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The one thing that tends to unite students everywhere is a lack of funds. Your college years are probably the only time in your life that you will be expected to struggle financially, and will be rewarded for it. Business proprietors everywhere are aware that most of us are in part-time employment (if any) and know that our fiscal difficulties are something upon which they can capitalise, leading to the ready availability of special offers and money-saving competitions galore. It’s the circle of gloriously cheap University life.

One of my absolute favourite sites for snapping up a great deal is GrabOne.ie. GrabOne, the brainchild of Kiwi Shane Bradley, is a site that offers services at vastly reduced rates in areas spanning everything from restaurants to leisure, beauty, and holidays. Sites such as Groupon and LivingSocial are similar and have certainly been around longer, but having used GrabOne for everything from Christmas presents to gifts for myself without any problems, I have been won over by it time and again. Their Facebook page is also currently running a competition to give away one GrabOne Escape holiday each week, which requires nothing more than the name and email address of the entrant. (It always makes me feel a little better knowing that I won’t be giving a company the means with which to steal my identity or hunt me down when I enter a competition).

Apache Pizzas are currently running a competition whereby fifty entrants per week will win a free 15” pizza. Over the course of the offer, five iPads and fifteen iPods will also be given away. Entrants simply have to fill out their details on this page and winners will be notified by email only – meaning no annoying, badly-spelled and exclamation-filled texts cluttering up your inbox.

My latest find, 48months.ie, seems too good to be true. Aimed at 18-22 year olds – “the best 48 months of your life!” – it claims to offer all texts and all calls to any Irish mobile network for €10 per month. €480 for four years of mobile phone usage is excellent value by any standards and though the internet coverage seems a rather patchy mish-mash of limited weekly offers and hourly rates, what is available is certainly cheap. The ulterior motive here seems to be to phase out landlines – only twenty minutes of landline time is included in the monthly package – so this isn’t for those with an unwavering loyalty to Eircom. Luckily for me, I am weighed down by no such ties and my SIM card is in the post!

I’ve called upon an oldie, but a goodie, to finish: the competitions and giveaways page of The Savvy Shopper is regularly updated with beautiful and high-end prizes, such as breaks at five-star hotels and Ladurée Macaroon gift-boxes. The site in general offers details of clothes, hotel, activity and other sales all around the country. Easily navigable and very current, pop over if you’re looking for present ideas on a budget.

There you have it: money-saving offers and competitions for everybody.

Keep calm, and carry on smiling!

Lynn Harding

ie.linkedin.com/in/lynnhardingwriter

What is networking – going to some old fuddy duddy soiree with a name badge on you and making inane conversation with incredibly boring people? Well, yes I suppose that is an option, but networking is really about building up contacts and letting people know what you are doing with your career.

Are you known as the nephew ‘who goes to college’ or the cousin who ‘I think is in computers’ or the scrum half ‘who may have just graduated, not sure in what’? In other words do your circle of friends and acquaintances know what you are studying, what you have graduated in or what skills you have – or are you just the soccer team member, great craic or Joe’s friend?

If you want to get a job in the area that you have qualified in then people need to know that you have those skills. It is in your interest to let people know what you are doing or what you would like to do – the more people that know exactly what you are capable of the more likely they will refer you to a job opportunity.

I’m not suggesting you greet everyone you meet with a brief resume of your life to date but you can be very clear in what you are currently doing and hope to do when asked. Don’t be shy in talking about yourself. It’s in your own interest to build up your contacts and let people know what you do – these contacts may not be able to help you immediately, but there will be a time when they will need your skills and experience or refer you to someone else you will. Building up contacts in the industry you are involved with will work for you in the longer term.

I suggest that you start building up your network today – build it before you need it!

Helen Murphy

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie

087 2419805

Twitter @hmurphyadare

LinkedIn http://ie.linkedin.com/in/helendmurphy

Take a moment to think of the most important thing to have going for you as a graduate. What is it? A job? A first-class honours degree? A debt-free bank account? All these are but glorious pipe dreams to the majority of us and their absence should, logically, clash with what truly is the most desirable attribute: POSITIVITY.

Maybe it’s an Irish thing, but the almost ghoulish recession obsession doing the media rounds is wearing thin. Yes, we are drowning in national debt, hemorrhaging emigrants and adopting new taxes as if they were Beanie Babies. But there is hope! Keep reading for a look at some of the real prospects and uplifting social events dotted around the country this week.

One of the most worrying positions to be in as a graduate is to have what is seen generally as a “common” degree, such as an Arts qualification. If you graduate with a BIS degree, you are pretty much guaranteed to walk into a job; ditto electrical engineering or computer science. If you’re looking to expand your skillset, you could do a lot worse than exploring the world of cloud computing. Even if you don’t know what it is, you have almost definitely heard the phrase, as the field is quickly redefining what a “buzz word” really is; last week’s Sunday Business Post included a 16-page supplement on the topic CNet.com hailed as the “future of data centers” as far back as 2008. In (very rough) layman’s terms, cloud computing is a means of bypassing hardware and software to store files and data in an internet “cloud”, which can be accessed anywhere. Think of GoogleDocs, and you have a pretty good template of the practical means of the technology for most people. With the Business Post’s Ian Campbell promising that “the real benefits of the cloud are still unfolding”, it might be worth jumping on the bandwagon.

If interested, Cork Institute of Technology is one of a few third-level institutions which has just launched a new graduate conversion programme, more details of which can be found here. This cloud is no mere pie in the sky, either; Big Fish Games recently announced the creation of thirty new jobs in the sector.

For anyone still in college and involved with media of any sort, the Smedias (Student Media Awards) is an excellent forum for getting exposure and recognition, as well as a means of making contacts in the field. Hosted by Kathryn Thomas and Daithi O’Shea, past judges have included Gereldine Kennedy, David Norris and Mary Wilson, so recognition could do wonders for the CV of a budding media savant. The deadline for pre-registration is March 12^th, so get your thinking caps on and your portfolios packed!

Bounce Back is the brainchild of the family of Erbie Underwood, who was lost to suicide last month. The night at Cork Opera House will be a celebration of his life through jazz, hip-hop and funk music, but is also the birth of an organisation by the same name. Bounce Back has been set up with the aim of providing a social retreat for Cork youths from 12-20 years of age and. Supported by some of the city’s most popular musical acts, including Brian Deady and The Roaring Forties, it will also be MC-ed by Des Bishop and Karen Underwood.

Hopefully these will give you a bit of hope, inspiration and perspective, particularly when faced with what I know can be a bleak employment horizon for many of us. When all else fails, try laughing. CollegeHumor.com is unbeatable for pictures, articles and memes that will guarantee some giggles.

Keep calm, and carry on smiling!

Lynn Harding

http://ie.linkedin.com/in/lynnhardingwriter

Ok, everyone has a mobile phone these days, many of you have smart phones (though I sometimes think ‘smart’ is a misnomer judging on the amount of contacts mine deletes on a regular basis). What do you use the phone for, games, apps, music, texting? Yes, of course you do, but do you realise that the phone is probably one of the first instruments of communication between you and a prospective employer?

Firstly, a stupid question maybe, but do you have your mobile number on your CV?Secondly and more importantly do you have a voicemail on your mobile?  Again, this may sound like a stupid question but I would say that in my experience, when recruiting new staff, that at least 60% of applicants did not have a voicemail. So, I ring to arrange an interview and the phone rings out. Do you think that I am going to try ringing them back later or am I just going to continue to arrange interviews with applicants who have answered their phone or have set up a voicemail? Of course you are not always in a position to answer the phone so please set up that voicemail and ring the employer back as soon as possible.

Having set up that voicemail play it back and listen to yourself – is the dog barking in the background, do you have music playing, are you doing a bad imitation of James Bond – you know the types of messages I mean. This could be the first time that the employer has communicated with you and first impressions are important. Your voice message should say your name clearly so the employer knows they have reached the right person, apologise for not being able to take the call and promise to return the call as soon as possible.

If you are in a position to answer the phone to an unknown number – assume it is someone offering you an interview and answer accordingly.  I suggest that saying hello and your name again lets the employer know that they have reached the correct person. Keep your Hi’s, Yo’s and ‘Sup for your buddies……

Helen Murphy has been working in customer service and generic business skills training for several years and has seen things from the employer and employee angle. For further information on group or one to one workshops please contact Helen Murphy, Creative Solutions, Adare, Co. Limerick.

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie

087 2419805

Twitter @hmurphyadare

LinkedIn http://ie.linkedin.com/in/helendmurphy

For so many graduates nowadays, it is a case of the chicken and the egg, ‘how do I get a job without work experience and how do I get work experience without a job?’ Internships can offer graduates the perfect opportunity to gain invaluable experience in the workplace which, in turn, will improve your CV greatly. Anyone who has shown the initiative to gain relevant work experience is going to catch the eye of a potential employer.

But the most important thing to remember when on this work experience is to stand out in your job for all the right reasons. Unfortunately employers don’t always remember their first days working in a new environment and they expect everyone to know what they know and do what they do! This is your chance to make yourself invaluable to the team. If they are not in a position to offer you a full time job, you want them to write the most glowing reference or even better, personally recommend you. Many employers expect graduates to demonstrate a certain degree of employment skills which unfortunately are not taught in many third level courses and therefore they must be learnt ‘on the job’.

So what basics should you bear in mind when you walk in on the first day of your new work placement?

Remember the difference between:

• Self-confidence and over-confidence – You need to give your new employer the reassurance that you won’t panic the first time you are asked to do something, but neither will you go in all guns blazing leaving a trail of destruction behind you because you thought you could do it all on day one.

• Informal and formal behaviour – There is nothing wrong with shaking hands, greeting colleagues and taking a lead from their behaviour, sitting down with your feet on the desk is not how you try to show your colleagues that you are relaxed. Everyone is entitled to be nervous but it is how these nerves manifest themselves that need to be monitored.

• Initiative and standing with your hands in your pockets – If the telephone rings, answer it, what is the worst that can happen? A small thing like answering the telephone correctly may not sound like much, but it is amazing how many people don’t know how to do it. This is an example of how you can prove to the company they were right to offer you a placement. Showing initiative in helping a colleague or asking an intelligent question is going to draw attention to yourself for all the right reasons.

• Responsibility and shrugging your shoulders – When you are asked to do something in the office, do it and do it well. Just because you are asked to make the tea today doesn’t mean you won’t be asked to stay in at the meeting once you have brought in the tea. Everyone started somewhere and look upon every task you are given as the opportunity to prove you are invaluable to the company.

Your strengths, competences, skills and attitude can only improve on your work placement, so practice best business skills, use this opportunity and stand out in your work placement for all the right reasons. Oh and bring in a chocolate cake on your last day – they won’t forget you then!

Helen Murphy has been working in customer service and generic business skills training for several years and has seen things from the employer and employee angle.

For further information on group or one to one workshops please contact Helen Murphy, Creative Solutions, Adare, Co. Limerick.

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie,

087 2419805.

Twitter @hmurphyadare,

LinkedIn http://ie.linkedin.com/in/helendmurphy

Well done you have graduated!  So what now?  I hate to break it to you, but graduating was the easy part.  “It’s fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” – Bill Gates.  You have had your parties and your celebrations. You have congratulated yourself more than humanly possible and your street value feels like it has shot through the sky.  But then that day comes.  You are home and everybody in your house is off to work.  You have a day, a whole entire day.  What on earth are you going to do with it?

For years you have yearned for the day where there is no deadline hanging over your head and it has finally arrived.  Yet for some reason not having a purpose for this day is a little bit unnerving.  You start to plan.  Ok… so gym 1 hour, coffee and breakfast then apply for some jobs.  But first you need a great C.V and/or portfolio, research, and you use the internet for guidance. Somehow you thought it might be easier or slightly more thrilling.  But as you send your third application it dawns on you, there might be many more days just like this one.

Your time now has an even heavier deadline.  The financial strain is one which is bearable in Ireland but unfortunately the social one is a completely different ball game.  Most of your friends seem to have found something, why is it just not happening for you?  I have a friend who battled and waited and hoped and then one day he got the most desirable job available.  It does happen but unfortunately the truth is that having no burden is the heaviest burden of them all.

So firstly take a break. This could be your last summer unless you are a teacher or professor.  Please read books (for fun), you have spent far too much time reading because you have to.  Now is your chance to let your interest be your guide.  You have already gone in a certain direction when it comes to your professional life.  This is a good opportunity to find the area that fascinates you the most. When you start doing stuff for fun, imagine how it could be your career.  It is a great guide – if you want to be great at something you must love doing it.  This is where the vital internship takes place, be willing to do it for free.  The love for it must be that great.

So break down your list of best places to work into a list of ten. Then email the person whom you would like to chat to.  Use the correct name and simply ask for a quick chat about the industry. If the appropriate time arises just ask them politely about any internships available.  All I can say is make sure that when you wake up in the morning you are not filled with dread but with unharnessed excitement for the day to come.  It all starts with a simple email.  Break it down.  Day one; make a list of companies and names and email addresses of the appropriate people (LinkedIn is perfect for this).  Day two; make a draft email of the one you want to forward.  I would leave it for half an hour and then come back to it. If it still impresses you then send it.  Remember to customise each email to the specific company.  Email a thank you email directly after the meeting no matter how it goes, they gave you their time.

I personally found that this was the best approach for me and it worked.  You can’t just keep looking blindly, sometimes you need a little more guidance. The job out there is waiting for you, you just need the right directions.

By Michelle Knight

The picture above resembles me(the monkey) before an interview.  I am consumed by that feeling you get before you get onto a roller-coaster.  I try to find every way out of it.  Everybody in my family gets a phone call before hand. Whether this is due to a serious fear of failure I am not sure.  All I know is that every cell in my body is in flight mode.  I am also unfortunately one of those people who sweat when nervous and trust me it is not pretty.  I worry that the only thing the interviewer is going to remember about me is the putrid smell of nerves.  Don’t even get me started on the handshake.  Yes, mine is like a soft warm wet cloth.  The kind you quietly and discretely wipe your hand after.  Mortifying right – and that is before they even ask me a question.  However using these steps I am significantly less sweaty and can formulate a sentence that even wows me.

Every interview you go to should have the lovely essence of confidence and ease. So what can we do to prevent the half an hour of torture which is preceded with days of anxiety. These days, an interview is hard to come by and whatever you do, you don’t want to blow this precious chance.  So before that open window slams shut in your face, find out how you can keep it open.

1.  Be prepared.  Practice, Practice, Practice.

Know what you are walking into.  This helps with confidence drastically and is a great way   of demonstrating your interest in the company.  Practice with a friend, you will probably end up giggling but it helps ease the fear that has built up.

2.  Release Anxious Energy.  Treat Yourself Well.

Do exercise, don’t drink caffeine trust me, it not only works your bowels but could leave you with the shakes (not an impression you want to give a potential boss!).

3.  Ask yourself: What is the worst that could happen?

Nothing truly life devastating is going to happen in this interview or any interview. I always say to myself that ‘it is what it is’.  All they really want to know is what you can do for them. So figure it out and sell it to them.  Chant it and believe it!

4 -Visualize in a positive way.

Once you have prepared and researched, you must have a clear idea of what you can bring to the company.  Again know it, chant it, visualize it, believe it and sell it.

5- Stay in the present moment.

Whatever you do, do not entertain negative thoughts, such as; they’ve seen through me, they don’t like me.  Often employers shake you to see how you deal with stressful situations. Enjoy it.

And finally after the interview congratulate yourself.  You fought your instincts and went through with it.  At this stage you have already gained something, experience.  So get onto that roller-coaster, some stages will be truly horrifying and others you might even enjoy.  I can promise you that at the end of it, when you step off, you will be proud of yourself.

By Michelle Knight

Like a feather in an economic storm.

Business grows because of inventive, innovative and charismatic people. The very idea of a business suggests supplying a particular market with something that they need or making them believe they want or should have it.  Some businesses are great, others OK and then you have the ones with no ethical limitations.  This blog is a response to Estio.com.  If I could solely bring this business into the court of unethical, stereotypical, vulture companies then I would happily sentence it to death.  However as myself and my colleges have debated, this business model might appear to have legs to stand on.  A graduate today is like that feather in the beginning of Forest Gump, just being moved around aimlessly by the breeze.  People are enthralled by this little ‘nothing’ in the world just trying to find its place.  Are graduates really like this?  Are we lost in the moment just waiting to settle and find our place in the world?  The feather is fascinating, beautiful and almost peaceful, yet with a destination that is completely unknown.

Graduates go into internship positions with the hope of being lifted up and given a job.  This is exactly what an internship is supposed to do for a graduate, or so I thought, lift us up and let us ride the current, start our career and our adventure.  The word Experience is the pure and simple currency of working in an internship.  The currency an intern gets in exchange for ideas, thoughts, blood and sweat.  However how much is this currency worth?  This blog is aimed directly at Estio.com, a company that charges a graduate between £60 and £200 a day for an internship position.  To me this can be likened to taking candy from a child.  What can graduates do or more importantly what happens if they can’t afford this?

Like feathers, graduates are ready for any kind of whirlwind adventure.  The word EXPERIENCE is invaluable to any graduate.  But are we really willing to pay for it, and with what? So what kind of dilemma does this leave us in?  We are now paying for college then for experience, when does it change?  When exactly do we stop paying and start getting paid?

Should graduates really have to pay for internships?  Is working for free not enough these days?  The thought terrifies me, is this going to catch?  If you don’t believe me check out this company’s website. We live and learn which is the essence of our existence on this planet.  I for one am happy to keep learning and growing.  I do not feel quite as happy knowing that I will always have to be paying out of an empty bank account to do so. What do you think please let us know, we can still stop the growth of such a company in Ireland if we think ahead.

By Michelle Knight

What exactly does this Digital Age look like?

As forward thinking as the technology of today is, not that much has actually changed. We are safe in our natural bubbles. We are not all walking around with chips in our arms and robot partners. This technological movement is referred to as the Information Age, Computer Age or the Digital Age.  It is simply all about sharing. Without the sharing element this Age would mean nothing.  In  summary: something happens offline, somebody puts it online and it is digital.  However this type of information sharing has changed our lives drastically.  Gone is the time of paper.

Graduates – this is a tool that can be used carefully and creatively.  Your voice as a future employee in any big company needs to be available and heard on an international scale.  You need to have the confidence that suggests that you have something important to say or at least that other people want to listen.  The more involved you are in this sharing network the more favourable you are to an employer.  Staying with the times no longer means reading your newspaper every day, but reading technology blogs and business reports too, then commenting on such reports in an international arena such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn.  We are all staying connected. We can chat across the oceans and see each other on Skype.   Everything we could possibly want to do is literally at our fingertips.

This information age is brilliant and it has been a great ride so far, however I do feel it is just a simple adaption to the way we live, just like the invention of the wheel, however it doesn’t change our human nature.  Everything that you do online is initiated off.  As I said earlier the information needs to be there before it is shared, and the majority of this information is gained and developed offline.

I love the digital age. It has provided platforms for creative communications that would never have previously been around.  However I still wake up every morning to the radio, shower, brush my teeth and go into work.  I am still very present in the reality of life, but it would be a fear that our virtual representations may become more important than our real ones.  It is a strange and almost contradictory idea that when we are living our lives we are off and when we are sitting in front of our tablets, phones and computers we are essentially on.  This society of always being on has brought globalisation to our front doors.  We can chat, share and buy globally all in an evening’s leisure.  So when do we switch off?

By Michelle Knight

Save the Circle of Life for the Lion King!

I think it is time to give the poor giggling hyena a chance at
becoming the king of the jungle (bush) sometime don’t you?
Who knows he could actually be quite good at it. It appears
the circle of life should stop with mankind. The working-class
should have the same chance to get rich as the rich do poor.
Some circles are meant to be broken. The world is full of
change. It is filled with stories, blockbusters about people
changing their lives. I mean honestly have you ever watched ‘Pursuit of Happiness’ ? It was the
longest most painful movie I have ever put myself through. But sadly the truth lies there. Change
breaks this circle. The very beauty of our existence depends on the elements of change, small
things setting bigger things into motion.

I love the philosophy to ‘change the things you can and accept the things you cannot.’ I am an
incredibly stubborn person so although I love the message, I often battle with the things that I
cannot change. However when it comes to political problems there is no such thing as can’t.
That is the beauty of a democracy, at least one hopes, change is the insurance policy that democracy
takes out. However after reading an article in the Irish times yesterday I can’t help but feel change
might be needed.

The article was highlighting the fact that fewer working class schools have young people going to
college opposed to fee paying schools. Sean Flynn the education editor for the Irish Times claims
that ‘every student in middle-class areas proceeds to college whilst the progression rate is less than 40 percent across huge swathes of working-class areas in Dublin, Cork and Limerick’.

Education is a powerful tool that Ireland has acquired over many years of determination. Why is it
that it is only equipping a certain number of people? People are battling to stay in the working class,
without work. Choice is a right that can never be overrated, so why is it that such a small number of
working class young people choose to go to college? This number is worrying because grant aid is still available to all students in Ireland.

Everybody travels a different road. We follow signs guided and aided by the people in our lives
and the countries in which we live. They become embedded into our world and make us who we
are. I don’t know anybody who hasn’t been faced with some kind of obstacle in life. Yet most
people will pull themselves out of it with pure hope and belief that things are meant to be better. I am
not saying that everybody should go to college, or that it is the only way to succeed, because we
all know this isn’t true. The worry lies in the stats, why are so many young people in these areas not
choosing college? Is it a war between the lion and the hyena or are the hyena’s more than happy
living off the leftovers?

By Michelle Knight