Extra curricular activities to boost your CV
Extra curricular activities to boost your CV
A CV (curriculum vitae), is a 1-2 page description of who you are and why someone should hire you for a specific role. This usually includes examples of previous work or work experience, grades and your favourite activities.
In short, the better the CV, the better your chances of getting a job. However, one main problem a lot of people have is that you need experience or transferable skills to get a job. So, how do you get a job in the first place without any experience? Well that is what we are going to look at in this blog!
Building up your CV
Studying at university is a great place to build up your CV. The course you have enrolled on may offer work experience opportunities, and it’s always worth asking about when your enquiring about where or what to study
BNU has a range of industry-focused opportunities where you may make connections through networking days, guest speaker events, live briefs with industry professionals or even exhibition events at the university. These are all great experiences to add to the CV, but how do you get your hands on these opportunities?
Tip 1 - Say yes to every opportunity you can get. Every experience will help open doors to other opportunities, more connections, and getting your name out there. University, it is a great time to make yourself busy and gain as much experience and transferable skills that you can.
Tip 2 - Push for these experiences. Don't wait for job or placement opportunities to come to you, send emails, call companies, push doors you didn't think would be there. While doing this, don't worry about annoying people, the more you push and nag people, the more they will see you are interested. Always remember, the worst thing they can say is no!
What kinds of experiences should you try to get?
Starting with external qualifications - This is a great way to boost your CV, it shows your keen to learn and grow, as well as that you may be qualified in specific areas. There are a range of websites that offer free courses, such as HubSpot, LinkedIn and the Open University.
A good example of this, for music students, is the Dante Network Qualifications levels 1,2 and 3. With each of these qualifications, you get a certificate which can be added to your portfolio or CV.
Industry days are also a great way to add to the CV. It's not as direct as other ways, but through networking, you can make connections, ask for email addresses and numbers, and push those people for work experience or even a part time job!
Build up that portfolio! An example of this for music students, is to write songs, build electronic devices, mix albums for friends, whatever it is that interests you, do it in your own time and add it to the portfolio, so you can show industry professionals your work. In general, for other students, anything that shows added skills and talents that support the role you are after.
I hope you found this encouraging and helpful. Creating a good CV should be a fun thing as it’s based on what interests you.
Work for the university
You could also try to get a job at the university, I myself am a Student Ambassador. My role sees me gaining transferable skills such as content creation, teamwork and time management, all whilst getting paid!
If you have any questions, please get in contact with either me, or any of the other Student Ambassadors via Unibuddy, and we will be glad to help!