Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

What’s next?

The Year 12 students are slowly going to finish tehir HSC examinations by mid next week, with many finishing by the end of this week. Firstly, a momentous congratulations for making it to the end of a delayed exam schedule and a hugely challenging year for you all. Well done!

I have had some really interesting conversations with the Class of 2021 and one positive to come from this is that this class will have a brilliant answer to the very common interview question:

“Describe a time you have overcome a challenge” This is a common behavioural style interview question and the answer can be framed using the following STAR technique.

The S.T.A.R. stands for

SITUATION: “I was in Year 12 during the long lockdown of 2021 in Sydney. Not only had we had an interrupted Year 11 with the emergence of COVID-19, but now in the most crucial, and stressful, of academic years, our school – and the whole of Sydney – shut down very quickly as the Delta COVID strain ripped through Sydney.” 

TASK: “We were told that Zoom lessons would take place for all of our lessons, but our Trial exams and the notion of the HSC became questionable. This meant that we were told to study, yet we did not know under what context or circumstances the exams would be held. It was clear our trials would not be possible and we saw a variation of three different exam periods of when they would be held. We also were not aware how we would graduate, have our final farewells or have any contact with our school before we finished up before exams.”

ACTION: “I had to maintain a very positive outlook and attitude towards the unknowing landscape. I had to remain diligent in my studies, even though I was not sure at what stage the exams would take place. I also had to collaborate with my peers and teachers via technology which did not suit my learning style, but I knew would keep me engaged. I also learnt some new software that really helped me stay organised and engaged in my learning, coupled with all of the usual Zoom and technology use that we were so reliant on. This was exacerbated by living in an LGA of concern, meaning I could only leave within a 5km radius of my house. I made sure to look after my wellbeing, keep as fit as I could, and retain some balance within my life through this uncertainty.”

RESULT – “I have now finished my HSC, and am able to look back and feel proud of my efforts in tough times. I feel I did the best I could at managing being stuck in my room for weeks on end, and tried to remain positive and to keep perspective on what was going on around me. My Careers Advisor always told me there would be multiple ways to get into my chosen career, and that has given me hope and made me determined to keep a healthy growth mindset for my career. I felt I built a lot of resilience during lockdown. Whilst difficult at the time, it has taught me some valuable lessons for life.”

I hope this helps a few of you out! Here are some more tips on interview techniques.

Notices

• Some useful articles to get ready for the Summer:
  • Is Your Resume Summer Ready?
  • 7 quick ways to wind down once school is over for 2021
• An interesting job spotlight for anyone keen to become a Personal Trainer here.

Virtual work experience

As offices are hardly populated at the moment, there has been an increase in the virtual work experience possibilities. The opportunity below looks particularly interesting as one can spend 25 hours during the holidays working on some fascinating projects. Firetech is offering work experience in video game design and creative design. The requirements are:

• Participants must be aged between 15 and 19 years old.
• The programme is run online with live meetings, so a good Internet connection and laptop with webcam is required.
• This is not a beginners course and basic level understanding of the topics is required.
• For the Video Game Design programme, they expect the student to have experience of video game design principles, ideally through Construct 3.
• For the Creative Design programme, they expect the student to have experience of design and design tools, ideally with Adobe Photoshop and the Adobe Creative Suite 

Please come and chat to me for more information.