Monthly Archives

March 2016

Q&A with Jo Buchan (Univeristy of Queensland)

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What is your position?

I am a Careers and Employability Specialist within the Student Employability team at UQ. We service the Business, Economic and Law Faculty.

How long have you been in the position?

12 Months

What’s your favourite part of the job?

Seeing the students gain confidence in their ability and applications which then leads them to successfully gaining the work experience or graduate position that they wanted.

What were you doing prior?

I have spent the last 8 years working within Human Resources and Agency Recruitment. My most recent position was Agency Recruitment for the Oil and Gas industry.

What is the BEL Student Employability Team?

The BEL Student Employability Team (SET) is dedicated to assisting students from the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law (BEL) to increase their employability, access opportunities and manage their careers. BEL SET’s services are supplementary to the Careers Service offered by UQ Advantage.

How do you help students?

SET is dedicated to helping you increase you employability, access opportunities and help them to manage their career. Through our dedicated programs the students learn and practice employability skills that give you the potential to stand out from the crowd in a highly-competitive job market.

Tell us more about the team.

My colleagues and I all have extensive recruitment and industry experience and networks which help us to offer the students more exposure the Brisbane market and allows us to give the students ‘behind the scenes’ coaching, insight and practical tips for recruitment campaigns.

How do you involve organisations?

We partner with external, alumni, businesses, government and community organisations to develop opportunities for student work experience opportunities, vacation and internships, graduate career placements, learning and engagement.

Most recently we have been running a series of workshops that have seen organisation talking to students about different aspects of the recruitment process to ensure that students are well informed when applying for graduate positions.

How we can organisations get involved with you?

We are always encouraging organisations to connect with us and allow us to help organisations engage better with students.

Some ways BEL SET can help you include:

  • Raise your company brand on campus by profiling your initiatives and opportunities through social media and by participating in our events
  • Connect with students through advertising paid employment opportunities
  • Connect with our students for unpaid work experience and volunteering opportunities
  • Expand your understanding of ways to better connect with graduates
  • Work opportunities

We can help you to connect with students in relation to your paid work opportunities. Offering unpaid work experience to students can also provide extra resources and skills for your business and the chance to raise your profile among a student audience.

Organisations often find that they benefit from the up-to-date knowledge and skills and the enthusiasm that a student brings. From the student’s point of view paid work or unpaid work experience allows them to explore career options, gain hands-on experience in their field of choice, and achieve competitive advantage in an employment market that values work-ready graduates.

The BEL SET Consultants are happy to be contacted about paid work and unpaid work experience or volunteer opportunities, and can walk you through the process.

 

How do organisations contact you?

We can be contacted via our website: https://bel.uq.edu.au/information-employers

 

 

“Y” The Bad Rap (Y Gens)

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Having worked as a Professional Recruitment Consultant for more than 15 years across a broad range of industries – and for roles at all levels – I’ve seen and heard many stories.

 

Until recently, I too had almost completely lost faith in our young Y Gens as employees and our futures. Personally over the last few years I’ve experienced the difficulties in finding “quality” entry level or graduate employees to fit roles……

 

Candidate A had applied for an entry level IT role. He was a grade 12 school leaver from the previous year and wasn’t working….not even a casual weekend job. He withdrew from the role via email, saying “I don’t think working for a small business will be the best for my career”……What career kid? You don’t even have a job!!!

 

Candidate B just didn’t show up for the interview….and didn’t return my calls when I tried to follow up.

 

Candidate C didn’t even make it to the interview shortlist after I checked out her Facebook page (Yes I check your Facebook page!!!). Drunken party photos and attire that leaves little to the imagination is not a good impression!

 

However, I have discovered that there is hope!!! Over the past year I’ve had a trail of 6 University Students complete “unpaid” Internships with me in an effort to gain industry experience. Nearly all of those students were completing double degrees while working casual paid jobs…and still finding the time to do “industry work experience”.

 

While not being paid, each of the students were ALWAYS punctual, reliable, enthusiastic, positive and extremely capable…to be honest, I feel privileged to have had them work with me.

 

So why the polar differences? Well I firmly point the finger in the direction of parents!!! Stay tuned for my next blog where I elaborate on this…

Meet Intern Keely

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First up to the plate, 19 year old Keely Thurecht, our newest marketing intern.

What do you study?

I’m partway through a dual degree in commerce and business management at the University of Queensland.

My focus is human resources, marketing, and accounting. While I don’t plan on pursuing a career in accounting, I think financial literacy is a vital skill everyone should have.

Why did you decide to intern with RecruitLoop?

For the real world experience.  To see how my studies would translate to a day-to-day position in HR. Knowing why you’re studying and what you’re working towards is seriously motivating!

What are your duties at RecruitLoop?

Marketing – think blog posts, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Kim is clued in on what her clients want to see and hear – the only issue is time. My goal is to make Kim’s social media ideas come to life. We already have a bunch of cool projects in the works.

Stay in the ‘loop’ (haha) and follow us on Instagram (@kimacworth_recruitloop), Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/RecruitLoop-Kim-Acworth-185674054963527) and LinkedIn (http://au.linkedin.com/in/kim-acworth-13b05737).

Do you work part-time?

It’s the barista life for me. I spend a few full days each week in a laid back espresso bar chatting with regulars and keeping Brisbane caffeinated.

Are you heavily involved in uni life?

I get involved in Oxfam and the Business Association, but I would like to have more of a presence on campus. The more people you know the better!

What do you get up to on the weekend?

Sailboarding, rock-climbing, hiking – anything that gets me out in nature.