How to Stand Out as a New Graduate!

Recent statistics have shown that each entry level job vacancy advertised in Australia has an average of 20 university graduates competing for the position.  In fact, an article published by The Conversation stated that it takes the average Australian graduate approximately 4.7 years after leaving uni to find a full time job. With scary statistics like this, it’s best to start thinking about your future career options well ahead of your graduation date.  However, if you were having so much fun living up #studentlife that you forgot about the finding a job part at the end of the road, there are still practices you can put into place post-graduation to demonstrate to employers that you are a stand out candidate.

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Career Development Opportunities for Students and Grads

 By Alex Hargreaves

Career Development has been defined as a lifelong process of managing your learning, work, leisure and transitions in order to move toward a constantly evolving and improving future.  It basically means making a commitment to yourself to not let your graduation date be your end of learning date (even though it may be tempting to chuck in the towel and get complacent).

Career Development is learning new skills and ideas throughout every stage of your career and your life in general.  People who value Career Development tend to get promoted easier and have less trouble adapting to changes in the work place.  It’s not a bad habit to get into!

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Studying a Masters/Grad Cert/PhD – Is it worth it?

By Alex Hargreaves

Have you ever considered studying a postgraduate degree but have immediately come up with a million excuses not to pursue it?  Despite all of the many reservations you may have, studies have shown that graduates with post graduate qualification earn a median salary of $80,000.  This is above the national average of $78,832. Furthermore, postgraduate qualifications can help you to completely change career direction, advance your current career, learn new skills and be taken seriously in the work place.

There are many perks, but there are also considerable downsides.  Going back to university also means going back to late nights, weekends spent on Google Scholar and for those who will be studying full time, adopting a new diet consisting of noodles, energy drinks and the occasional McDonalds splurge.

postgraduate study

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Ten things to learn from your Christmas casual job

Ten things to learn from your Christmas casual job

By Alex Hargreaves 

With many stores currently recruiting for Christmas Casuals, it’s a good idea to stop and think about how seasonal holiday work can be a major boost for your career.  Although Christmas casual work can often entail standing on your feet for endless hours while customer after customer asks you the same question and beads of stress form on your brow at the thought of meeting your sales targets, joining the work force over the Christmas period can teach you many valuable things about yourself, and can help you prepare for your future career.

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Career satisfaction in 2017 – is finding and keeping your dream job achievable in today’s job hop culture?

By Alex Hargreaves

Today I met with Amy*, a 23 year old business student who has studied 2 years of a bachelor of human services, one year of a bachelor of information technology, completed a diploma in social media and is currently in her first semester of business. Amy works as an assistant in financial services and whilst she enjoys it, she isn’t sure if that is what she wants to spend the next 10 years of her life doing.

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Top 5 employment megatrends

Employment Mega Trends

By Alex Hargreaves

Employment mega trends – what are they and how do they apply to you? 

Megatrends can be defined as changes that effect societies, governments and economies permanently over a long period of time (CSIRO, 2016). VicHealth have commissioned CSIRO to carry out research for the purpose of identifying what opportunities and challenges may arise for young people’s future employment prospects.  Throughout the course of this research, CSIRO identified five megatrends which will all undoubtedly contribute to the well-being, emotional stability and employability of young people of the future.  As YOU are the young people of the future, it may be worth reading up on these 5 megatrends so that you may assess how they could apply to you.

Top 5 Employment Megatrends

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Three ways to think creatively about your career

3 ways to think creatively

In today’s competitive employment market, it’s no surprise that job seekers need to ramp up their efforts to stand out from the crowd. It can be tough to land that dream job and a seemingly endless stream of rejection emails can be discouraging (to say the least). Luckily, there is so much you can do to nail the job search and achieve those #2016careergoals!

This year why not change the way you approach your career? In the age of digital disruption, workplaces are increasingly decentralised – and competition is fiercer than ever. In our parent’s or grandparent’s day, a job search may have consisted of sending out a standard resume and cover letter, landing an entry level job and working your way up the corporate ladder. However, the rise of the freelancing economy and other innovations means our career is a lifelong investment that may consist of multiple job changes and unique pathways. It’s time to get creative when thinking about your career, starting with these three tips…

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#FutureofWork: 10 Things to Consider

future of work

By Sarah Binney

It probably won’t come as a surprise to hear the job landscape is significantly different from what it was ten – or even five – years ago. Rapid technological change, innovation, automation, generational shifts in the workforce and the economic downturn are just a few factors shaping the ‘new economy’ where new skills and digital literacy are overtaking traditional education and knowledge as employer ‘must haves’.

As a young professional looking to land my dream job, my entire job search strategy has been shaped by the implications of this new economy, where tech skills reign supreme and ‘Internet Explorer’ competencies matter as little as yesterday’s newspaper. This is further amplified by my impending move to the ‘concrete jungle where dreams are made’, a city of intense competitiveness with an uncanny knack for soul destroying rejection. I’m guessing Alicia Keys and Jay Z have never had to contemplate taking on a job that pays as little as $10 an hour just to meet the demands of astronomical rent prices and an overwhelming penchant for gourmet bagels.

Whether in New York or Brisbane, one thing remains the same. Traditional career paths have been irreversibly shaken up and all students and graduates must now consider how to sell themselves to potential employers through knowing their skills, establishing their personal brand and becoming a valuable commodity in an age of decentralised workplaces and digital disruption.

Here are the 10 things you should do now to prepare for the #futureofwork

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Five things you need to consider before taking on an internship (in Australia)

internships in Australia

This month at Careers, we’re focusing on internships and work experience. As an official partner of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games (GC2018), Griffith students will have the unique opportunity to be part of the lead-up and staging of the biggest sporting event in Australia this decade. The GC2018 Games Interns program will allow you to take part in special internships with GOLDOC, the Games organising body, and be part of the largest sporting event the Gold Coast has ever seen. For more information, please see bit.ly/GC2018interns. We are advertising a range of fantastic work experience opportunities on CareerBoard, including at Brisbane City Council through their Tertiary Work Experience program.

These work experience opportunities have been advertised by the Careers and Employment team, but what happens if you want to source your own internship? How do you know which ones are the right opportunity for you and how do you ensure you know your rights?

Here are the five things to consider when applying for unpaid work experience.

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International student workers deserve better than this.

This 7 Elevenweek’s exposure of the illegal work practices in Australian 7-Eleven stores struck a very raw nerve in me.  Having worked most of my career in the employment sector for tertiary students and graduates, I find this
exploitation of international students abhorrent.

Unfortunately the news of such mistreatment was not a total shock to me as over the years I’ve heard other stories from international students about low pay, no pay, long hours and other forms of workplace abuse at the hands of unscrupulous and manipulative ’employers’. Thankfully these stories have not been numerous but the fact that they occur at all is of grave concern.

A quick search on the billionaire owners of the 7-ELEVEN franchise in Australia informs us that they are on BRW’s top 200 rich list and reveals dozens of articles praising their business acumen and labelling them as ‘successful’.

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