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Well on the way to your dream job...

Content Introduction ......................................................................... 3 Overview of your job search ................................................. 4 Clarification of competences ................................................ 6 - What are your competences? Clarification of job preferences and objectives ..................... 8 - What do you want? Cumulative CV .................................................................... 10 Company research ................................................................ 12 The STARK model ................................................................. 15 Target your CV and write an application ............................... 16 Checklist for “The good application”.................................... 20 Unsolicited job search ........................................................... 22 Cheklist for “the good, unsolicited application”.................... 25 The job interview .................................................................. 26

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Dear student at Lillebaelt Academy In your hand is the job application handbook from the Career Center. We hope that it will give you the help and guidance that you need, in order to find the right internship, student job or first job after graduation. Your education will give you a lot of knowledge and competences that you must “sell” to a potential employer. The road to your dream job after graduation may run through an interesting and instructive student job or work experience. The more serious you work with the material for your job application, the more likely it is that you will find your dream job - whether it is an internship, a student job or your first real position after you graduate. Job search is a process and in this handbook, we will give you specific tools on how to write an application and a CV that will get you an interview. You will also be able to find good advice on unsolicited job hunting and on how to prepare for an interview. You can get more help with your job search at the Career Center of Lillebaelt Academy, where you can get individual counselling from one of our officers or participate in one of our workshops. Good luck with your job search.

Kind regards, Marie Falk Nyboe Head of Student Counselling and Career Center

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Overview of your job search Preparation

Make sure your basis material is thoroughly worked through

1

Clarification of competences

2

Clarification of job preferences and objectives

3 44

Cumulative CV

Processing

Set aside ample time to target your CV and your application - EVERY TIME!

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Company research

5

Target your CV and write an application

Goal

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The job interview

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Clarification of competences What are your competences? When we talk about looking for a job or an internship, we will often use a popular term and tell you to “sell yourself”. But what is it that you actually have to sell? What do you have in stock, so to speak? What can you offer an employer? What is it the company will gain should they hire you? They might get an AP Graduate in Service, Hospitality and Tourism Management, a Multimedia Designer, or an AP Graduate in Marketing Management. Yes, but why should they choose you specifically? What is it that makes you special? The thing that makes you very special in an employment situation is the sum of your competences – the complete you. You have knowledge from your education – that is your ACADEMIC competences. This could for example be your knowledge of specific analytical tools and their application, or it might be your knowledge of specific legal areas, such as for example the Sale of Goods Act or transport legislation. At the beginning of a new education it is important that you are aware of the kind of competences that you are about to learn. Your competences are among the things that you will need to sell yourself when you apply for internships and later on, your first job.

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During your education you will learn many things that will not figure on your semester plan. Much of what you will learn besides your academic knowledge will typically be competences that you may take more or less for granted. We will name these your GENERAL competences. Some of them may also be competences that will span across various disciplines and academic degrees, such as for example communication and project management. The general competences can also be competences that you have developed during an internship, such as for example service mindedness or language skills during studies abroad, or perhaps team spirit and perseverance from your sparetime activities. Finally, there is everything that makes you “you”. These are your PERSONAL competences. It could be the way that you handle a task. You may for example have a sense of order, maybe you are quick to gain an overview or maybe you are always in a good mood and good at teamwork? The idea behind dividing your competences up into academic, general and personal is simply a way of making you think of all that you are. Remember that everything counts!

Are you aware of your competences?Øvelse: Your competences Your competences are what you need to sell yourself. That is why a job application process begins with a clarification of your competences. What are your abilities? What are you good at? How can you use this to sell yourself? Academically, generally and personally. Make a first list of the three types of competences, and add more to it as you come up with more things you can do. Be thorough, take your time and return to the list when you think of more things. And make sure you list it all, not just the competences you have from your education, also those you have from you part time jobs, hobbies, volunteer work, interests – in short – everything! Examples of ACADEMIC competences: • Have knowledge of the Sale of Goods Act • Can do calculation nutrients on food • Can be responsible for commissioning equipment • Can develop database solutions

My ACADEMIC competences:

My GENERAL competences:

Examples of GENERAL competences: • Am a good intermediary • Have experience of project management Examples of PERSONAL competences: • Outgoing • Adaptive • Focused • Humorous

My PERSONAL competences:

You can download a form for clarification of competences at eal.dk/careercenter-handbook

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What do you want? Clarification of job preferences and objectives Exercise: Once you have an overview of what you are good at, it is time to look at what you want. What is your dream job or dream internship? What do you want to work with? In what type of company, would you like to work? What is it that drives you? What is important to you? How do you work best? Hopefully something will add up, when you compare your competences with your preferences and objectives. The more thorough you have been in your clarification of your competences and the deeper you have been digging, the greater the chance of a match. If you are lucky or maybe if you have been very focused, there might even be a recurring theme? Depending on how thorough you have been, the recurring theme might be more or less obvious. It could for example be that you have an AP degree in Marketing Management and you like horses, then it might be an idea to apply to a wholesale company that sells riding equipment? Or maybe you have a Bachelor of Architectural Technology and Construction Management and are very interested in the environment, ecology and sustainability. In this case you should be looking for a company that shares those values and works with sustainable construction.

Think of a situation where you were at your best... What made you thrive?

Then try to answer these questions: Why was it fun?

What tasks did you work with?

You can download a form to help you clarify your job preferences and objectives at eal.dk/careercenter-handbook

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Once you have clarified your competences, your job preferences and your objectives, then a match will hopefully become clearer

What do you want?

What are your abilities?

MATCH Which opportunities are there?

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Cumulative CV Creating your cumulative CV is another step in the process of clarifying your competences. Your cumulative CV is not intended to be sent together with your application, but is solely meant as a TOOL. It is called a cumulative CV, because it is a CV where you include everything accumulated through time. Your CV needs to act as a sort of proof that you have the skills that the company requests. It should describe the tasks that you have attended to through time and explain the competences that you have attained. You need to fine-tune your TARGETED CV, in order for it to be appropriate for the job that you are applying for. And you need to send this with your application. Your CUMULATIVE CV is your tool, which you use in order to identify all of your competences and you use it to pick from. We could also call it your “desktop CV’.

The tasks and the academic focus areas are more or less self-explanatory, yet the results might be harder to pin point. On the other hand, you should be able to write a benefit for every single point. Your benefits are ´lessons learned ´that you take away with you from each job or degree. It is in other words, some of your competences. To write a cumulative CV is hard work. It takes time and it may be tempting to skip. However, if you are careful and remember to keep it updated, then you only have to do the work once. And who knows, you might even get some eye openers and discover some competences, that you had not really thought of...!?

You need to list as many details on it as possible and you are allowed to over-do it and explain in detail, since it is only for your own use. This is the drawer that you open, when you want to produce the targeted CV that you will send off with your application. Apart from getting your timeline in order and showing where and when you have been employed or educated, it is also a good idea to outline what your TASKS were and – at your place of study – what your ACADEMIC FOCUS AREAS were, together with the RESULTS you achieved and the BENEFITS of this.

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For your eyes only!

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Conta ct info rmati Name : on Addre ss: Hans J ens L angelin en Teleph one: 7913 G ie 127, 3 rd f Email: loor odhåb 12 34 Date o 5 6 78 f birth hansje : nsen@ th gm 11 of Perso Novem ail.com nal pr ber 19 o My cu 93 rrent m file anage able to rd t degree ake initiativ escribes me ea as a v and vo ersatile backg luntee nd provide round r t h and re w e cust o rk, I’m s, and team sp omers I’m ha used t to rea with a onsible emp o work ppy to ch its lo good e goal. ing wit take t xperie yee, who is he coo h peop Educa n ce. Du r le from dinatin tion e to m g resp v e 2014 r y y differe onsibi lity in nt order for the AP Gr aduat e in M Lilleb ar æ Areas lt Academy keting Man of focu agem ent, s  Ma rket C , academic o mmun  Log ication is Benefit tics s  Us 2010ed to 2013 work p roject - and HHX, practic Camp e-orie us Ve Degre ntated jle e:  IT and co mmun  Co 2009ica u rse: G 2010 erman tion , mark eting, Strib Emplo Englis I dræts ymen h and e f tersko t hist 2011IT (all ory le – B at A le admin vel) ton sp Sales ecialis ation Assis ta Work tasks: nt, Bilka V ejle

CV

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Company research Before you write your application Once you have your basic material in order – you know what your abilities are and what you want, and you have your competences documented in your desktop CV, then there are just a couple of things left to do, before you can proceed. If you currently have a job advertisement that you are looking at, then you need to study it and do a thorough company research, which will enable you to target your CV and write a job application. Analyse the job advertisement It is important to analyse the job advertisement before you start writing your application and targeting your CV. Highlight KEY WORDS and make sure you know what the company is looking for. What are the job tasks, what competences are they looking for and last but not least, which values do they require? The combination of your application and your CV is your RESPONSE to the company’s job advertisement. Make sure you know what they are asking, so you can provide the answers to all of it. On the opposite page you can see an example of a job advertisement with highlighted key words and comments.

You can download a form for company research at eal.dk/careercenter-handbook

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Technical Consultant for lighting systems Quotations – Project management - Coordination - Follow-up Green light aps, www.green-light.dk, is an innovative sales and consultancy company, with a head office in Middelfart and a subsidiary in Flensburg, Germany. The company is among the most competent specialists in consulting and sale of complete lighting systems and technical lightning solutions, as well as in renovation of existing lighting systems, primarily for industrial, service, retail and the public sector. Green light’s success relies heavily on the ability to work in close partnership with the customer. Similarly one of green lights’ largest assets are the employees’ competences, creativity and ability to think conceptually, when it comes to modern, environmentally friendly lighting. As part of the continuous growth – including the German market – an outgoing technical profile is needed. The job: This is an independent position and you will be responsible for a number of internal tasks, which will be organised in close cooperation with the external consultants, both in Denmark and in Germany. You will primarily need to support external sales and your tasks will include preparation of quotations and lightning calculations, ordering of supplies, ongoing follow-up on these, as well as negotiating with suppliers. Similarly, project management and calculations in connection with the sale and delivery of finished lighting systems, will become part of your responsibility. You will get to work with a wide product range, which is absolute leading on the market in lighting and technical lighting solutions.

Do you match the company’s values? Do these values motivate you? Please note there is an underlying request for specific competences here. In this case it is knowledge of the German language.

Do you have experience with these tasks? Or maybe an educational background to handle these tasks?

Qualifications: You have an electrical engineering background – preferably as an electrician or energy technologist. It is essential that you have experience from a similar job, and concepts like Dialux and Relux are not foreign to you. You also have experience with various CAD programs, and the courage to work on the development of new product ranges. Your personality is also crucial. Competences such as self-confidence, good communication and negotiating skills, perseverance and not least overview and systematic problem solving are needed in order to succeed. Finally you are a person who is able to find your personal drive without all the tasks being predefined in detail. We offer you: A job where you will be the key resource, in an informal but professional team. The company will make every effort to train you within a very exciting area, where project management, counselling, customer contact and product development are some of the cornerstones.

Are you able to respond to the company’s requests with both your academic and personal competences? Remember, it is OK if you are not able to match all the requirements - particularly the academic qualifications. But the personal competences will often be very important. Those are typically the ones that the company will be unable to teach you.

This may give you important information about the place you will be working at – what kind of environment you need to fit into, both academically and personally.

If you want this challenge then please email your application, marked “01.09.87”, to [email protected]. All inquiries will of course be treated as confidential.

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Exercise: Find information about the company Once you have analysed the job advertisement, you will hopefully know quite a bit about the company, where you are about to apply. If you want your application to be at the top of the pile of applications, then you should seek out additional information about the company: Who are they? What do they do? What values do they have? You can start with the company website, but you should also try to Google the company. The more you know about the company, the better you can target your application. You can typically find a place on the website where they describe their values and when you Google the company, you can be lucky to find mentions of it, its situation and its reputation. The company research is extremely important! It will make you able to put yourself in the company’s position and understand its needs and its culture. To write an application without first having done a thorough research is like ‘target shooting with a blindfold’. The chances of hitting the target are very small!

Should you call the company? It may be a good idea to call the company - call the contact person who has been specified in the job advertisement. Do not call simply in order to get yourself noticed, but because you collect information, that you may use to improve your application. Remember to ask only relevant questions. Do not call and ask about something, that you could have found the answer to in the company website!

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Company name:

Values:

Mission/Vision:

Strategy:

Contact person:

Departments:

The STARK model When you know precisely what the company is looking for, then you need to compare it to your own competences. Do you have what the company is looking for? Can you ‘deliver’? And just as importantly: Can you convince the company of just that? A good exercise for matching requirements and competencies is to use the STARK model:

Situation: Think of a situation you have been in, which is similar to the one you will be in if you get the job. In other words: a situation where you used the competences, that the company requests. Task:

What tasks did you carry out? Or what problems did you face? Remember that not only your work experience counts here. You can easily use tasks from your education or from volunteer work in a sports club or similar.

Action:

What were your specific actions in this case? How did you handle the task or solve the problem?

Result:

What was the outcome? What was the solution to the problem?

Knowledge: What have you learned, that you want to use in similar situation? Or what would you want to do differently? You can use the STARK model in several situations. You can use the model as your own tool for clarifying your competences, which will make you very clear about your abilities. You can also review your targeted CV while using the model step by step. Which competences will you bring with you to your new job from your previous one? Finally, you can also use the STARK model in preparation for your job interview. In this situation you can use the model as a template for your “golden stories” (see page 27).

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Target your CV and write an application You now have a detailed list of your competences. You have a thought through and comprehensive CV, you have analysed the job advertisement and researched the company. Now you just have to have to target your CV and write a focused application. But how do the two relate to each other? The application is NOT a summary of your CV. The two must complement and not repeat each other. A bit simplified, it can be said that your CV is pointing backwards and tells the company, what you have accomplished until now. The targeted application, however, is pointing forward and explains, how you plan to use things from your CV in the advertised job. The targeted CV There are several good reasons, why you must target your CV each time you look for new job. It is very likely that you have accomplished a lot, of which not all is relevant in the context of the job that you are applying for. So in view of the fact that the reader is not likely to spend more than 30 seconds to skim through your CV and your application, it is important to use this precious time on what is most relevant.

CV

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Is pointing backwards and serves as documentation for your ability to do the things you mention in your application.

Targeting also gives you an opportunity to fine-tune your CV. You must, of course, choose your words with care, so that they match the job requirements from the current advertisement and replies to the demands of this specific company.

What should a CV look like? Layout: You can layout your CV in many ways. But the most important thing is that it is MANAGEABLE and easy to navigate. One should not have to search for the information.

Length: A CV should not be longer than 2 pages.

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CONTACT INFO may be placed in a header and must contain name, address, phone, email, date of birth and, if necessary, marital status. YOUR PERSONAL PROFILE is your “elevator speech” to the company, your extended business card of max. 4 – 6 lines. It should be an appetiser to your CV and your application, and can be compared to the text on the back of a book. Remember that the personal profile on your CV must be different from the paragraph about yourself in the application. There is no reason to waste valuable space or time on repetition. The focus in the CV’s personal profile must be your academic competences and if you include personal competences, then they must relate to the way you behave as an employee! EDUCATION: Write about your academic focus areas. Select those that are relevant to the job and possibly mention larger projects. It can also be a good idea to write how you have benefitted from your education, in other words what you bring with you into the job, such as “experience with xx”, “insight into yy” or “has worked with xy”. It is possible that the company is not fully aware of what someone with your educational background has learned, or maybe you simply have the perfectly matching academic profile for the job. Under WORK EXPERIENCE you should enter your primary tasks if relevant your projects, and finally your benefits. Choose what is relevant to the job you are applying for. It goes without saying, that you cannot invent tasks, but think about how you present the ones you had - in order for them to best match the requirements of the job you are applying for. BENEFIT: Here you can write what you take with you from a previous job or from education. This is what you bring with you – your competences.

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CV

Contact information Name: Hans Jensen Address: Langelinie 127, 3rd floor 7913 Godhåb Telephone: 12 34 56 78 Email: [email protected] Date of birth: 11th November 1993 Personal profile My current manager describes me as a versatile and responsible employee, who is able to take an initiative and provide the customers with a good experience. Due to my degree and volunteer work, I’m used to working with people from very different backgrounds, and I’m happy to take the coordinating responsibility in order for the team to reach its goal. Education 2014 -

AP Graduate in Marketing Management, Lillebælt Academy Areas of focus, academic • Market Communication • Logistics Benefits • Used to work project- and practice-orientated

2010-2013

HHX, Campus Vejle Degree: • IT and communication • Course: German, marketing, English and IT (all at A level)

2009-2010

Strib Idrætsefterskole – Badminton specialisation

Employment history 2011Sales Assistant, Bilka Vejle Tasks: • Order, inventory regulation, and customer service • Disposal, restocking Benefits: • Customer oriented and very helpful - also at the end of the day • Trained in good business practices 2013

Warehouse Worker, Schulstad Lantmännen, Vejle Tasks: • Pick and pack Benefits: • Insight into logistics and stock availability • Good at teamwork

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REFERENCES: If you have references, then you should add their telephone number here, but remember to ask them beforehand if you can add them as references on this specific application. You should only attach old references if they highlight competences that are relevant for the job you are currently applying for. Alternatively you can write that details of references, if requested, can be provided at a later date.

Side 19

CV 2008 - 2011

Dishwasher, Restaurant Børkop Watermill Tasks: • Washing and cleaning Benefits: • Learned how to handle stressful situations • Became good a systemising tasks

HONORARY POSTS/VOLUNTEER WORK: You might have been working as a coach for the local little league handball team, and you may be able to write, that you have been the coordinator for a training weekend, and the benefits have been that you now have experience with organising an event and creating commitment among team members. Or maybe mention other competences relevant for the job that you are currently applying for.

Voluntary work and abroad 2014

Teaching assistant, Montessori Kinderhaus, Vienna Tasks: • Ensure that children were well taken care of • Various practical tasks Benefits: • Improved my German, in particular orally • Increased my ability to adapt to a new culture and work situation

2011-

Badminton coach Tasks: • Train and lead a team of young badminton players Benefit: • Good at teaching others • Used to taking the lead

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE: Please note that the title does not refer to “holidays”, but extended stays abroad. This means that the stay must be of a certain length of time and should at the least have given you a competence such as “intercultural competences” or maybe an ability to adapt to different cultures and situations.

Languages Danish English German, Norwegian and Swedish

Native language Fluent in speech and writing Reasonable conversation level

LANGUAGES: Specify at what level you master the languages that you add to the list, for example, native language, fluent in writing and speech, negotiation, conversation, practiced, knowledge of and so forth. Do not add languages you only have knowledge of unless it is relevant to the application. Remember that a different native language than Danish might be a benefit.

IT MS Office

Super user

Spare-time I climb in my spare-time - at home on a climbing wall - but when opportunity presents itself I prefer the mountains, where I like to set myself a goal and find out how to get there.

IT: State the level of your IT skills. For example super user, user, or only knowledge. You should for example remember that Microsoft Office is a large package of programs and you may not be equally skilled in all of them.

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OTHER INFORMATION could be information about your spare-time activities. You should not necessarily explain how you spend all of your spare-time, but this may be an opportunity to ensure that you stand out or maybe highlight something, which is relevant in relation to the current job?

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Recipe for “The good application” Captivating headline The captivating headline needs to make the recipient want to read the application and it must outline the concurrent theme in it. Your motivation for applying for the job The paragraph about motivation needs to be concise and explain why it specifically is this company and this position, which makes you want this job. Your motivation is very important - the company can shape its employees more or less as they want, but your motivation is the engine that needs to drive this process. Your offer to the company The most important in the application is your offer to the company. What do you have to offer? How will you use the competences and the experiences that you have in this specific job? Do not just list your competences, because that will sound untrustworthy. Bring your competences into context by mentioning situations, where you have used your competences and describe how you will use them in this specific job. In your targeted CV you have explained how you have gained these competences, now you need to show how you intend to use them in the future - for the benefit of the company’s bottom-line.

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A little about you In addition to your offer, you may want to write a little bit about yourself. Who you are as a person and what is important to you. Use no more than 3 or 4 lines, and remember that it needs to be more than simply a repetition of your personal profile on the CV. Carefully consider, which personal competences it is appropriate to highlight in connection to this position (in precisely this company). End At the end you need to summarise why the company should choose you for this specific job. Do not end a well-written and personal application, with a standardised salutation, such as “I hope that the above has interested you and I look forward to hearing from you”. Do not waste the space on platitudes, but end on a high.

What will you spend your 30 seconds on?

Checklist for “The good application” Does your application create the desired attention/interest? Tip: Do you have something interesting to tell? Maybe you have a good story? Does your application play to the company’s needs? (not your own) Tip: Check how many of your statements that starts with “I am...“. It is a bad sign if there are a lot. Your application is not about you, but about what you have to offer! About what you can do for the company. Have you avoided empty platitudes? Tip: Empty platitudes are often “dead competences”: Competences that anyone can claim to have. Avoid “dead competences” by making them come alive:

Very important!!!

You need to back-up your competences with examples or short stories. Do you offer what the company is requesting? Tip: Read thoroughly through the job advertisement one last time. Did you get it all? Were you able to reply to the demands and wishes of the job ad? Do the CV and the application complement each other? Tip: Check that your application is not simply a summary of your CV, but that the application describes how you wish to use the competences from the CV in the advertised job.

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Unsolicited job search Why? The majority of jobs are not advertised and those that are have a great many applicants. Therefore it is a very good idea to be proactive and reach out to the companies, thereby identifying new potential employers and creating contacts that might lead to a future job. When you apply for a job that you have seen in a job advertisement, you only really reply to what the company has written in the advertisement. When we look at it this way, it can be said, that part of the effort has already been taken care of for you. The company has recognised and described a need, and has encouraged qualified candidates to apply. When you start an unsolicited job search you have to identify the company yourself and convince them, that they need you and your competences. How? There are several ways to find suitable companies. • Network: Do you know someone who knows someone? If so, reach out to them. • Network: Google, LinkedIn, the news. • Corporate databases: For example KOB - Købmandsstandens Oplysningsbureau or Kompass. • Industry Associations, trade associations, business offices, subcontractors. Your previous clarification of your competences, should have given you a helping hand in regards to where you should be looking. Maybe companies, which are involved in things, which you are good at and have an interest in? Try to think out of the box and maybe combine your academic knowledge with your hobby or passion.

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If football is your main interest then maybe you should look for companies that operate within the sports industry, for example with events, and if you are a sales person or buyer you should look for a company that sells sports equipment? If your great passion is the environment and sustainability, then maybe you should look for companies that are involved in agriculture or the production of food and maybe energy saving? It might be that you like horses and therefore should look at companies, which deal with animals or animal articles or maybe farming? Perhaps you know a lot about the Spanish language and culture, and would like to work in a company, which has subsidiaries in Spain or might be planning to import/export to or from Spain? Think of what types of companies will be able to use your academic competences and consider, in which departments. Some types of degrees will have the ability to be usable in most companies - such as for example a degree within sales, marketing, and logistics, while others are more specific and yet others require companies of a certain size in order to need employees with a specialised focus area.

Exercise: Company research You need to research the company, just like when you are replying to a job advertisement (see page 12). In the case of an unsolicited application, you need to figure out which departments the company consists of and where you may fit in. What kind of tasks can you do for the company? Your company research needs to give you enough knowledge about the company, in order for you to be able to interpret its needs, especially those that it has not thought of yet. The company’s needs should be to hire someone precisely like you! You need to find out in which functions, you will be able to be an addition. The result should be that by recruiting you, the company will get an improved bottom-line.

In order to make it a little more tangible you can write your own job advertisement: Tasks:

Competences:

Values:

The company’s vision and mission:

Department(s):

Contact person:

When you have written your job advertisement, you can proceed to answer it, as you would do with any other job advertisement.

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The application’s layout

✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓

Captivating headline

Motivation

My offer/contribution

The main point!!!

A little about me

End

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REMEMBER! Avoid empty platitudes. Back up your competences with examples!

Recipe for “the good, unsolicited application” I am the one you did not know you were missing! Your unsolicited application must be set a bit differently from your normal application (see p. 20), as its primary function is to tell the company, that they have a need. Name of the contact person Figure out who the correct person to deliver your application to is. Most often it is not someone in the HR department. A captivating headline The company does not know what they are missing. It is up to you to tell them and the best way to do that is by NOT typing “Unsolicited application”. But, on the contrary, a single statement, which presents the essence of your offer. Your offer to the company What can you contribute with and in which department(s) do you see yourself? Taking care of which functions and within which academic areas of the company, can you be an addition with your competences? Here you need to be specific. Please give them examples of what you can offer, still making space for the company to draw its own conclusion on, what your competences are and where you might fit within their organisation. Your motivation for applying to the company Why do you wish to work at this specific company? Why, among the many companies in the world, have you chosen this one?

A little about you Apart from your offer to the company, you may write a LITTLE about yourself, who you are as a person and what is important to you. Use about 3 or 4 lines, no more, and remember that it cannot be a repetition of your personal profile on the CV. Consider carefully which personal competences it might be appropriate to highlight in the context of precisely this position in this specific company. End At the end you need to sum up WHY the company should select you for this job. Do not wrap up a good, targeted and personal application with a standardised application platitude such as “I hope the above has interested you and I look forward to hearing from you”. Do not waste space on platitudes, but end on a high. You should also remember that when you write an unsolicited application the initiative has to be yours. That means that you should not wait for the company to call you, but simply write, that you will contact them within one week. They should have time to read your application. And then you need to remember to call them within the announced time and follow up on your application. NOTE: The good unsolicited application must of course, be accompanied by an equally good and targeted CV. In page 16-19, you can read more about how to set up the CV and how to ensure that the application and the CV complement each other.

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The job interview Preparing questions Of course you can not know precisely, which questions will be asked at the job interview. But you can prepare yourself for the most common ones and in order to avoid being caught unprepared, you can think about what might be the worst that you could be asked. Typical questions at a job interview could be Tell us about yourself. Here, you can use your “elevator speech” (see the next page). Stay focused and be careful not to let your mouth run. Why do you want to work for us? Here, you can use the company research that you have done. What are your strengths and weaknesses? Try to track the conversation to your strengths and seek to assure the employer, that your weaknesses are not an issue. Do not pretend that you do not have any weaknesses at all, as that would not be credible. But, if possible, try to turn your weakness into something positive: If for example you are finding it difficult to finish tasks and meeting deadlines, then you can highlight your attention to detail and your perfectionism. What makes you happy/unhappy in a job? Here you will have to be honest. You do not want a job, where you are decidedly unhappy. Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years? Do you have ambitions within the company? Why should we employ you? What can you do for us, that others may not? This should have been described in your application, but try to put it into spoken words - as concisely as possible.

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What do you expect from a good colleague/boss? What will stress you? And how will you react, when you are under pressure or become stressed? Try to answer the questions – preferably by using a friend as a partner, and second best just to yourself. But speak the answers out loud in order to formulate them. Do not just have them in your head. Read your application and CV through before the interview. If for example you have written that you are goal orientated, then you will very likely be asked to give a few examples. As a way of preparing for these kinds of questions, it is a good idea to know your Golden Stories. Read more about this on the next page.

THE ELEVATOR SPEECH A very short speech about yourself - to present when you meet new contacts in connection with courses, meetings, receptions, trade shows etc. In 2 minutes you need to be able to say: Who are you? What can you do? What do you do? What do you want? In order to be more confident and at ease with the speech, you should practice in front of a mirror or with a fellow student.

GOLDEN STORIES Golden stories can be examples of situations, where you have used your competences: Maybe one of your ideas has changed the procedures at one of your former workplaces? Or maybe you found a good solution to a problem you faced? Think of situations, where you have used your competences and have been a part of making a difference.

DRESS CODE AND PERSONAL APPEARANCE You need to select an outfit, which matches the job and that you feel comfortable in. Get the clothes ready the day before. Iron the shirt and shine the shoes. Think about your body language. Look people in the eyes and straighten your back.

It can be as part of a project for your studies or maybe during your internship?

Write down key words for your elevator speech here:

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Published by the Career Center at Lillebælt Academy eal.dk/careercenter

01.06.15