The beauty of accumulating skills

Many places underline the same thing: without experience it is difficult or almost impossible to find work. Then how can you gain experience if you can’t find work? Skills can be divided into soft and hard skills. Hard skills accumulate through work, internships and roles of responsibility. Recruiters appreciate skills gained through volunteering and roles of responsibility, as e.g. working as a student society’s communications officer and secretary prepares you well for working in communications and as an assistant.

Education is a little like a driver’s licence: it provides you with opportunities but does not decide what type of car you will drive or whether you will choose the bus or a bicycle.

Soft skills provide you with keys, particularly for working in a work community. With regard to workdays, teamwork skills and situational awareness in social settings are of particular importance in work communities. An easy way to develop your skills is through recreational activities and volunteering. You should list them in your CV for added value and possibly also mention them in the application itself if soft skills are highlighted in your application.

The many ways to gain work experience

About that work experience. You should accumulate it extensively from part-time, summer and volunteer jobs. All work is beneficial, and strange skills or knowledge that you never even thought about may be needed in surprising situations. You should not underestimate the significance of volunteer work, as it may open up surprising paths and networks. You should try to develop these networks during your studies, as they will help you in your job seeking and to stay up to date on what is happening in the business sector and its subsectors. Networking is easy in student events and organisations. You can learn more about companies during seminars for different fields as well as events such as Contact & Career, Career Expo, Shift and Slush. The ticket prices may feel high for some of these events, so volunteering at events may be an excellent way to accumulate skills and form networks.

The importance of tactics

The most active recruitment times are undoubtedly autumn and early spring. Vacancies come available on the open market (job alerts work well to keep you up to date on them) as well as internally as hidden jobs. You should aim for both, and almost the same tactical rules apply to both. Here are six tips for the job seeking process.

1. Do your background work. Find out more about the company in advance, and ask for more information from either the recruiting party or possibly someone who already works at the company. When asking, you should prepare roughly two to four questions in advance in order to get the conversation going. This is plenty when calling about jobs on the open job market; you will have more time to ask questions during a possible interview. The most important thing is to make a good first impression and not accidentally ruin your chances at this stage. To support this good first impression, you should have a short self-introduction (no more than a few minutes) prepared in case you are asked for one over the phone.
2. Targeted CV and application. Analyse the background information you have obtained and the possible notice of vacancy and write or update your application and CV to correspond to what is requested. However, let your personality show in your application, as the employer is ultimately looking for a skilled person who fits in the work community. Your chemistries should meet, at least in theory. It is recommended that your application papers form clear wholes so that it is easy for the recruiter to read through them and find the most essential facts, accompanied by good examples. You should therefore think about the structure and content carefully.
3. Be on time. If the notice says that applications will already be read during the application period and people may be invited for interviews, this is most likely the case. Many companies utilise this principle, which is why vacancy notices seldom include an end date, or the notice is removed from the website before the end of the application period.
4. Interviewing is a game of tactics. You should prepare for your interview by going over example questions from the perspective of the vacancy and the company. However, you should not be overly prepared, or you risk sounding like a schoolchild reciting from memory. Also prepare questions for the interviewers, write them down and bring them with you to the interview. During an interview, it is okay to take a moment to think about your answer before speaking. You can mask a moment of silence by taking a sip of water, for example.
5. A neat and tidy appearance. How should you dress for an interview? The best advice I have gotten is to dress like you would every day, but to pick clean clothes without holes that are a notch neater than usual. You should prepare what you are going to wear in the days before the interview. On the day itself, you should not try new things, such as high heels, makeup or hair products. It is better to minimise things that could cause nervousness. If your everyday clothing is a suit, put it on. It is best to attend an interview wearing clothes that you are comfortable in. You can try to get a feel for the company’s dress code and study it through its social media accounts, for example. Of course, the people in the photos are often wearing something special for the occasion, so use your own discretion. An exception to this are fields with a certain dress code.
6. Relax. On the previous day or the morning of the interview, do relaxing things to keep any unnecessary tension away. Normal everyday routines are the key, or whatever you wish to call it, to success. You can reduce extra tension by familiarising yourself with the interview location in advance (if you live in the same town) or examine the directions and possible local bus or train schedules beforehand. If the interview will take place out of town, you should buy your tickets in advance and favour reliable modes of transport. You can also reduce stress by taking an earlier bus or train. For example, you can enjoy a cup of coffee, eat something or just walk around in the interview location or nearby. A rumbling stomach is a major distraction in itself.

It ultimately comes down to luck whether a suitable job and work community become available during your job seeking process. So: good luck, do your best and be gutsy!

P.S. Remember to utilise free CV clinics and application workshops. You should ask for more information about them from your higher education institution, student organisations and Turku’s Ohjaamo service.