Jobs
Thinking about heading into the world of work?
Either after school or uni, don't panic, we're here to help.
Either after school or uni, don't panic, we're here to help.
Scroll down to find out more...
Jobs: What's new
Push's blog gives you the best advice on the world of work. Check out the featured blog posts below which talk to you about great job opportunities, employment news and how to get the career you've been dreaming of.
push's 90 second guide:
selling yourself to employers
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Push guest speaker Ben - who took a different route to getting a degree (via his job) gives his top tips on how to sell yourself to employers in the right way - on a CV and in an interview.
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your skill sets
Everyone is made up of a different skill sets, and everyone wants different reward sets from a job. Relish the fact you're different; the world would be really boring if we all knew the exact same stuff and could do the exact same things. Employers don't want everyone to be the same.
Start with the mix of rewards you want, then explore the mix of things employers might expect you to know (knowledge) and do (job-specific/transferable skills). Once you work these out, it's a simple trade off.
To add value you need to become aware of the feelings a specific job role gives, or might give you. Then you can explore what’s on offer, so you can live your best life.
Employability is about understanding the 7 different ways you can add value to a company:
Think of them as 7 slices of a pizza: the more you build these slices each day via education, training and experience, the more rounded you become. And why is all this important? It’s the thing employers desire the most – employees who are rounded and eager to keep developing each day in the job.
Start with the mix of rewards you want, then explore the mix of things employers might expect you to know (knowledge) and do (job-specific/transferable skills). Once you work these out, it's a simple trade off.
To add value you need to become aware of the feelings a specific job role gives, or might give you. Then you can explore what’s on offer, so you can live your best life.
Employability is about understanding the 7 different ways you can add value to a company:
- Knowledge
- Job-specific skills
- Transferable skills
- Behaviour
- Attitude
- Personality
- Social capital (who you know and who knows you)
Think of them as 7 slices of a pizza: the more you build these slices each day via education, training and experience, the more rounded you become. And why is all this important? It’s the thing employers desire the most – employees who are rounded and eager to keep developing each day in the job.
So what does it all really mean?
We want to get you engaged with the idea of doing what you love and loving what you do, and not only get into a job, but how you keep a job and get on in it. Employability is fun as it is all about adding more value each day than you take away from an employer - and them giving them nice things in return. It is about finding a good 'match' in which you add value and then get rewarded wth things like money, helping people, expression of ideas, creativity, working with others, travel, recognition and respect (there are lots more things and everyone will want to different mix).
The Independent's student website has a handy section on with lots of articles on careers.
The Independent's student website has a handy section on with lots of articles on careers.
creating inclusive environments
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Push guest speaker Ben - who took a different route to getting a degree (via his job) gives his professional insight into how important creating inclusive environments is - in all walks of personal and professional life...
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Our ceo's thoughts
Our founder and Chief Executive Johnny Rich is a though-leader in the world of education and careers. All his ideas trickle down into what we tell students in our live sessions at schools, colleges and universities, and HEPI (the Higher Education Policy Institute) asked him to write a paper on employability.
It's called Employability: Degrees of Value, and in it Johnny calls for places that offer degrees to improve their employability resources and activities for students who will then graduate and go out into the world looking to connect the university experience to a fulfilling job.
University is never just about your course, it's about prepping yourself so that course takes you places, which is why the quality of a uni's employability activities should be hot on your radar when choosing a degree for yourself.
This is a fab in-depth look at what employability really is, so you know how to become desirable to employers whether you're thinking of starting uni, at uni, or out in the world of work.
It's quite long, but so are The Lord of the Rings and Titanic, and we'd watch them again in an instant. So grab yourself a cuppa and some Oreos and get cosy.
Done all that? Good stuff. You're ready to go. Click here to begin.
It's called Employability: Degrees of Value, and in it Johnny calls for places that offer degrees to improve their employability resources and activities for students who will then graduate and go out into the world looking to connect the university experience to a fulfilling job.
University is never just about your course, it's about prepping yourself so that course takes you places, which is why the quality of a uni's employability activities should be hot on your radar when choosing a degree for yourself.
This is a fab in-depth look at what employability really is, so you know how to become desirable to employers whether you're thinking of starting uni, at uni, or out in the world of work.
It's quite long, but so are The Lord of the Rings and Titanic, and we'd watch them again in an instant. So grab yourself a cuppa and some Oreos and get cosy.
Done all that? Good stuff. You're ready to go. Click here to begin.
'dream job' real life stories
'Careers Adviser' talks to three rising stars about how hungry they needed to be for that dream job
First published in Careers Adviser, an Independent Educational Publishing magazine.
First published in Careers Adviser, an Independent Educational Publishing magazine.
DISCOVERY CENTRE MANAGER AT THE SCOTTISH SEABIRD CENTRE: Paul nixon
Paul Nixon, 28, is the Discovery Centre manager at the Scottish Seabird Centre
"I'm originally from Cheshire and came to Scotland to do a degree in theatre and drama arts. While studying, I wanted a part-time job to supplement my beer money so I got a job at a local aquarium called Deep Sea World. At first, I was put in charge of things like kids' birthday parties and progressed to being in charge of workshops for school groups. That role evolved into education officer and then into education manager, which encompassed managing the areas of education and visitors' services.
I'd originally wanted to use my degree to take drama into the workplace. But as I was moving up through the ranks at Deep Sea World while still at university, it struck me what an exciting and fun industry this is and how quickly you can get promoted. It's a sector that really captured me and it increasingly became something I wanted to commit to.
I don't consider that my degree subject was wasted. I use my drama and presentation skills to train other people. Also, the discipline of having studied to that level is always useful in any managerial role.
I now work at the Scottish Seabird Centre, which is a visitor attraction, pulling in 200,000 people a year. The reason it was set up was to encourage remote wildlife watching, so we have live cameras out on the island that our visitors can control from the centre. That's my domain and my job is three-fold - making sure the equipment is working and is fully operational; making sure the images are being interpreted for our visitors, for which I use guides; and ensuring the equipment is the most up-to-date it can be in keeping with recent technology.
The kinds of people we attract vary according to the time of year, which makes it all the more interesting. In the winter, we have seals being born, so the cute factor tends to attract a younger audience. Families also visit in the Easter and summer holidays. During the term, we get more students who are studying things like animal behaviour, marine biology or zoology, as well as wildlife enthusiasts.
I think the greatest buzz about my job is the challenge of every day being new. I also enjoy training people to a standard where they can really capture visitors' attention. I get a real kick out of someone joining at 16 years' old and then seeing them do talks to 80 people in a lecture theatre by the time they're 18.
I like the fact that progression is so quick. I moved from being a presenter to education officer within the space of a year-and-a-half and then had the title of manager by the time I was 24 - all this while I was still at university.
There are pressures in this industry. Scotland has high aspirations for tourism, wanting to double its revenue by 2015. Then there's the day-to-day pressures of keeping up the number of visitors. But the upside is that it gives you an opportunity to think up innovative ideas, which means you need to be creative, and full of energy. You also need to be a good team player, with excellent interpersonal skills.
My tip would be to get customer-facing experience as early as possible. Even if you're studying, get a job in a shop, bar or supermarket. This work is all about working with people."
"I'm originally from Cheshire and came to Scotland to do a degree in theatre and drama arts. While studying, I wanted a part-time job to supplement my beer money so I got a job at a local aquarium called Deep Sea World. At first, I was put in charge of things like kids' birthday parties and progressed to being in charge of workshops for school groups. That role evolved into education officer and then into education manager, which encompassed managing the areas of education and visitors' services.
I'd originally wanted to use my degree to take drama into the workplace. But as I was moving up through the ranks at Deep Sea World while still at university, it struck me what an exciting and fun industry this is and how quickly you can get promoted. It's a sector that really captured me and it increasingly became something I wanted to commit to.
I don't consider that my degree subject was wasted. I use my drama and presentation skills to train other people. Also, the discipline of having studied to that level is always useful in any managerial role.
I now work at the Scottish Seabird Centre, which is a visitor attraction, pulling in 200,000 people a year. The reason it was set up was to encourage remote wildlife watching, so we have live cameras out on the island that our visitors can control from the centre. That's my domain and my job is three-fold - making sure the equipment is working and is fully operational; making sure the images are being interpreted for our visitors, for which I use guides; and ensuring the equipment is the most up-to-date it can be in keeping with recent technology.
The kinds of people we attract vary according to the time of year, which makes it all the more interesting. In the winter, we have seals being born, so the cute factor tends to attract a younger audience. Families also visit in the Easter and summer holidays. During the term, we get more students who are studying things like animal behaviour, marine biology or zoology, as well as wildlife enthusiasts.
I think the greatest buzz about my job is the challenge of every day being new. I also enjoy training people to a standard where they can really capture visitors' attention. I get a real kick out of someone joining at 16 years' old and then seeing them do talks to 80 people in a lecture theatre by the time they're 18.
I like the fact that progression is so quick. I moved from being a presenter to education officer within the space of a year-and-a-half and then had the title of manager by the time I was 24 - all this while I was still at university.
There are pressures in this industry. Scotland has high aspirations for tourism, wanting to double its revenue by 2015. Then there's the day-to-day pressures of keeping up the number of visitors. But the upside is that it gives you an opportunity to think up innovative ideas, which means you need to be creative, and full of energy. You also need to be a good team player, with excellent interpersonal skills.
My tip would be to get customer-facing experience as early as possible. Even if you're studying, get a job in a shop, bar or supermarket. This work is all about working with people."
PASTry sous chef at the royal lancaster hotel, london: laura jaramillo arango
Laura Jaramillo Arango, 26, is a pastry sous chef at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London
"Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to be a chef. I come from a family very focused around food. When I finished school, I went to Canada to do an intensive French cookery course, which lasted about 10 months, and then I came to do a superior course in London, where I was under the tutorage of the head pastry chef from Claridges. I got taken to several hotels around London as part of the course. For example, I spent 10 days at the Four Seasons in Canary Wharf. I graduated with a grand diploma in Cordon Bleu, with knowledge of pastry and cuisines, in July 2000 and that's when I felt ready to start looking for a job.
My first one was at a little pastry shop and from there, I moved to the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, which was my first big job. I've moved around quite a bit in the two-and-a-half years since I left there. I even worked doing freelance jobs in Mexico for a year.
When I came back, I decided I'd like to do a two-year foundation degree in hospitality management because the Cordon Bleu course hadn't really touched on management skills. I did that at the University of Westminster where I graduated last year. I enjoyed it because I really got a taster for the other side of the business - what goes on in purchasing, front-of-house management, banqueting and events management and admin.
At the moment, I'm a sous chef, which means I'm in charge of supervising the chef de partie, the demi chef and the commis chef. I'm also involved in developing new dishes for banqueting and conferences, which is a pretty big deal as this hotel has a very big conference facility. It involves coming up with desserts that are cost effective, that look good and that are easy to handle because of the big numbers involved. When the head chef is away, I run everything to do with pastry - from ordering to doing the time sheets and from granting holidays to transferring the function sheets into work.
You have to enjoy a challenge to do what I do. You come out of Cordon Bleu specialising in making beautiful desserts for two, then suddenly you have to make them for thousands of people. It's exhausting work and you're on your toes all the time, but for me that's the thrill. It's hard to be 100 per cent creative because you have to be cost effective and come up with ideas that aren't too complicated because of the numbers. But in a way, that is being creative, because you're having to think intelligently about solutions all the time. You also need to be very organised and a great communicator, as well as calm under very stressful circumstances.
I'm the only woman in a supervising role here and I like that. I also enjoy the teaching side of my work - showing people the skills that I've learned.
My advice is to only go into this kind of work if you feel passionately about it. If you don't love it, you won't last. This industry is surrounded by people who think you can just jump into a kitchen and learn how to cook, but it takes a lot of commitment to make it."
"Ever since I was a little girl, I've wanted to be a chef. I come from a family very focused around food. When I finished school, I went to Canada to do an intensive French cookery course, which lasted about 10 months, and then I came to do a superior course in London, where I was under the tutorage of the head pastry chef from Claridges. I got taken to several hotels around London as part of the course. For example, I spent 10 days at the Four Seasons in Canary Wharf. I graduated with a grand diploma in Cordon Bleu, with knowledge of pastry and cuisines, in July 2000 and that's when I felt ready to start looking for a job.
My first one was at a little pastry shop and from there, I moved to the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, which was my first big job. I've moved around quite a bit in the two-and-a-half years since I left there. I even worked doing freelance jobs in Mexico for a year.
When I came back, I decided I'd like to do a two-year foundation degree in hospitality management because the Cordon Bleu course hadn't really touched on management skills. I did that at the University of Westminster where I graduated last year. I enjoyed it because I really got a taster for the other side of the business - what goes on in purchasing, front-of-house management, banqueting and events management and admin.
At the moment, I'm a sous chef, which means I'm in charge of supervising the chef de partie, the demi chef and the commis chef. I'm also involved in developing new dishes for banqueting and conferences, which is a pretty big deal as this hotel has a very big conference facility. It involves coming up with desserts that are cost effective, that look good and that are easy to handle because of the big numbers involved. When the head chef is away, I run everything to do with pastry - from ordering to doing the time sheets and from granting holidays to transferring the function sheets into work.
You have to enjoy a challenge to do what I do. You come out of Cordon Bleu specialising in making beautiful desserts for two, then suddenly you have to make them for thousands of people. It's exhausting work and you're on your toes all the time, but for me that's the thrill. It's hard to be 100 per cent creative because you have to be cost effective and come up with ideas that aren't too complicated because of the numbers. But in a way, that is being creative, because you're having to think intelligently about solutions all the time. You also need to be very organised and a great communicator, as well as calm under very stressful circumstances.
I'm the only woman in a supervising role here and I like that. I also enjoy the teaching side of my work - showing people the skills that I've learned.
My advice is to only go into this kind of work if you feel passionately about it. If you don't love it, you won't last. This industry is surrounded by people who think you can just jump into a kitchen and learn how to cook, but it takes a lot of commitment to make it."
EVENts manager at morgans hotel, swansea: emma sturgess
Emma Sturgess, 26, is events manager at Morgans Hotel in Swansea, Wales
"My job involves taking all the enquiries about events at the hotel - whether for conferences, banqueting, weddings or large bookings. I'm involved in everything from setting up accounts for people right down to the final detail, such as menu and florist choices for a bride and groom.
I think it's the best job in the world. I really love seeing people happy with their event and knowing my contribution has helped make it enjoyable. What could be a greater reward than a bride and groom saying you helped give them the best day of their lives? With events like weddings, which some people take up to three years to plan, you end up making friends with the couple. To see their big day arrive and everything come off perfectly is incredibly satisfying.
We are a small boutique hotel, so we don't do massive conferences, and I like the intimacy of that. Examples of the smaller business events we run are hiring out rooms for interviews to arranging meetings for company representatives.
I was about 15 when I first became attracted to this sector, thanks to the careers advisers at our school. I knew I didn't want a job where I was stuck behind a desk all day. Instead, I wanted a role where I got out and met a variety of people. I also liked the idea of a job where no two days are the same. One of the careers advisers suggested leisure management and it was quite an eye-opener because I didn't realise such a job existed. I think at that age, you don't realise how many roles there are out there. So I looked into it and my research introduced me to the hospitality industry, which I soon realised was a rapidly growing, very exciting sector that I wanted to be part of.
It was for this reason that I did a degree in tourism and management. When I'd graduated, I was flicking through the paper for jobs when I saw that Morgans would be the first five star hotel to open in Swansea and I thought, "That's the place for me". I actually decided to apply for a job as a waitress and work my way up because, while I had the theory side behind me, I didn't have much experience besides a work placement at Alton Towers.
I was a waitress for just over a year, until I was promoted to restaurant supervisor. Then the position of events manager came up and because I knew a great deal about the hotel, I applied and got it. I've been doing it for two years.
It's hard to think of any downsides, besides long hours and the fact that the pay isn't great initially. But if you enjoy your job, you don't mind working and you're enthusiastic, employers do notice and give you the chance to develop.
You need to be personable, organised, self-motivated and up for a challenge. If you have all those things, I'd highly recommend it."
"My job involves taking all the enquiries about events at the hotel - whether for conferences, banqueting, weddings or large bookings. I'm involved in everything from setting up accounts for people right down to the final detail, such as menu and florist choices for a bride and groom.
I think it's the best job in the world. I really love seeing people happy with their event and knowing my contribution has helped make it enjoyable. What could be a greater reward than a bride and groom saying you helped give them the best day of their lives? With events like weddings, which some people take up to three years to plan, you end up making friends with the couple. To see their big day arrive and everything come off perfectly is incredibly satisfying.
We are a small boutique hotel, so we don't do massive conferences, and I like the intimacy of that. Examples of the smaller business events we run are hiring out rooms for interviews to arranging meetings for company representatives.
I was about 15 when I first became attracted to this sector, thanks to the careers advisers at our school. I knew I didn't want a job where I was stuck behind a desk all day. Instead, I wanted a role where I got out and met a variety of people. I also liked the idea of a job where no two days are the same. One of the careers advisers suggested leisure management and it was quite an eye-opener because I didn't realise such a job existed. I think at that age, you don't realise how many roles there are out there. So I looked into it and my research introduced me to the hospitality industry, which I soon realised was a rapidly growing, very exciting sector that I wanted to be part of.
It was for this reason that I did a degree in tourism and management. When I'd graduated, I was flicking through the paper for jobs when I saw that Morgans would be the first five star hotel to open in Swansea and I thought, "That's the place for me". I actually decided to apply for a job as a waitress and work my way up because, while I had the theory side behind me, I didn't have much experience besides a work placement at Alton Towers.
I was a waitress for just over a year, until I was promoted to restaurant supervisor. Then the position of events manager came up and because I knew a great deal about the hotel, I applied and got it. I've been doing it for two years.
It's hard to think of any downsides, besides long hours and the fact that the pay isn't great initially. But if you enjoy your job, you don't mind working and you're enthusiastic, employers do notice and give you the chance to develop.
You need to be personable, organised, self-motivated and up for a challenge. If you have all those things, I'd highly recommend it."
WONKHE ARTICLE BY JOHNNY RICH, PUSH CEO
Our CEO and founder Johnny Rich has also written the following blog for WONKHE that might be of interest.
Why TED must measure employability not employment
Why TED must measure employability not employment
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