The Christmas holidays are an ideal time to take a look at your CV and make any relevant updates that will be applicable to an employer when applying for a job. If you don't have a CV or are not sure what would make a useful addition to it, then look at the experience you have gained in all areas of your university course and apply these, demonstrate the skills you have developed through any jobs or work experience, such as team work that an employer will be interested in.
The hardest part at this stage is to demonstrate to an employer why you are suited to a role without any experience in the field, so you need to show how your course and work experience can show knowledge of the subject and show with a bit of additional training you are the right candidate for the role.
If you take some time out to keep your CV fresh it will save precious time when everyone graduates and starts applying for similar job positions.
Work Experience
If you have not undertaken any work experience either through your course or during the holidays then it may now be worth researching and companies within your sector that might be looking to take on some students for work experience and even if they are not actively looking then a quick email and a few dates when you will be free for example half term or Easter holidays might prove a success too.
If you have had or do get work experience before you graduate and if you do a good job there are opportunities that companies will be willing providing you pass your degree to offer you a permanent paid position with them once you graduate taking the stress out of having to think where your course will get you in the job market.
This work experience can then be added to your CV to demonstrate some skills you may have learnt that other students have not got giving you the edge in an interview and the work experience will show a potential employer that you are serious about entering in to your chosen industry.
Graduate job boards
Make use of graduate job boards, which have thousands of regularly updated graduate jobs in all career areas. Use these as an idea to see what jobs are available to you, to find potential companies you might want to begin to approach for a job or work experience.
Job boards are also a great resource for advice on how best to layout your CV and for insights into specific roles that you might be applying for and the key skills that they require.
University careers centre
If you have not already make use of any careers departments that your university has these departments house all kinds of job opportunities sent from employers who want the freshest talent on offer or who may have used students from your university in the past.
Book a meeting with a careers advisor they are there to help with CV advise, job interview preparation & maybe able to put you in contact with companies wanting students for work experience.
These are free resources and offer a broad range of advice from professionals who have seen lots of students in similar situations to yours in the past.
Author Resource:
John McE writes articles for GRB (Graduate Recruitment Bureau) , a specialist recruitment agency offering graduate jobs over a range of sectors. GRB offer support with CV help , industry knowledge and graduate job advice .Distributed by http://www.ContentCrooner.com