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…… I can’t be happy all the time, why should I smile when I don’t feel like it, the client/my boss/my colleague won’t notice as long as I get the work done.

Sadly this is not the case, of course we can’t have a Pollyanna attitude all the time, but if you are in a grump you have to leave it at home or on the bus and collect it again at the end of your working day.

As your mother will have told you ‘a smile costs nothing’ and, as always, your mother is right! That smile you get when you meet the receptionist in an office is her way of acknowledging you, making you feel that it was worth coming in today. So, if you feel like that then surely your clients will feel the same way. That first impression really is very important.

If you are on the phone or talking with another colleague, a brief smile in the direction of your client will ensure that they don’t feel ignored and know that you will be with them as soon as possible. Disarming a customer with a smile is often half your battle, they are more likely to purchase something from a pleasant, cheerful person.

There are numerous clichés about smiling but this one really does ring true – Smile and the world smiles with you, cry and you cry alone…… So become the cheerful, happy, pleasant employee/colleague/worker that people look forward to working with and you will find that you enjoy your work every day.

Just remember the difference in smiling pleasantly and grinning like a loon!

Helen Murphy

If you have been lucky enough to be called for an interview then you will probably have done your research about the company, prepared your ‘tell me about yourself’ speech (see earlier blog!) and considered all your skills and how they can benefit the company interviewing you.

So don’t ruin it all by turning up in an inappropriate, last minute outfit. Surely if you can give all the time to the above preparations then you can spare some time to think about your outfit. What is wrong with a well fitting suit, ironed shirt, tie done up to the neck and polished shoes? First impressions do count and that impression can be formed as quickly as the initial 10 seconds when you meet the employer.  A half done tie or scuffed shoes will not do you any favours and it really doesn’t take much effort – surely you have discovered the iron in the last 4 years as a student!

And I am not discriminating against you men, women have rules to follow too – nothing too low cut or revealing, no trouser suits, no shoes so high that you are unable to walk in them, nothing that comes above the knee when you sit down (practice in front of the mirror if you aren’t sure) and less is more when it comes to makeup, perfume and jewellery. The key thing to remember is that you are applying for a job not going to a party.

You may think that all this is too serious and doesn’t apply to you but you must remember that the interviewer is looking for someone who takes themselves and, in turn, the prospective company seriously. You may be applying for a job in the creative industry and feel that funky clothes are the way to go but the HR manager may be in no way creative and won’t necessarily appreciate your ‘individuality’ – so keep the dress sense ordinary until you land the job, then you can follow suit and dress in the acceptable manner for that workplace.

Try on the outfit the day before and make sure all buttons are sewn on, shoes are polished, no ladder in your tights, etc. And most importantly for that first impression – SMILE!

Helen Murphy Creative Solutions

Customer Service and Effective Business Skills Training

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie, 087 2419805, www.helenmurphycreativesolutions.ie

As much as possible, I am an advocate for staying in Ireland, keeping our resources at the time when we most need them, and capitalising on the only wealth we currently have: our young, well-educated workforce. Nevertheless, the simple fact remains that there is a giant elephant in the room of every graduate seeking employment at home, and his name is Emigration. Even those of us blessed with the wanderlust gene may not particularly rejoice at the idea of being forced, effectively, from our native country by economic necessity, but for many it is the only option. As of September 2011, 110 Irish nationals were emigrating every day and the numbers don’t appear to be slowing down.

Everyone thinks of those with skills in a trade or construction as being in demand across North America, Australia and Asia, but there is a wealth of opportunity for those in the healthcare industry, engineering, computer science and agriculture too. Basically, if you are thinking of moving to brighter shores, don’t rule yourself and your qualification out without first doing your research to see where you could be in demand.

For simple and straightforward advice, Emigrate2 offers a 21-step plan to getting to your feet and getting out. 21 steps may seem like quite a lot, actually, but there is a lot more to moving abroad than one might think. Although most emigrants recently out of third-level education won’t have to think about organising spouses, children and selling property, the site does still offer a lot of practical information about the nitty-gritty of actually relocating your life. Without stressing the point too much: knowledge is power, and emigrating is not the same as a gap year or spending a J1 picking fruit on farm. Do your homework before making any concrete plans.

The success of the recent emigration and jobs expo at the RDS acts as testament to just how many people are out there looking for information; over 5,000 members of the public arrived and though opening hours were extended, not everybody was able to gain access to the arena. Priority was given to those who had booked their tickets in advance, so keep your eyes peeled for any similar events in your area. One will be held in the Silver Springs Hotel, Cork, on Wednesday, March 7^th, details of which can be found at Working Abroad, one of the most popular sites out there for emigration information. It offers details on jobs worldwide in almost every field, and I would recommend signing up to their monthly newsletter.

International employment websites such as Monster are always useful when browsing. However, if you know exactly where you want to go, but don’t have a job in the pipeline just yet, a website catered to offering details and opportunities in the country of your choice is the best option.  For those interested in moving to Canada, JobBank and Workopolis in particular are some of the best sites to visit. If your sights are set on Australia, the national Job Search website is easily navigable and is currently advertising almost 60,000 jobs.

Whether leaving out of necessity or a sense of adventure, permanently or just for a year or two, having as much preparation done before you take the final leap will make the stress of leaving that bit more manageable…and pave the way for the excitement to follow!

Keep calm, and carry on smiling!

Lynn Harding

Tell Me About Yourself – The dreaded but inevitable question at any interview. The one where you em and eh and start telling them about your life to date – including sisters, brothers, girlfriends, boyfriends, what you had for breakfast…..

No, this is not what they want to hear, they don’t really mean to show an interest in you and your interests – they want to know how you can be good for their company. It is a guaranteed question and one which will have a different answer in every interview. Why? Because each job spec is different and every time you ‘tell someone about yourself’ you are actually applying for the job in question. It is not a generalisation of your life but a very specific resume of what you have done in the past that will help this company in the future.

So, as you research the company for your interview preparation, you must also prepare your spiel, your unique selling point, your Elevator Speech – imagine yourself in an elevator with the CEO of the company and you have until the ground floor to sell yourself – what would you say?

It takes time to get it right and a maximum of 3 minutes is really as long as you should speak for. Practice it out loud, practice it in front of your mother – who will tell you how fantastic you are and why wouldn’t they want you and then practice it in front of someone a little more critical! You may feel foolish to begin with but very grateful when you get in to the interview and they ask you……

Remember – do not sound too polished and rehearsed, try and sound spontaneous as though you never imagined they would ask such a question!

Helen Murphy

helendmurphy@yahoo.ie

087 2419805

Twitter @hmurphyadare

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

Perhaps one of the greatest resources available to graduates on the hunt for a job is their university website. As a UCC graduate, I know my college’s careers’ page like the back of my hand, and though it might seem an obvious place to look, a surprising number of alumni habitually delete the employment newsletters that pop into their inboxes each week. Even if you don’t find a vacancy for the perfect career, graduate programmes and regular jobs in retail, restaurant work and the like often crop up and you might be surprised at what you could find.

So, first things first: trawl through your own university’s site. As I said, my own is University College Cork and I have found the Careers Service quite useful. Apart from the vacancies section, perhaps the most useful page is that of Careers and Employers Events. Here you will find the schedule for all upcoming milkrounds, lectures and expos given by prospective employers visiting the university. Though occasionally mind-numbingly boring events, they can actually be invaluable in terms of networking and simply getting your hands on the correct information regarding what specific companies are looking for in new their new recruits.

What a lot of people might not think of doing, however, is visiting the careers pages of other institutions.

Trinity College Dublin’s Careers Advisory Service offers an excellent range of advice and information on CV compilation, work experience, volunteer programmes and more. Their section on where to go after completing postgraduate studies is particularly helpful.

NUI Galway’s careers page is a little messier than others, but still has some useful features. The least helpful aspect of this site, however, is that you have to have an NUIG ID to access the database of current job vacancies. The site is also updated far less often than it should be (the graduate jobs section contains a programme from 2010), but what I found really worthwhile was the page on psychometric testing. This gives you access to information and practice sessions on aptitude and other tests and can help you figure out the type of role to which you might be best suited, as well as giving you an idea of some of the tests which online job applications in particular might require you to complete.

Like NUIG, part of University College Dublin’s careers site is available only to registered students or graduates of the university, but there is still a lot of beneficial information open to graduates from other institutions. The internship page offers links to external sites advertising paid and unpaid internships, many of which are based abroad. One of the stand-out features of the UCD page is their feature on starting your own business. Trying to fan the flames of entrepreneurship during a recession is an admirable exploit; no matter how many people there would be elated at the prospect of more creation, the problem of access to credit for budding businesses is a very real one.

So, there you have it: more job prospects, all around the country, all available at the click of a button. Knowledge is power, people!

Keep calm, and carry on smiling!

Lynn Harding

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