective students, once they have decided what they want to
study, must look at which institution best caters to their chosen field of
interest, she says.
“Facilities differ based on a range of factors – there are less likely
to be science laboratories in a business school and many private institutions
are not able to afford large sport fields so work with sports clubs to offer
students a work–social balance,” she says.
“Class sizes vary too from institution to institution and while classes
in private institutions are normally smaller, this is not always the case.
“It is thus imperative that when you are making a decision about what to
study and where, that you recognise that there is a matrix of opportunity
available to you. The decision is ultimately a personal one, based on what you
need, what you can afford and what you would prefer to get from a learning space.
”These are the considerations that should guide your decision on where
to study – not myths and preconceived positions from people who have not fully
explored the range of options and are advocating only what is already known to
them.”
Follow the link for charts that may assist you:
Sunday, 3 February 2013
Searching For Jobs Online Can Be Difficult...
The whole concept of job searching
has metamorphosed in the era the Internet. Today it is a common practice to
search for jobs online.
Simply searching for jobs online
may not necessarily advance your chances in the job market. According to The
Wall Street Journal, it may be beneficial to stay up to date on the latest
search tools and tactics.
By taking the time and effort to
learn how to search for jobs effectively, you will be automatically boosting
your chances of getting interviews. It is important to 'find a hook'.
What does this mean? When an ad is
listed online, take the time to research the person’s background. You may be
surprised to know that you went to the same school or know the same people.
By finding a connection, you find
‘a hook’. Alternatively, you can research the individuals work and see if he/she
is mentioned in any articles online. This is an effective way to reach out on a
more personal level.
If the recruiters name is
mentioned in a job ad, you could always proceed to make use of LinkedIn in
order to see if you have connections in common. You may not always be
successful in your endeavours; however it may be worth the effort to simply do
an online check.
By searching your niche online,
you will be saving a ton of energy. Instead of focusing on many job sites,
rather try to find job sites and recruiter websites, which focus on your
industry. This will not only save you time but it will also help you narrow it
down to your specific skill.
It may be useful to post your
resume on websites. This can be done by simply uploading your resume to different
websites. These databases are usually a first step for managers and recruiters
who want to hire new employees.
If you are currently employed, it
may be best to check for an option where you can post your resume anonymously,
according to The Wall Street Journal.
Signing up for job alerts and RSS
feeds is a good way to receive emails alerting you to new postings which meet
your criteria. On many job sites you are able to sign up for emails alerting
you to new postings that meet you requirements. Many allow you to choose their
frequency such as daily or weekly.
Make use of filters for your job
searches. Many websites offer a filtering tool, where you are able to refine
your search results. By making use of filters it will save you time from
constantly having to select search categories over and over again, according to
The Wall Street Journal.
By Lauren Gerber
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