During February to April we delivered our regional Officer Career Management courses for the 4th year. Alongside officers attending from repeat unions, we have welcomed new unions sending their officers plus others sending their interns and society Chairs in recognition of their contribution to their organisation. This is perhaps a sign of an increased desire to enhance employability and understand how to match skills and achievements, through crafted applications, to what employers want from graduates.
We often describe officers as ‘Grad+’ due to their greater experience gained during their year(s) in post. However, commonly officers struggle in capturing their achievements, understanding what they offer and how to pitch this to employers. While careers services and union management can sometimes provide objective advice we are straight talking in our approach, giving a recruiter/employer perspective.
Feedback has been positive once more, scoring 4.8 out of 5 on “meeting expectations of the course” and many officers have stayed in touch for further tweaks, advice and guidance as they have been applying for roles, something we encourage them to do.
This year courses were hosted in Leeds, Manchester, Teesside, Nottingham and 2 in Leicester, with plans underway for courses in the South West, Scotland and London/South East in 2016.
Below are a selection of reflections from officers attending this year’s courses:
Really great, insightful and informative course. everything I wanted was covered in depth and with the opportunity for further discussion about specific areas.
Thoroughly enjoyed learning about the process for recruitment and look forward to improving myself. This course is brilliant in the depth of information it provides. Thank you.
Intense day but highly useful for CV building and interview techniques were very useful!
Like the “no bull” approach, helped a lot and liked the inside knowledge. Loved the CV section of the day.
“I thoroughly enjoyed the course and appreciated all the information we have been given. It has helped me think about interviews and CVs, especially as I can now evaluate my approach to them and how to do them effectively.