Fake it ’til you make it: Confidence & the Charisma Myth

Consumer Confidence! by Chris & Karen Highland

Do nerves get the better of you in interviews?

Does the thought of networking or giving a presentation fill you with dread?

These are essential elements of job search and selection processes but are things which many of us find terrifying at worst, or simply uncomfortable at best. Confidence – or at least being able to fake it ‘til you make it – will help you excel in these.  In this post I share tips for improving your confidence, through the lens of behaviour expert and author Olivia Fox Cabane’s work on charisma.

As a Careers Consultant, confidence – or lack of it – is one of the things I most often see holding people back.  Whether this be a general lack of self-confidence, or more specific issues around situations like interviews and presentations; how we feel, think about and talk to ourselves are, in my opinion, the biggest influences on confidence.

Use the rule of 3 to give your career an Olympic boost

Adapted from citius altius fortius. empathy2016. lviv. by Yaroslav F.

As something that I usually mention in interview preparation with students and graduates, I’ve been thinking about writing a post on the rule of 3 for a while. Being reminded of the Olympic motto, with its focus on aiming high and continuous improvement, this weekend prompted me to get it written.

The Olympic motto; “Citius, Altius, Fortius”, meaning “Faster, Higher, Stronger”, is one example of the rule of 3. Think how often popular phrases, soundbites from famous speeches or advertising slogans are comprised of 3 words or parts.

You can find examples in pretty much any area of life,

3 ways LinkedIn can help you find potential employers: Part 3

This is the final post in our 3-part mini series outlining 3 key ways LinkedIn can help you find potential employers, whether this be for jobs, experience or placements.

You may already have a dream employer in mind, but are struggling to identify similar organisations to broaden your options.  This can be particularly difficult if your interests are quite niche. This post shows how you can use two features of LinkedIn to do this.

Part 1 of the series outlines how the advanced people search function can help you identify potential employers.

Part 2 of the series outlines how you can use the company search feature to identify employers by location and sector.

Whether you’re looking for experience, placements or a graduate job, it can sometimes be hard to identify potential relevant employers.  This is particularly so if you’re looking outside of the large multi-national organisations. Opportunities with other types of employers, or in other sectors, may not be as widely advertised, and many people actually find jobs and experience by pro-actively approaching employers of interest on a speculative basis.

3 ways LinkedIn can help you find relevant employers: Part 2

This is the 2nd post in our 3-part mini series outlining 3 key ways LinkedIn can help you find potential employers, whether this be for jobs, experience or placements.

This post outlines how you can use the company search feature to identify employers by location and sector. Part 1 of the series outlines how the advanced people search function can help you identify potential employers.

Whether you’re looking for experience, placements or a graduate job, it can sometimes be hard to identify potential relevant employers.  This is particularly so if you’re looking outside of the large multi-national organisations. Opportunities with other types of employers, or in other sectors, may not be as widely advertised, and many people actually find jobs and experience by pro-actively approaching employers of interest on a speculative basis. In this 3-part mini series, we’ll show you 3 easy ways you can leverage LinkedIn to identify potential employers of interest.

You may be interested in a particular sector/s and location/s.  This is a great, and useful, starting point to begin researching potential employers.  LinkedIn is one of many ways you can start to do this.

3 ways LinkedIn can help you find relevant employers: Part 1

Whether you’re looking for experience, placements or a graduate job, it can sometimes be hard to identify potential relevant employers.  This is particularly so if you’re looking outside of the large multi-national organisations. Opportunities with other types of employers, or in other sectors, may not be as widely advertised, and many people actually find jobs and experience by pro-actively approaching employers of interest on a speculative basis. In this 3-part mini series, we’ll show you 3 easy ways you can leverage LinkedIn to identify potential employers of interest.

You can view part 2 here and Part 3 here.

In this first post, I’m going to outline how the ‘Advanced people search’ function of LinkedIn can help you to identify potential employers. This is particularly useful if you have an idea of the type of role in which you’re interested.  If you have a sector of interest, but aren’t sure on what types of job there are, you can also use the advanced search function of LinkedIn to help.  See our short video tutorial for how to do this.

Getting Into… Online Marketing

In this guest post Florence, a recent graduate and intern on the Wayfair marketing team, gives an overview of what online marketing entails, what the key roles are, and how students and graduates from any discipline can pursue a career in this area.

Wayfair is an online retailer of homeware. It’s currently the number one online home retailer in the USA and is rapidly expanding into Europe. All of Wayfair’s business happens online—there is no shop—which means that the digital image of the company and its online activity is paramount to its success. Here’s a little more about what working in online marketing is like.

What is online marketing?

Online marketing refers to how businesses market, promote and advertise themselves on the internet. From the content on their own website, to advertisements featured on Google and the emails that they send to their customers, online marketers use a mixture of analysis of consumer behaviour and creative content ideas to captivate customers and make their business successful.

How to create your own opportunities post-graduation

Luftphilla – The Graduates

Karl Bilby from Pandle tell us how to take control of your career once you’ve graduated and shares some top tips for success!

When you’ve completed your studies at university, got a good degree in the bag and you’re ready to take on the big wide world, there is one thing that holds the key to your success and that is proactivity. There is only one person on the planet who can build your professional profile, expand your experience and make connections with all the right people and that’s you. So we’ve put together some expert advice on how you can maximise your opportunities post-graduation and pre-employment.

How I got my job as a social media intern

 

Here, Leeds Psychology student Zoe Thatcher tells us all about how she landed an internship as a social media intern.

After realising that my CV was a little dull (pretty much consisting of waitressing jobs and a few fluffed-up school events roles) I decided I needed to land an internship; something to add a little sparkle to my CV and to give me some insight into what I actually want to do (because running around chasing steak orders all my life isn’t quite what I had planned…). I left this idea in the back of my mind while I went on holiday to Barcelona

Get inspired: Student Engagement Showcase 2015

Daniel Davis is a 3^rd Year Neuroscience BSc student and is doing an internship as Student Engagement Event Coordinator. In this post he outlines the fantastic Student Engagement Showcase event, taking place this Wednesday, 25th November, which is open to all students and staff at the University of Leeds.

When I started university, the most common phrase I heard was ‘Make the most of it, it goes so quickly’ and it is 100% true. Now in my final year Neuroscience BSc, it seems like yesterday that I first moved into halls of residence yet now I am preparing my final year dissertation! It goes so quickly you have to grab every opportunity possible, and the University of Leeds offers an extraordinary amount of opportunities for both inside and out of your degree.

My latest project is an internship within the University as one of the Event Coordinators for the Student Engagement Showcase. This one-afternoon extravaganza celebrates the immense diversity of opportunities available for students; from internships to volunteering, research, societies and course reps to Leeds for Life. All are amazing ways for students to get involved in the running of the University and gain some invaluable experience for the future.

5 mistakes to avoid in your placement search

Saad Ali is a final year student doing an integrated masters (MEng) in Mechanical Engineering. He is also currently working part-time at Slipstream Engineering Design and has completed a number of placements throughout his time at Leeds. In this article, he shares his experience of applying to placements and advice on how to make the best of your time at university.

1. Not spending enough time on applications

After sending numerous applications without any success, one day sat in a career’s lecture, I realised that I probably spend more time deciding what to watch on Netflix than I do my applications. My first ‘proper’ application took me 40 hours to write, it was a form with two questions for internship at Toyota Boshoku in Japan.

Visit to Kinkakuji Castle with a fellow intern during my placement in Japan

 

I went over it several times, and got help from my Faculty Employability team and the Careers Centre, to ensure each sentence was as concise as it could be whilst delivering my knowledge of the company and industry, and demonstrating how my skills aligned with the job role. It eventually secured me my immensely rewarding and ‘life-changing’ summer placement!