Turning raw into roar

Turning raw to roar

As seen in The Advertiser, The Daily Telegraph, The Courier Mail, & the Herald Sun

Get work in order to get a job. Cara Jenkin reports

STUDENTS should get a casual or part-time job during university – even if it is not in the field they desire – if they want to get a job after they graduate.

They will, however, really set themselves apart from the pack by interning as well as working and completing their studies.

Sharon Williams, founderof Taurus Marketing, saystoo many young people think a degree is a ticket to a job when often it only serves as the basic foundation to work.

Practical skills – whether it is discipline to get out of bed and get to a job, the ability to answer a phone, or understand industry lingo – are essential self-marketing material for young jobseekers, she says.

“Uni courses are very academic and when (students) get about on these work sites when they come out of uni, they have no practical skills,” she says. “They find the reality of what they are going to do each day is so far removed from what they have been taught (they are) almost useless to me.” Williams receives about 50 resumes a month and looks for the initiative an applicant has taken to discover if the career they have chosen is what they really want.

She says good grades do not set applicants apart – as many of them are high achievers.

“If someone is telling me on their cover letter they are desperate to work in PR but have only ever worked in a pub, for example, there is a risk for me that they don’t know what it’s like to work in a PR agency,” she says.

“(But) there are a lot of youngsters that aren’t working at all – I think why don’t you go get a job in pub? I don’t believe anybody today can’t get a job.” Being able to speak to the boss, colleagues and clients is important and can be learnt through an unrelated part-time job.

Williams also advises young people to follow up on their application to show they are really interested.

“In any business, you’ve got to be tenacious to get an outcome” she says.

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