This article was written by Pratheek Allu, a Career Ready Ambassador at our City Campus.
Today’s job market is dynamic and competitive, making it crucial to use career resources for job seekers and professionals alike. Career resources primarily are tools, services and platforms that provide information, guidance and support to help students make informed decisions.
The Career Ready Advantage Awards is a tool that students can leverage to develop a healthy all-around career portfolio. Employers today are looking for well-rounded individuals who are not just strong academically, but for students who also have professional and practical experience as well. The demonstration of these experiences requires the development of a career portfolio that will catch an employer’s eye and will set you apart from the rest of the competition. To help university students, the Career Ready Advantage Award program has been designed by the university.
The Career Ready Advantage program consists of three components:
1. Professional Learning
Professional learning can vary from a wide range of activities that can include self-learning on LinkedIn, a MOOC, or attendance at a conference/webinar which will give us additional knowledge or skills in the field that we want to work in. Learning skills and gaining knowledge in the field, completing professional certification courses such as (CPA, PMP, CFA, Network Engineering etc) would put students a step above those who have a basic Masters or a Bachelor’s certification.
2. Practical Experiences
Practical experiences help us understand how to apply theory to real-life situations. Practical experiences can range from paid internships at top companies to volunteering at a food drive. Practical-learning assists students in identifying their true interest in the field (which can be a specialisation) and choosing their company of interest and job role accordingly. Practical experiences can also include a short industry experience project or an industry mentoring program (both of which are offered by the La Trobe Career Ready team). Industry projects that involve working in a team, helps to inculcate social values such as sharing, compassion and team spirit, which are critical to high productivity and happiness in a workplace.
3. Career Portfolio
The career portfolio activities attempt to bring together all the documents, samples and materials to showcase their skills, experience and accomplishments to potential clients and employers. The career portfolio section of the Career Ready Advantage program performs these activities by preparing a career plan, resume, LinkedIn profiles, elevator pitch and video interviews, all of which would help a student in finding the right job.
As a bonus, the Career Ready Advantage Award, apart from developing the documentation required for employment, is also displayed on the university transcript, showing the employer that you are a serious candidate for graduate employability. As the colloquial proverb goes, ‘The Early Bird Gets the Worm’, it is best to start the program in the first semester to reach the highest level of the award which is the Career Ready Advantage Award Platinum level.
The award starts at the Silver Level, progresses to the Gold Level and culminates at the Platinum level in the final stage. So, what are you waiting for, it is time to ‘Ready, Set and Go’ for the Platinum level award.