The benefits of setting career goals
Whether you’ve always known exactly what your dream career is, or you have no idea what you want to be when you grow up, setting career goals is a smart move. By setting yourself professional goals you can clearly identify what you want to achieve, experience, or the skills you want to develop. Goals can guide your career, give you clear direction, and be great reference points when applying for jobs as they demonstrate your accomplishments.
Ok, so we agree career goals are good but now you’re wondering how exactly to set them. Well, helping people achieve their professional dreams is what career advisors are all about!
How a career advisor can help you set career goals
Career advisors help people at all different stages in their professional life find direction and set goals. From high school students, to those angling for promotions, or hoping to change industries, they help everyone! A career advisor (also known as a career counsellor, guidance counsellor, or career coach) will spend time getting to know you so they can identify your strengths, weaknesses, interests, and dislikes. By learning more about you they can suggest careers that match your skillset and help you set goals to entre the industry or climbed the ladder.
Career counselling can involve aptitude tests and personality assessments, these activities allow the career advisor to get a better understanding of your skills, values and interests. They will then work with you to set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals for both the short and long term. By having goals, you know what success looks like and you can feel a sense of achievement when you accomplish what you set out to do. Setting career goals can also help you to make deliberate decisions about your work which can lead to a more fulfilling career.
At UniSQ we have teams of professionals ready to provide career counselling, whether you’re a student with us or not. Learn more about our career planning and advice services and book an appointment with our practitioners to get started on your career goals today!
Writing a job application cover letter and resume – career advisors can help
You’ve set your goals and you’re ready for the next exciting step in your career, well done! Now it’s time to sit down and write some cover letters and spruce up your resume. For a lot of people having to write these documents can really take the wind out of their sails, but that won’t be you because we have some great tips and amazing career advisors ready to give you helpful guidance and push you along to bigger and better things.
A cover letter is somewhat of a first impression, it’s your chance to introduce yourself and put your best foot forward when applying for a job. This short letter (typically one page) accompanies your resume and allows you to share your career journey. A job application cover letter and resume complement each other. A resume details your work experience and education, often in a dot pointed timeline; while a cover letter gives you an opportunity to demonstrate your personality and explain why you’re a good fit for the job.
Writing a job application cover letter can seem daunting but it doesn’t have to be, there are some easy steps you can follow to help you craft the perfect letter. Firstly, you need to embrace your inner detective – read up on the company you’re applying with, find out what their organisational values are, what interesting projects they’ve recently completed and look at the LinkedIn profiles of your potential team members. Reading the position description in detail is also very important and if you have any questions about the job, it can be helpful to reach out to the hiring manager. Asking an informed question may benefit your application and if appropriate you might like to mention this interaction in your cover letter; for example, you could include something like ‘As we discussed, I know that <insert point here> is a key part of this role, in my current job I gained experience in this area when I…’.
Now that you know all there is to know about your potential future employer, it’s time to start writing! The main purpose of a cover letter is to address the selection criteria listed in the job ad. Review the position description again and draft a letter that demonstrates how you posses the required skills (make sure you use specific examples). The trick here is to also draw on all your great research by weaving in references to the organisation’s values and projects. Once you’re happy with your draft, make sure you give it a good proofread and if possible, have someone else look over it too – typos can make or break an application.
Moving onto the resume, this is also not an easy document to create, especially for those just starting out in their career. A resume for students can be a tricky thing but there are a few tips and tricks that can make all the difference. When you’re writing your student resume, you will firstly need to decide on the format (companies like Canva have easy-to-use resume templates which also include relevant resumes for students). A resume is ideally one to two pages long and structured using clear headings that highlight work experience and achievements. Typically, an employer will scan the document and want to be able to easily find your name, contact information, relevant skills, and education and employment history. You might choose to structure your resume chronologically or functionally.
If all of this is feeling like a lot, don’t worry, career advisors can also help with creating and reviewing cover letters and resumes. The UniSQ career counselling team is here to help, whether you’re already a student with us or still considering your options.
Resources and support – all via the career hub
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again – we’re here to help! UniSQ’s career hub, now known as the Access Hub, contains a wealth of knowledge to help you get that job; from webinars to resources to templates, we have it all! Once you’ve nailed your application you’ll no doubt be called in for an interview, if you’re a UniSQ student you can access Big Interview – an online platform to help you practice your interview skills. This nifty tool has over 100 videos and the ability to record yourself presenting, you can then share your recording with our team for feedback.
Throughout the year UniSQ also offers a range of events to help you feel comfortable throughout the inherently uncomfortable experience of job hunting. Our simulation programs walk through the whole recruitment experience, from applying to psychometric testing to online interviews and assessment centres. At each stage of this process you will receive feedback – after which you can breath out and feel ready to ace that interview!
We can offer you a variety of support and services, not just while you are deciding on your career path, but throughout your entire learning journey. Hear from our students and discover what sets UniSQ apart!
