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For so many graduates nowadays, it is a case of the chicken and the egg, ‘how do I get a job without work experience and how do I get work experience without a job?’ Internships can offer graduates the perfect opportunity to gain invaluable experience in the workplace which, in turn, will improve your CV greatly. Anyone who has shown the initiative to gain relevant work experience is going to catch the eye of a potential employer.

But the most important thing to remember when on this work experience is to stand out in your job for all the right reasons. Unfortunately employers don’t always remember their first days working in a new environment and they expect everyone to know what they know and do what they do! This is your chance to make yourself invaluable to the team. If they are not in a position to offer you a full time job, you want them to write the most glowing reference or even better, personally recommend you. Many employers expect graduates to demonstrate a certain degree of employment skills which unfortunately are not taught in many third level courses and therefore they must be learnt ‘on the job’.

So what basics should you bear in mind when you walk in on the first day of your new work placement?

Remember the difference between:

• Self-confidence and over-confidence – You need to give your new employer the reassurance that you won’t panic the first time you are asked to do something, but neither will you go in all guns blazing leaving a trail of destruction behind you because you thought you could do it all on day one.

• Informal and formal behaviour – There is nothing wrong with shaking hands, greeting colleagues and taking a lead from their behaviour, sitting down with your feet on the desk is not how you try to show your colleagues that you are relaxed. Everyone is entitled to be nervous but it is how these nerves manifest themselves that need to be monitored.

• Initiative and standing with your hands in your pockets – If the telephone rings, answer it, what is the worst that can happen? A small thing like answering the telephone correctly may not sound like much, but it is amazing how many people don’t know how to do it. This is an example of how you can prove to the company they were right to offer you a placement. Showing initiative in helping a colleague or asking an intelligent question is going to draw attention to yourself for all the right reasons.

• Responsibility and shrugging your shoulders – When you are asked to do something in the office, do it and do it well. Just because you are asked to make the tea today doesn’t mean you won’t be asked to stay in at the meeting once you have brought in the tea. Everyone started somewhere and look upon every task you are given as the opportunity to prove you are invaluable to the company.

Your strengths, competences, skills and attitude can only improve on your work placement, so practice best business skills, use this opportunity and stand out in your work placement for all the right reasons. Oh and bring in a chocolate cake on your last day – they won’t forget you then!

Helen Murphy has been working in customer service and generic business skills training for several years and has seen things from the employer and employee angle.

For further information on group or one to one workshops please contact Helen Murphy, Creative Solutions, Adare, Co. Limerick.

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie,

087 2419805.

Twitter @hmurphyadare,

LinkedIn http://ie.linkedin.com/in/helendmurphy

Well done you have graduated!  So what now?  I hate to break it to you, but graduating was the easy part.  “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates.  You have had your parties and your celebrations. You have congratulated yourself more than humanly possible and your street value feels like it has shot through the sky.  But then that day comes.  You are home and everybody in your house is off to work.  You have a day, a whole entire day.  What on earth are you going to do with it?

For years you have yearned for the day where there is no deadline hanging over your head and it has finally arrived.  Yet for some reason not having a purpose for this day is a little bit unnerving.  You start to plan.  Ok… so gym 1 hour, coffee and breakfast then apply for some jobs.  But first you need a great C.V and/or portfolio, research, and you use the internet for guidance. Somehow you thought it might be easier or slightly more thrilling.  But as you send your third application it dawns on you, there might be many more days just like this one.

Your time now has an even heavier deadline.  The financial strain is one which is bearable in Ireland but unfortunately the social one is a completely different ball game.  Most of your friends seem to have found something, why is it just not happening for you?  I have a friend who battled and waited and hoped and then one day he got the most desirable job available.  It does happen but unfortunately the truth is that having no burden is the heaviest burden of them all.

So firstly take a break. This could be your last summer unless you are a teacher or professor.  Please read books (for fun), you have spent far too much time reading because you have to.  Now is your chance to let your interest be your guide.  You have already gone in a certain direction when it comes to your professional life.  This is a good opportunity to find the area that fascinates you the most. When you start doing stuff for fun, imagine how it could be your career.  It is a great guide – if you want to be great at something you must love doing it.  This is where the vital internship takes place, be willing to do it for free.  The love for it must be that great.

So break down your list of best places to work into a list of ten. Then email the person whom you would like to chat to.  Use the correct name and simply ask for a quick chat about the industry. If the appropriate time arises just ask them politely about any internships available.  All I can say is make sure that when you wake up in the morning you are not filled with dread but with unharnessed excitement for the day to come.  It all starts with a simple email.  Break it down.  Day one; make a list of companies and names and email addresses of the appropriate people (LinkedIn is perfect for this).  Day two; make a draft email of the one you want to forward.  I would leave it for half an hour and then come back to it. If it still impresses you then send it.  Remember to customise each email to the specific company.  Email a thank you email directly after the meeting no matter how it goes, they gave you their time.

I personally found that this was the best approach for me and it worked.  You can’t just keep looking blindly, sometimes you need a little more guidance. The job out there is waiting for you, you just need the right directions.

By Michelle Knight

The picture above resembles me(the monkey) before an interview.  I am consumed by that feeling you get before you get onto a roller-coaster.  I try to find every way out of it.  Everybody in my family gets a phone call before hand. Whether this is due to a serious fear of failure I am not sure.  All I know is that every cell in my body is in flight mode.  I am also unfortunately one of those people who sweat when nervous and trust me it is not pretty.  I worry that the only thing the interviewer is going to remember about me is the putrid smell of nerves.  Don’t even get me started on the handshake.  Yes, mine is like a soft warm wet cloth.  The kind you quietly and discretely wipe your hand after.  Mortifying right – and that is before they even ask me a question.  However using these steps I am significantly less sweaty and can formulate a sentence that even wows me.

Every interview you go to should have the lovely essence of confidence and ease. So what can we do to prevent the half an hour of torture which is preceded with days of anxiety. These days, an interview is hard to come by and whatever you do, you don’t want to blow this precious chance.  So before that open window slams shut in your face, find out how you can keep it open.

1.  Be prepared.  Practice, Practice, Practice.

Know what you are walking into.  This helps with confidence drastically and is a great way   of demonstrating your interest in the company.  Practice with a friend, you will probably end up giggling but it helps ease the fear that has built up.

2.  Release Anxious Energy.  Treat Yourself Well.

Do exercise, don’t drink caffeine trust me, it not only works your bowels but could leave you with the shakes (not an impression you want to give a potential boss!).

3.  Ask yourself: What is the worst that could happen?

Nothing truly life devastating is going to happen in this interview or any interview. I always say to myself that ‘it is what it is’.  All they really want to know is what you can do for them. So figure it out and sell it to them.  Chant it and believe it!

4 -Visualize in a positive way.

Once you have prepared and researched, you must have a clear idea of what you can bring to the company.  Again know it, chant it, visualize it, believe it and sell it.

5- Stay in the present moment.

Whatever you do, do not entertain negative thoughts, such as; they’ve seen through me, they don’t like me.  Often employers shake you to see how you deal with stressful situations. Enjoy it.

And finally after the interview congratulate yourself.  You fought your instincts and went through with it.  At this stage you have already gained something, experience.  So get onto that roller-coaster, some stages will be truly horrifying and others you might even enjoy.  I can promise you that at the end of it, when you step off, you will be proud of yourself.

By Michelle Knight

Like a feather in an economic storm.

Business grows because of inventive, innovative and charismatic people. The very idea of a business suggests supplying a particular market with something that they need or making them believe they want or should have it.  Some businesses are great, others OK and then you have the ones with no ethical limitations.  This blog is a response to Estio.com.  If I could solely bring this business into the court of unethical, stereotypical, vulture companies then I would happily sentence it to death.  However as myself and my colleges have debated, this business model might appear to have legs to stand on.  A graduate today is like that feather in the beginning of Forest Gump, just being moved around aimlessly by the breeze.  People are enthralled by this little ‘nothing’ in the world just trying to find its place.  Are graduates really like this?  Are we lost in the moment just waiting to settle and find our place in the world?  The feather is fascinating, beautiful and almost peaceful, yet with a destination that is completely unknown.

Graduates go into internship positions with the hope of being lifted up and given a job.  This is exactly what an internship is supposed to do for a graduate, or so I thought, lift us up and let us ride the current, start our career and our adventure.  The word Experience is the pure and simple currency of working in an internship.  The currency an intern gets in exchange for ideas, thoughts, blood and sweat.  However how much is this currency worth?  This blog is aimed directly at Estio.com, a company that charges a graduate between £60 and £200 a day for an internship position.  To me this can be likened to taking candy from a child.  What can graduates do or more importantly what happens if they can’t afford this?

Like feathers, graduates are ready for any kind of whirlwind adventure.  The word EXPERIENCE is invaluable to any graduate.  But are we really willing to pay for it, and with what? So what kind of dilemma does this leave us in?  We are now paying for college then for experience, when does it change?  When exactly do we stop paying and start getting paid?

Should graduates really have to pay for internships?  Is working for free not enough these days?  The thought terrifies me, is this going to catch?  If you don’t believe me check out this company’s website. We live and learn which is the essence of our existence on this planet.  I for one am happy to keep learning and growing.  I do not feel quite as happy knowing that I will always have to be paying out of an empty bank account to do so. What do you think please let us know, we can still stop the growth of such a company in Ireland if we think ahead.

By Michelle Knight

What exactly does this Digital Age look like?

As forward thinking as the technology of today is, not that much has actually changed. We are safe in our natural bubbles. We are not all walking around with chips in our arms and robot partners. This technological movement is referred to as the Information Age, Computer Age or the Digital Age.  It is simply all about sharing. Without the sharing element this Age would mean nothing.  In  summary: something happens offline, somebody puts it online and it is digital.  However this type of information sharing has changed our lives drastically.  Gone is the time of paper.

Graduates – this is a tool that can be used carefully and creatively.  Your voice as a future employee in any big company needs to be available and heard on an international scale.  You need to have the confidence that suggests that you have something important to say or at least that other people want to listen.  The more involved you are in this sharing network the more favourable you are to an employer.  Staying with the times no longer means reading your newspaper every day, but reading technology blogs and business reports too, then commenting on such reports in an international arena such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.  We are all staying connected. We can chat across the oceans and see each other on Skype.   Everything we could possibly want to do is literally at our fingertips.

This information age is brilliant and it has been a great ride so far, however I do feel it is just a simple adaption to the way we live, just like the invention of the wheel, however it doesn’t change our human nature.  Everything that you do online is initiated off.  As I said earlier the information needs to be there before it is shared, and the majority of this information is gained and developed offline.

I love the digital age. It has provided platforms for creative communications that would never have previously been around.  However I still wake up every morning to the radio, shower, brush my teeth and go into work.  I am still very present in the reality of life, but it would be a fear that our virtual representations may become more important than our real ones.  It is a strange and almost contradictory idea that when we are living our lives we are off and when we are sitting in front of our tablets, phones and computers we are essentially on.  This society of always being on has brought globalisation to our front doors.  We can chat, share and buy globally all in an evening’s leisure.  So when do we switch off?

By Michelle Knight

Save the Circle of Life for the Lion King!

I think it is time to give the poor giggling hyena a chance at
becoming the king of the jungle (bush) sometime don’t you?
Who knows he could actually be quite good at it. It appears
the circle of life should stop with mankind. The working-class
should have the same chance to get rich as the rich do poor.
Some circles are meant to be broken. The world is full of
change. It is filled with stories, blockbusters about people
changing their lives. I mean honestly have you ever watched ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ ? It was the
longest most painful movie I have ever put myself through. But sadly the truth lies there. Change
breaks this circle. The very beauty of our existence depends on the elements of change, small
things setting bigger things into motion.

I love the philosophy to ‘change the things you can and accept the things you cannot.’ I am an
incredibly stubborn person so although I love the message, I often battle with the things that I
cannot change. However when it comes to political problems there is no such thing as can’t.
That is the beauty of a democracy, at least one hopes, change is the insurance policy that democracy
takes out. However after reading an article in the Irish times yesterday I can’t help but feel change
might be needed.

The article was highlighting the fact that fewer working class schools have young people going to
college opposed to fee paying schools. Sean Flynn the education editor for the Irish Times claims
that ‘every student in middle-class areas proceeds to college whilst the progression rate is less than 40 percent across huge swathes of working-class areas in Dublin, Cork and Limerick’.

Education is a powerful tool that Ireland has acquired over many years of determination. Why is it
that it is only equipping a certain number of people? People are battling to stay in the working class,
without work. Choice is a right that can never be overrated, so why is it that such a small number of
working class young people choose to go to college? This number is worrying because grant aid is still available to all students in Ireland.

Everybody travels a different road. We follow signs guided and aided by the people in our lives
and the countries in which we live. They become embedded into our world and make us who we
are. I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been faced with some kind of obstacle in life. Yet most
people will pull themselves out of it with pure hope and belief that things are meant to be better. I am
not saying that everybody should go to college, or that it is the only way to succeed, because we
all know this isn’t true. The worry lies in the stats, why are so many young people in these areas not
choosing college? Is it a war between the lion and the hyena or are the hyena’s more than happy
living off the leftovers?

By Michelle Knight

Like a steam train approaching, you first get the sound, the thundering clunk of metal on metal, the warm familiar sound of the whistle. The very reason why it’s even familiar, seeing that we are living in 2011 and haven’t greeted a steam train in decades is a sure sign of our ever growing appetite for media. Yet the whistle is familiar and demonstrates that something big is approaching. The smoke surrounding the train like an air of importance, a halo of excitement and determination. The only direction this train is heading is straight on. And like every other year, we are waiting to greet it.

The anticipation is a ball of anxiety, excitement, expectation and joy and maybe for those a little tight for finances, worry and dread. Christmas is about stories and so the adverts of 2011 are telling their own stories. Slowly introducing you to the month that awaits. The adverts appear to be setting the scene for Christmas 2011. We are only in the opening scene. With little product placement, they welcome you. They are introducing us to this year’s Christmas with short stories that are wonderful and warm with imagination and the unexpected. The best ones that have been aired so far I feel are the John Lewis adverts, The Sainsbury Ad, The Coca Cola, Snow Globe Ad and the Sky Movies Christmas Advert 2011, all of these Ads take you on a Journey, I say enjoy it.

Advertising and Christmas believe it or not are long lost brothers reunited every year around the end of October. As many are already aware, Coca Cola invented our Red Santa in 1931 and so the journey began. The first adverts to appear start our emotional roller-coaster. This is the scene of the train coming around the corner. The initial injection of holiday jolliness. Set by the advertising world.

For some reason Christmas in South Africa has the same feel as in Ireland. The very fact that chimneys are hard to find and we have several locks on our front doors, didn’t interfere with the child’s imagination. We never asked for a white Christmas, yet we still expect Santa to be dressed head to toe in winter clothing. As a child your imagination is limitless and so Santa can be sold anywhere. Coca Cola did a great job, because ‘Thirst is not seasonal’.

One ad at a time and we’re sold ready to get the tree, start the present buying and stocking up the fridge. Even the Scrooge’s have something to look forward to at Christmas. I am sad to announce that I am a very over enthusiastic Christmas lover. Christmas introduces many contradictions, but I love entertainment and Christmas adverts are tiny stories that I don’t mind watching, even if it means I am being slightly manipulated. This is the best part of the Christmas advert journey, high quality respectful adverts. Honestly though, what is Christmas without adverts? Damien Rice puts it quiet plainly ‘It’s not Christmas until the Adverts begin’.

By Michelle Knight

In the beginning of the Wizard of Oz, Dorothy is a bit sad and fairly bored with life in general and lets be honest she lives in the middle of nowhere with a dog named Toto. A pretty simple life some would say. However she longed for more and so her wish came true, along came a comma. In which she discovered a wonderful world called Oz.

This is a destination well known by many young Irish travellers. A yellow brick road paved with promise, sun and adventure. The sandy beaches of Australia guiding you to the answers you couldn’t find at home. However this adventure was a little strange, made up of tiny people who all sing in unison, swim in fake tan and live in fear of the evil witch, I wonder if this was the true inspiration for Glee. Short, orange, stranger things have been known to have happened. Anyway on this little psychedelic adventure she learns various things, how to be a team leader, run away from talking trees and out-smart flying monkeys. All essential qualities needed in a graduate today. She learns how to acquire courage, a heart, and a brain for her three friends. In the last and final step she outs the Wizard, a cowardly con man. The adventure left her with a longing, like most travellers away from home.

One thing I would say to all travellers is not to forget your ruby slippers. Adventures are wonderful but is leaving to work away from home for works sake worth the longing? One hopes that university gave you the tools required. I know it taught or at least showed me that I have a brain, still figuring out the manual, it certainly gave me courage not to give up and heart to stick to what I believe in.

It is easy to think of all the adventures you’ve survived, but when asked about our great times no doubt at least one occurred in an Irish bar millions of miles away from home. There are many things I have heard people say about Ireland, firstly the smell of the freshly cut grass, the friendly people and the tight community. We tend to find our way home, guided by warm memories and friendly faces. But how many of us do clip our magic slippers and actually find our way back? According to the state-funded Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) there are over 1,000 people leaving Ireland every week, will they find their way back from Oz, New Zealand or wherever their world-wind drops them. We hope so.

A very special person told me that your ‘soul is your soul wherever you choose to take it’ and the 40 shades of Green wasn’t written out of nowhere. I would have to agree at least with the first. There are some people who are homeward bound, others who love the idea of changing their shells along the way. The truth about these adventurers is in the joy you find when they’re talking about home. We can only hope that the tide changes direction and brings them home. If you stick out the storm you get the rainbow and fingers crossed there will be plenty of gold at the bottom of it.

By Michelle Knight

The Gradpool team have been very fortunate to secure the backing of key members of the current Irish government since our launch

in September, namely Minister for Jobs, Enterprise & Innovation Richard Bruton and Minister for Education & Skills Ruairí Quinn. We were very close to completing our own little Gradpool Golden Circle of endorsements but for Sinn Féin’s sabotaging of Seán Gallagher’s presidential aspirations. We were so close to having a picture of the President of Ireland endorsing our business, a photo that would have been extremely valuable for the next 7 years. So close to having our own little coalition of political endorsements which would have represented the backing of an unprecedented majority of Dáil Éireann.

I have a friend who works for Eirgrid, who for the purposes of this blog we shall name Mark. Mark sits extremely close to the big red button which if pushed would turn off all of the electricity in Ireland. Mark has had an insatiable urge to press this button for a long time now, one which he reminds us of each passing weekend, and my biggest regret since the formation of Gradpool is not asking him to stay late in work on that fateful Monday night and press that button just as Pat Kenny began introducing the presidential candidates on RTE’s Frontline.

So here I will post a call to President elect Michael D, give us a buzz Mick there is a space for a picture frame on the office wall with your name on it. You want to identify with youth, heres your chance!

Oh what might have been…

Dave Egan

Do we stay or do we go?…….

There are many challenges we face in life after graduating. We study hard with the focus of gaining a job we love and are good at. However as we have seen, situations change. Being Irish means a lot of things, there are plenty of associations that the Irish have acclaimed over the years. One thing is for sure, you are always welcome with open arms anywhere in the world. The world celebrates when we do. Needless to say we move forward, we are a nation of survivors, some might say we are great underdogs, but we are always in the race.

I was born in South Africa, I have a South African mother and an Irish father. I moved to Ireland when I was 15 which led to my undying love for travelling. After living here for so long the Irish in me has begun to blossom. Don’t worry that doesn’ t mean I walk around trying to sound like Brad Pitt in ‘Snatch’. All I am saying is that I have taught myself to follow the tide. However many graduates are faced with the same question, do we stay or do we go? Do we wait out the storm or flee for the sunshine.

It reminds me of the story of the ‘Billy Goat Gruff’, three little goats wanting the greener grass on the other side of the bridge. The debate to stay and go was frivolous and unrelenting, eventually they face all odds and cross the bridge with the evil troll. The evil troll in this story is everything that comes hand in hand with moving to another country. The worry, the learning, the questions but worst of all the self doubt. The beauty of moving I have learnt, is in the freedom of being who you want to be, with nobody having pre-decided who you are.

So this leaves me with one question; what direction are you facing after graduating? Some say forget the wind and take the tide, the economic climate has set the tide for Irish employment today. Some suggest swimming against it, I am not so sure and am feeling tired and slightly frustrated at it being assumed that I haven’t been since I graduated two years ago. However swimming against this particular tide keeps you in exactly the same place, or even leaves you swimming in circles. I suggest to go with it, let it guide you, this oyster is your world. The big bad world is smaller than an ocean of the unknown. Let your feet hit the shore and run, leap and jump at the opportunity the green grass provides under your feet, be it to a new job, industry, county or even country. It might even turn out that the grass is indeed greener and far less tiring than swimming in circles and who knows who you might meet.

However if home is home and you don’t feel quite safe enough leaving without your ruby slippers, stick it out. Have faith maybe ‘there is no place like home’.

By Michelle Knight