Claire Pech – Careers Advisor

What do employers want? 

Over the last 10 years, since I have been checking out the top ten, the top five and the top one trait that employers want, the themes are generally the same.

Employers want employees that can:

• Communicate
• Deal with people
• Show some emotional intelligence (i.e. read a room)
• Work well in groups, teams, and manage themselves.

Please note that grades fall at the bottom of the list!

This doesn’t mean employers don’t value intelligence. They do. But measured in a different way which may present as creativity, innovation, pushing new boundaries. As opposed to top marks in the class, in an exam, in a test.

I am also often asked, “which degree can guarantee me a job?”. There is no one-size-fits-all answer. The reality is that no degree can guarantee you a job. You could be the world’s biggest genius, but if you can’t interview well or present in a way that the company feels fits well, you may not get that job. A degree doesn’t get a job. A person gets a job. And, as we know, people are complex and made up of many factors. From a resume point of view, that includes, education, experiences, a skillset and often what cannot be viewed on paper – an attitude and work ethic. Working on all of these areas are important.

I often encourage students to get involved in lots of areas in and out of school. This really helps people and communication skills and provides opportunities and experiences to learn and grow. In short, it makes students more well-rounded people. This is one of the reasons that the Australian National University now make sure that all applicants can satisfy their extra-curricular component. This ensures that their students have been  involved in life beyond school work.

This was a slide shown at UNSW a few weeks ago, taken from graduate data from Alumni leaving in 2021:

Events, links and dates

• If anyone is keen on hearing from an Electrical Engineer to tell us about their career, please come to room B30 next Tuesday 21 March at 1:20pm.
• Here are some great short courses in micro-credentials at TAFE. One of the big benefits of trying and trialling some of these short courses are:
  • You can try before you buy and see do you like the content
  • Many of these courses can be free
  • You can get a feel for the industry
  • You can meet some people that have a greater skillset to you.

Webinars

Sydney University

• Life of a Health Scientist, Wednesday 22 March 2023, 4.00 pm – 4:30 pm
• How a history degree prepares you to work with Big Data, Wednesday 22 March 2023, 5.00 pm – 5:30 pm
• Bachelor of Advanced Computing, Wednesday 29 March 2023, 4.00 pm – 4:30 pm
• Interaction Design at Sydney, Wednesday 29 March 2023, 5.00 pm – 5:30 pm
• Life of a Marine Scientist, Wednesday 5 April  2023, 4.00 pm – 4:30 pm
• Studying Chinese at Sydney: Options, Benefits and Opportunities , Wednesday 5 April 2023, 5.00 pm – 5:30 pm 

Teaching

Anyone interested in becoming a teacher after they leave school has a great opportunity to join the JET program (Jewish Educators of Tomorrow). Sydney University and the Jewish Day schools in Sydney are partnering to showcase teaching as a career and looking particularly at Jewish education. 

If anyone is interested from Years 11 and 12, please be in touch as a Zoom outlining the program is taking place on Tuesday 28 March 2023 at 6.00 pm.

ATAR

This short but informative video is a must for anyone who gets confused with the differences between the HSC and the ATAR.

Western Sydney University

All Western Sydney University information sessions for April can be found here.

© Source www.jobjump.com.au March 2023