1st year YIB guidance

“Psychometric tests were an essential for all my
placement applications, in fact they are the key for getting through the
recruitment process of most placements whether you do it online or once you are
invited for an interview. I highly recommend to get your head around these as
early as possible, how they work and what to expect from them as different
companies will have different types of tests”

Alvaro shares other tips with 1^st year YIBs in
this video profile: http://yibprofile.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/alvaro-ascot-wealth.html

And other Year in Business students talk about their placements here: http://yibprofile.blogspot.co.uk/

This year the School of Management Placement team has brought forward some of the workshops run for 1^st
year YIBs to better prepare students for making applications in their 2^nd
year. Rae Roberts from Careers has just run a workshop on CV/
Applications and Kinga Zaczek from CEDAS has run one on Psychometric
testing.

Rae Roberts ran a CV preparation workshop which got the
students thinking about what employers are looking for in terms of applicants:
namely Fit, Motivation and Ability.

Rae highlighted how YIBs should study placement
advertisements to identify the employer requirements and then ensure they
clearly convey their relevant skills/ experiences, backed up by evidence.

Companies are often looking for a range of competencies
which can include:

Communication, Leadership, Initiative, Team building;
Priority setting, Problem solving skills.

Students can demonstrate their skills and experiences from a
range of examples based on Education ;
Extracurricular activities/ sports within and outside College; Voluntary work
and Work experience.

All work experience is valuable and students should not under
sell any role. Eg responsibilities of a shelf stacker at Tesco Slough could be
described as:

> stacking shelves, helping with customer queries,
unpacking deliveries OR as

>  being responsible for ensuring the fruit &
vegetable section of this busy store was well stocked and within date, which
involved working to tight timescales ; maintaining 100% accuracy on stock
checks for food on display being within date; providing polite and friendly
customer service to shoppers who were looking for items on the shop floor;
maintaining accurate records when checking in up to 6 new stock deliveries per
shift.

Students were surprised at the speed at which recruiters typically make their initial check of CVs.
Rae
referenced this to demonstrate the importance of of ensuring key,
relevant skills were highlighted clearly. Students should use clear
formatting using bullets, clear headings, clear font (eg Arial);
11pt font minimum; spell checked and 2 sides length.

Rae is available for 1:1 consultations with YIB students to
assist them as they pull together their CVs.

More information on CVs on Moodle employability page:https://moodle.royalholloway.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3259§ion=8

More information on value of work experience:http://yearinbusiness.blogspot.co.uk/2016/04/work-experience.html

Example of involvement in an extra curricular activity: Enactus
society http://yearinbusiness.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/the-enactus-conference-benefits-of.html