Unilever Visit

Careers Advisers were invited to visit the new UK HQ of Unilever at Leatherhead in Surrey.

There is a new Head of Recruitment Orla Meade and they acknowledged that they have been keeping a low profile over recent years.

Their recruitment programme is still small – 30 in total, but is not being reduced despite the recession.  All of the details about the 7 streams are on the website but some comments from the day are worth recording.

Their programme is called ‘The Future Leaders programme” – the word Graduate not there.

The marketing person Matt had a nice list of requirements: an ability to develop coherent arguments and to find answers to difficult questions.

All of the speakers alluded to the importance of ‘experience’. People who have been ‘out’ tend to make more impact (in interviews). The finace rep said that involvement outside the curriculum was ‘essential’ .

As with all major corporations ethical credentials are de rigueur. Unilever work with the Rainforest alliance on supporting tea workers and their environment ( through PGTips Unilever are the worlds largest tea buyers).

I have put some notes about the Research and Development stream onto the Graduate School blog.

The programmes typically involve 4 6-month placements – some may be abroad.

I was particularly taken with the Supply Chain scheme – which includes the purchasing function.

They have outsourced some of their functions to other companies. Accenture seem to run their IT systems, and a firm called Gradweb does some of their initial sifting for graduate Recruitment. Last year they got 4000 applications for their programmes – this year they have been told to expect 10,000.

Things lead to other things in unpredictable ways

Do we know very much about ‘advice’. I am fully in favour of it ( look at my job-title -its been keeping my family fed for years). But I came across a saying by a psychologist Richard Wiseman which sheds some light on Careers Advice. It goes like this: things lead to other things in unpredicatable ways.

 

It was inthe context of ‘luck’.

‘Lucky’ people tend to do things for the sake of them. ‘Unlucky’ people shy away from undertaking anything unless they know what the benefits will be. And because ‘ things lead to other things in unpredictable ways’ the ‘lucky’ entrepreneurial person will generate more opportunities in life.

Defining T and F

I found this realy great description ofmthe differnece between T and F in William Hazlitt ( an essay in ‘Table Talk’)

 

 

Fox in his opinions was governed by facts; Chatham was more influenced by the feelings of others respecting those facts.

 

Fox endeavoured to find out what the consequences of any measure would be; Chatham attended more to what people would think of it.

 

Fox appealed to the practical reason of mankind; Chatham to popular prejudice.

 

The one repelled the encroachments of power by supplying his hearers with arguments against it; the other by rousing their passions and arming their resentment against those who would rob them of their birthright

Political Consulting Selection Exercise

Here is an interesting exercise used as prt of a selection day for a major political consulting firm.

“Preapre a 5 minute presentation which will allow us to consider the folowing skills:

• Your communication skills  an ability to articulate
• Your planning and organisatonal skills
• Your robustness under pressure
• Your creativity
• Your confidence with presenting to an audience
• Your ability to encourage team interaction
• Your time management

We would like you to presnet the launch of a new political party to the other candidates for 3 minutes. The remaining 2 minutes should be in the form of audience participation. This can be on the basis of q&a or a quick quiz, or anything that you feel would relate to the subject you have discussed. The presentation should not require any visual aids but hand-held prompt cards will be allowed.

ISFJ

Spent the weekend with someone who I judged to be an ISFJ.

What amazed us all about this person was the amount of detail she recalled about people she knew when at University some 40 years previously.

Here is what I read about ISFJ’s

They use their sensing primarily internally where thay have a wealth of stored information. They remember clearly the details of things that have a personal meaning for them.

This lady to a T.

New Conservative plans for Careers Advice

I notice that the Tories are discussing a new careers service that will not focus on the under-achievers, but which will be more aspirational. This constant tinkering with Careers demnstrates 2 things. One is that no-one seems to think that Careers advice is done well – critiques are more frequent from the laft than the right: randomly I recall critical comments from Baroness Scotland, Ken Livingstone et al. But there is an ongoing conviction that Careers advice ought to be attempted.

As a life-long practitioner ( 30 odd years and counting) it is very hard to get a sense of achievement from Careers work. You do not really know if you have had an impact. You do know if you have helped an individual – they sometimes tell you. You don’t know whether your help was crucial. Some clients thank you because of your helpfulness rather than your help.

What keeps me going is a conviction that opportunities to discuss where you go next are important opportunities. They are a key part of any education – whether delivered by a careers adviser or a teacher / tutor.

But this conviction is not a sufficient basis for policy making.

Delayed Reaction

Although there was further confirmation of the dire job situation from the AGR, we still have not seen a flood of students seeking help. But then university life ends with a whimper really; most people who have not been busy seeking jobs, and lots of those who have see summer as breathing space – perhaps the last one before the ‘career’ sets in. The bleak reality of the job market will set in on the 4th of September.

I have been listening to an account by Stephen Minger – top stem cell scientist – of his ealry career – 5 years as a fork-lift truck driver before returning to University – and then years of hard grind learnniog how to be a reseach scientist.

The London Graduate Fair.

This was last weeks big event. Enjoyed doing an interview workshop with John Childs and an Application form session. Also liked doing a lengthy stint of CV feedback. Keeps me in touch with undergrads.

The Any Questions session I suggested seemed to go well enough though you do have to warm the audience up. They only started asking questions towards the end – and the questioners were older graduates.

 

I followed up with a session on the Guardian website on Friday afternoon. My first experience of doing this online advise giving. Had to reain in my initial grouchy response to some of the questions. Did not write ‘Get real’ at any point. Mind you I cannot bear to look at what I wrote. On reflection I think this ability to give speedy responses – even of not totally well-judged, is an important one – the problem is that your first thoughts are there for everyone to see and judge – and you are bod to get it wrong on occasion. Rather like blogging really.

Interviewing for Careers Advisers

A day of interviewing for Careers Advisers. Its really useful to do this. You get so many insights into the interview process. Its also rather humbling. You know you have a limited number of opportunitis and a plethora of worthy candidates. And here they are, in their suits, working hard at giving a good presentation of themselves – because they need the work.

You also know that some of the candidates will be dumbstruck when they do not get through. Some have qualifications and experience well in excess of the minimum requirement. What more do they need to do to get a job?

When reviewing the interviews the one thing that they could have done to make a difference was:  give an account of why you want the job – make it credible and go below the surface. Say something beyond the obvious – show evidence you have done some research. Cover the job and the organisation – thats two separate areas.

Social Networking and recruitment

One of our recent graduates is getting job offers via his Linked-in presence. Is social networking going to usurp the old Bolles Information interviewing idea we frequently promote. Or will it be a fad and in 5 years time the notion of putting info about yourslef online a quaint, faintly ridiculous or frankly dangerous activity.