GAIN MARKET AWARENESS BY READING AND WATCHING

  • Make time to organise your news feeds and read them critically
  • Seek out specialist and business news sites. As a University of London student you have privileged access to the Financial Times  and the Wall Street Journal
  • Check out the Global Employment Newsroom for more ideas
  • Notice where the activity is expanding in your preferred sectors expanding and contracting. Job opportunities follow expansion.
  • How is technology changing your preferred sector? How could you adapt or capitalise on that trend? 

GAIN INSIDER KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING BY TALKING AND LISTENING

  • Draw a diagram mapping your acquaintances and what professional insights they might be able to share.
  • Choose 3-4 priority contacts and think how you might be able to reach out to them. See our resource on Networking and Informational Interviewing for ideas on how to do that.
  • Prepare some questions focused on how their professional area is responding to global changes.
  • Take notes during or after the conversation. And remember to thank them for their time.

GAIN EXPERIENCE BY VOLUNTEERING OR PAID WORK
The best way to see how global trends are changing a working environment is to get experience in that environment. This can be in a number of ways:

  • Volunteering/ work-shadowing: Such voluntary activity can range from conducting professional tasks for a co-curricular activity such as being the treasurer of a university sports club, volunteering for a charity or spending a week informally shadowing someone.  Seek volunteering that in some ways exposes you to technology. From health to finance, every sector now has a technology angle. So look out for opportunities to use apps, online marketing and big data analysis to increase the impact of any activity that you are involved in.
  • Paid work experience, perhaps part-time or holiday jobs: however humble the job, it can be a great way to observe an organisation from within. What is your manager worried about? What is their manager worried about? 
  • Student and Graduate Internships: Some companies create internships as part of their talent spotting and recruitment pipeline. These can be great career-enhancing opportunities but be aware that they will expect you to have done your research before applying so revisit the points under Read and Talk. And make sure that your questions to them focus on future trends for their organisation and professional sector. 

Check out our resource on Crafting Career Experiments for more ideas.

Last modified: Tuesday, 1 December 2020, 4:10 PM