PRINCE2, Internship and Next Steps

For the last couple for months, I have been searching for a job within the Luton and Beds areas. To yield more results, I extended my search to London in the hopes of finding a good student opportunity which could build my experience and provide a little bit extra cash (every student needs some extra cash). Anyway, I did find some opportunities and attended a few interviews, but none of them was the right fit for me; too long a commute or more hours per week than I could manage. 

Fortunately, the University has an internship scheme; a 75 hour placement either within the university or within a business in the Luton, Herts and Beds area. I sent my CV in to the Internship office, attended a few excellent workshops on tips for CV writing and interviewing, and voila, yours truly is now commencing a 75hr placement within the university. The best part of this is that I have flexible hours so that my academic workload isn't suffering, and I get paid for my time. Good times. If you are at the university already and have not taken advantage of this scheme, you should! Go to the International office in the Library at Luton campus, and speak to the internship scheme. You only have to be a student here, it does not matter if you are undergraduate, postgraduate, Home, EU or international student.

In other news, as someone who has worked as part of many project teams, and is presently studying for an Msc in Project Management, it was only natural that I felt the need to acquire a deeper understanding of the methodologies used worldwide to manage projects. I began my methodology journey with the PRINCE2 certification examination (Projects In Controlled Environments) which is the recommended methodology developed by the UK's Office of Government Commerce, for managing projects. I wrote the foundation examination yesterday, and I passed. It is very exciting to see one's journey unravelling in the best ways, you make gains, you learn new insights.

These months are the final few which I shall spend here before I am awarded my Msc in Project Management and to be honest, I have learnt so much here that I am considering making continuous development programmes a part of my life, twice yearly. There is something full of wisdom and rewarding about being here. I am glad I embarked upon this journey, and although there have been lots of stumbling blocks and things that quite frankly, I have been disappointed about here, on the whole, it is proving to be one of the most rewarding journeys that I have embarked on my life.  In my next post, I shall discuss some of the challenges, how to be prepared for them and the benefits which quite clearly, outweigh them. Keep well everyone.

Photo sources:

1. University social spaces: www.beds.ac.uk

2. PRINCE2 logo: www.apmg-international.com

My CV, Jobs and a Salary: A Holiday Challenge

Last week marked the end of the first term of my course. It ended with a 24 hour time constrained case study released on a wednesday morning, and requiring that we submit a 3000 word response to the case study by the next morning. Suffice to say that I stayed up all night working feverishly, willing my brain and my eyes to remain open, both failed quite a few times and I ended up either staring cross-eyed at my laptop screen, or falling asleep over  it. Not a very pretty sight. But I triumphed in the end, and submitted my essay 15 minutes to the deadline. It has been a very busy term; one minute we were out having dinner and drinks in the town centre, or partying in Sub2 the Student's Union lounge, and the next minute we were living on red bull and research references.

It has been a bit of a rollercoaster ride of a term. My course had several 1500 and 3000 word papers and reflective essays to research, write and submit within deadlines. In addition, we also had to work in cross-functional groups to work on and deliver a live case study to develop, research, prepare and deliver a presentation on utilising the 4Ds of project management; Define, Design, Do, Develop (also known as review). I believe that working in groups may have been my hardest challenge at this Msc so far, but the specifics are for another blog post. All I can say is that this is as real as it gets. As a project manager, we may work on projects of international proportions spread across geographical zones and cultures. The onus falls on you as a key member of the project team, or as a project manager, to ensure that all members of the team stay on target and achieve results. I am presently on summer holidays, and whereas I am very excited to be able to do whatever I want at my own pace, the life of a student means that income is limited.

Consequently, I began to look for a job at which I can work for the stipulated 20 hours per week, per the requirement of my tier 4 student visa. As soon as I began to search, I was amazed at the resources available to University of Bedfordshire students as a support structure towards finding jobs. I went into the university career and recruitment centre in Luton and had a discussion with a member of staff. The pointers I received were extremely helpful, and I have listed some of them below:

- Make out time to re-write your curriculum vitae (CV) every few weeks while actively searching for a job. Trends change and the job requirements differ, thus learn to highlight the achievements of what you have previously done which speak to the job being applied for.

-Never submit your cv in tabular format. Always use regular microsoft word format without any tables or bullet points if possible. Some recruitment software used by certain employers does not recognise tables in cvs and will make your cv ureadable.

-In application letters submitted together with the cv, make sure you highlight what position you are applying for, what you have done in the past, how that experience will benefit or add value to the organisation that you are applying to, and why you wish to apply to this employer.

-Try to keep your cv within 2 pages, unless you have worked for decades, or are in academia where your research papers have to be listed.

These are some of the key areas articulated. I have since edited my cv per these suggestions and I have now been invited to four interviews; three in London, and one at the university. The first two london interviews have come back as unsuccessful, the third interview will happen next week and the fourth will take place on August 4th. Although I did not get the first two jobs, I am optimistic that something excellent will work out. The important thing is to make one's cv good enough for recruiters to take a second look at it and invite you for that important chat. I shall keep you posted on how the remaining two interviews go and my quest to earn a living during the summer.

This is my holiday challenge to myself; find a job, and to you; re-write your cv, it does not matter how little or how much experience you have. The only rule is to try to keep it within 2 pages, you do not want those recruiters yawning over a complete detailing of your roles and responsibilities.

In the interim, should you wish to have a look at the university's career centre, view it here. Follow it also on twitter; @ubcareers.

Goodluck!

Photo sources:
1. Official students' Union wednesday nights at Sub2 for Bucs Sake: Photo is from the BedsSU page.
2. From my personal photography collection; panning the movement of a cyclist in London.
3. A photo of the UoB Career and Recruitment centre found on the university website.
4. From my visit to London. A lunch menu on Oxford street.