Advice for students
I spent a day recently at the annual student conference from Sheffield Methods Institute, which is part of The University of Sheffield. I’m on the advisory board at SMI and it’s wonderful to be invited to spend time with the team, students and learn from what they’ve been working on.
I gave a short talk in the morning on my career and work in project and delivery management and some tips for people who might want to consider this kind of work. I spent time during the day thinking about advice I’d give to students and so wrote it down here. This isn’t specific to students at Sheffield Methods Institute, it’s for anyone.
In no particular order.
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Try doing new things and be kind to yourself and others are two bits of advice taken directly from the talks and workshops I give to primary school children. But I think they’re absolutely relevant for any of us at any age. Doing new and different stuff for me, as someone who’s not a massive fan of change, takes a bit more effort than it shouldn’t but it’s nearly always been rewarding and worthwhile. Going to networking event alone, setting a self-imposed target for speaking in schools, working on different projects, even going to a music gig solo have all been really great things I’m glad I’ve done. And do be kind, always. It’s not always easy to know what others are feeling - despite what their faces show - and a simple of kindness can live long in a memory. I spoke about a line manager suggesting I go for a first project manager role way back in 2007. I’ll never forgot that moment of kindness shown to me (cheers Pete). Oh and don’t forget about yourself, give yourself a breather when you need to, try not to worry about everything all the time. Go for a walk, often.
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Don’t rely on AI for CVs and covering letters/emails. In April 2024 we were hiring for a user researcher position and we had 60+ applications. At least 40 of these clearly used AI - specifically ChatGPT I think. It was completely demoralising to read another covering letter starting ‘Dear Hiring Manager,’ and long, waffley, wordy CVs that were just really hard to read. Listen, I appreciate everyone that took time to apply, but the vast majority read and felt like people taking a punt rather than time being spent to craft a semi-unique response.
Our job description was, I still think, written like how we talk; no jargon, explain stuff clearly, setting examples etc. We wrote these words for the instructions on how to apply ‘Please send us whatever you feel is necessary to help us understand your experience and skill set. A CV isn’t essential, we’re open to creative responses.’
Things that really, really stood out positively were; emails from people asking if they could have a chat before submitting an application (love this), personal and personalised emails (about 10 from memory), 1 person recording a short video, and a couple of really nice portfolios.
So, advice, right, ok:
Sure, use any tools to help you get started, but I think spend more time tailoring your CV and try not to make it too waffley. I think bullets work well
If you’re struggling for work experiences, as in a job, be creative; volunteer your time and use that, work on a side project - both super valid
I don’t get understand cover letters being attached as a Word or PDF document. It might be me, but that’s just prime stuff for the intro email
Contact people in advance to ask for a chat. Think of some questions, but you’ll get a feel for what they’re like as a person, team and business. If they can’t spend time answering a few question that would, I think, make me ponder whether it’s right for me
Don’t start stuff with ‘Dear Hiring Manager’ use names and write a human. ‘Hi [name]’ is perfectly good, great and fine
Too-personal or random email addresses draw attention when it’s easily avoidable, so I’d say swap to something a bit more ‘normal’
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Message people and companies even if they don’t have jobs listed. In 2010 I was made redundant from a job and I sent email after email to businesses, organisations and people I’d heard about asking if they had any opportunities. I had a decent response rate. Most said ‘nope, sorry’ (but it started several conversations) and it did lead to an interview and job offer. Just go for it, you never know what might happen.
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I am not in my comfort zone networking, but I go to events and meet-ups as it’s always nice and enjoyable to meet new people and reconnect with people I’ve not seen much of over the years. I balance events more these days, making sure I’ve got a bit of time to myself later that day or the following. I think the thought of them is worse than the doing them.
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I started an experiment with LinkedIn a few years ago, using it for what I think it’s intended for (making connections, reading interesting stuff, putting myself out there a bit more) rather than getting annoyed at it. I created a series of interviews with people working in the project and delivery management space which was a lot of fun and people seemed to enjoy it. I try and post positive, pleasant, nice stuff that shouts out people doing good work. I have a sense of dread before hitting ‘post’ every single time, but I try not to let it worry me these days. Don’t get drawn into likes, comments, shares and all that stuff; it’s a platform with an algorithm and it’ll do it’s own thing.
Oh and don’t believe everything you read on there, there’s loads of nonsense and it doesn’t match reality. Use it as a tool to help yourself, to connect to people, to find information, look for jobs etc.
Last thing, it’s really easy to change your URL and get rid of the auto numbers it generates. This article shows you how to do it.
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It feels a bit not-quite-right to mention money, but I doing it anyway is it’s a regret that I have dating way back to when I started working. I really, really wish from my very first pay day I’d have put aside the following:
10% put aside for savings in case you don’t like a job, or you lose your job or you need a break
10% put aside for long-term savings
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The Sunday night feeling are words many people use to describe the sense and feeling of dread for the upcoming week, before the dawn of a fresh Monday. You might be putting off doing something and it’s rattling around in your head. You may be working a job that doesn’t feel good and it’s causing you to not look forward to the start of each week. I’ve been there and wrote about this back in 2016. It’s a feeling I’d not wish on anyone and I’d encourage you to not let it fester. Give things time, sure, just don’t let things continue as they are for too long. Talk to someone, talk to anyone and if you’re struggling to think who, you’re welcome to send me a message.
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I hope this is helpful. If you’re reading this and wanted to share any of your own advice, add it in the comments.