UTS Careers Blog
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Uncovering ‘The Hidden Job Market’
Most jobseekers turn to online job boards like Seek.com and Indeed.com as their primary job search strategy. They might scan the job listings every few days, submit a handful of applications and cross their fingers for a phone call. Does this sound like you?...
How To Overcome Your Nerves, And Ace Your Next Interview
Interviews aren’t particularly enjoyable. Usually, the only reason we’re even sitting for one is because we either really, really want the job for its great opportunities and career development potential, or we really, really need the job to pay the rent. Or a...
Transferable Skills: Being a New Parent and Returning to the Workforce
The next time you’re applying for a position, it’s a good idea to reflect on your transferable skills. Over the years I’ve held multiple positions and there has never been an instance where my skills haven’t been transferable, regardless the role I worked in. You just...
Internships: When You Need Experience To Get Experience
Getting an internship can be a competitive process. Not only do you have to compete with other students, but it may often be the first time you’re undertaking actual industry-relevant work. So how can you increase your chances of landing the perfect internship, if you...
Job Hunting Advice for International Students: Language
International students: Are you currently looking for a job? Feeling confused? Directionless, helpless, hopeless, frustrated or filled with self-doubt? Then I may be able to help! Rather than addressing common resume writing and interview skills, this post will focus...
7 Things You NEED To Do Before Graduating
What you do at university, can help set you up for life. So outside of studying, making new friends and having new experiences, here are 7 things you should try to do before you graduate! 1. Embrace every opportunity to meet new people Sometimes the thought of meeting...
Don’t Find A Job You Love, Go For One You Like.
You may have heard of the expression ‘find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life’. Well, call me cynical, or a realist, but that’s not true. Do you really think that people who have a job that they love never work a day in their life? I think you...
5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Creativity
Creativity comes in a variety of forms – be it suggesting a new idea at a meeting, painting a picture, thinking of how to overcome a problem, taking a photo, or even discovering new ways to work more productively. Because creativity is important to so many aspects of...
The Psychology of Success
Most of us want to succeed, especially university students. Whether you’re in your first or final year, I’m betting there’s a big part of you that really wants to be successful. But what’s the psychology of success? First off, to answer this question it completely...
How To Tell You’re in a Bad Internship
Internships are like relationships – some are great, some are… well, not so great. Undertaking an internship is basically a must these days, if you want to stand out. Unfortunately, not all internships are sunshine and rainbows, and once you start one it might be...
When You DON’T Know a Guy Who Knows a Guy
When it comes to securing work, it’s often not what you know, but who you know. We hear it all the time. But what happens when you don’t have any industry connections? It’s hard enough to get your foot in the door of a competitive industry – ESPECIALLY if no one is...
Don’t Make it Weird: How to Successfully Network With Your Friends
A lot of people feel uncomfortable about networking. Which, hey, fair enough – it’s not something that comes naturally for some. But what people don’t often realise, is that you’ve already got a network. One made up of your friends, family and current colleagues. But...
Interviews: “Take a deep breath and relax”
True story: When I was in my late teens, the local bank advertised a junior entry-level position and it was my parents' belief that if I could secure a job with a bank I would “have a job for life.” Eager to have their daughter on the road to self-sufficiency, they...
How to Ask for a Reference Without it Getting Awkward
Asking for a reference can be a little unnerving, particularly if you’ve left a job on a bad note or haven’t spoken to your previous bosses or colleagues for a while. Luckily for you, I’ve put together a quick summary of how you can ask for a reference (without things...
Why University Students Should Publish On LinkedIn
A career is more than employment, university students can enhance their careers by contributing to the online professional community with their innovative voices through LinkedIn publishing. I present workshops to university students to enhance their online...
How to Write Effective Emails
I receive, on average, at least 20 emails a day. Most of these are sales-related (I have a problematic shopping addiction), but for those from all the real people who are emailing me, it’s easy to separate a well-written email from a poorly-written one. In today’s...
Why You Should Always Prepare Questions to Ask at an Interview
Interviews are a test to determine whether you're a fit for the vacant role, right? Wrong; that's only half of the equation. While interviews are an opportunity for an employer to assess your fit with the role's requirements, interviews are equally a chance for you...
5 Skills to Master in Your 20s
For most people, their 20’s is a time of huge personal and professional development. It’s when you’re at uni, building your network, making your first real steps into a career, moving out, paying taxes – all of these steps into actual adulthood. Which can be totally...
Video Interview Preparation Tips
Increasingly, more firms are using video interviews to save time and reach a wider pool of candidates. While at first it can seem a little daunting, it actually can have several benefits to the candidates – the most obvious one being that your video interview is...
Want to Succeed? Don’t Fear Failure – Embrace It
Why don't we try new things? Answer: fear. Fear of judgement, of ridicule, of disappointment - but mostly, fear of failure. If failure lost its negative connotations, what could we achieve? I recently watched this video of Sara Blakely talking about redefining what it...
Don’t Let Addressing the Selection Criteria Scare You From Applying
When an employer advertises a job, they usually provide criteria for it. This generally tells you the essential and desirable skills, attributes, knowledge, experience and educational requirements for the role. Often Government and many Non-Government Organisations...
Is Competition Holding You Back?
Ambition and a competitive personality often go hand in hand. And it makes sense – being competitive can give you the drive you need to get ahead. But competition doesn’t always work in your favour, and recognising when you need to chill can be vital for some serious...
How to Negotiate Salary: 5 Tips You Need to Know
Salary negotiation can be daunting - it’s normal to feel nervous. But you can learn negotiation skills that will help you land the salary you want. Sharpening these skills will absolutely pay off in your career. Remember, negotiating your salary before you accept a...
Settling For A Job You Hate Could Make You Sick
Pretty much all of us have worked a job that we’ve hated. But what happens when that job becomes your career? Research was released this August, which suggests that low job satisfaction could be causing you lasting harm, (beyond the simple sense of dread you feel...