This Tuesday, 27th of March, over 70 students gathered in the Auditorium of Griffith College for the Career Planning Session 2018.
As students are concerned on making the most of their CV’s, Griffith College hosted yesterday evening a Career Planning Session for final years to help them showcase their talents.
Many of them participated in the session hoping to learn how to enhance their CVs but ended up learning more than that. Participants learnt how to effectively position themselves to achieve desired results and to match skills and personality to job profiles.
The event was held by Emma Flynn, Career Advisor of the College. She welcomed each student with two books: GradIreland, a careers directory for graduates in Ireland, and a Griffith College handbook on Career Guidance.
Emma has been doing these events since the careers office opened in December 2016. During the session, she discussed three main topics: CV writing, cover letter writing, and job interviewing. She also advised students not to make the CV longer than two pages and asked them to make sure they tailor it specifically to the job they are applying for.
A careers advisor is someone who provides information, advice and guidance to help others make realistic choices about their education, training and work.
With more than 11 years of experience in education, Emma Flynn works one-on-one sessions with students for a 30-minute individual career counselling review. Writing CV’s and Cover Letters, interview tips and techniques, exploring career options, working up a LinkedIn profile are some of the topics covered in a personal session.
There is always only one chance to make a good first impression, so CV’s are the only chance job seekers have to make a favourable impact on potential employers.
The Circular interviewed Emma this week as part of the series Life of a Dubliner and invite all students to visit her office and get to know more about her job.
Emma Flynn, Career Advisor of the College // Video Credit: Andreina Gonzalez.
How did you get your job as a careers advisor?
“Having worked in Education for over 11 years it was a natural progression. I worked as a Placement Officer and I was responsible for preparing students to go on work placement. This involved helping them prepare CV’s and get ready for interviews and my career naturally evolved into Career Guidance”.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
“Seeing the progression of students, and seeing their journey. Being able to help them at getting a job”.
What are the challenges?
“Working with fantastic students who are finding the job search difficult can be a challenge”.
How do you handle a client with unrealistic career goals?
“It is about supporting them. I am not here to change their goals; it is guiding them on how to get to that goal”.
Why is a CV important?
“A well thought out CV is really important, as a lot of the time it is an opportunity for you to make a really good first impression on an employer. The main thing to remember with a CV is that you are using it to sell your brand to an employer. You want to stand out from the crowd and tailor your CV to the job you are applying for”.
What do you want students to know about the job you do at Griffith?
“I provide support to students in all aspects of their career journey including CV and Cover Letter writing skills, LinkedIn Profiles set up, Interview preparation, Career guidance and much more. I also post a number of vacancies to our Online Careers Vacancies Board. These include full-time/part-time roles, internships and volunteering opportunities”.
The Griffith College CV and Cover Letter templates are available for download from Moodle!
Students and Graduates can make an appointment with the Careers Office using the Online form, here.
For those who want to contact directly Emma Flynn, here is the contact information:
Location: Griffith College Dublin, Room: D202, Phone: 01-4150436, Email: emma.flynn@griffith.ie
The Griffith College Careers Office is open all year round!
Also, take a look at this video made by the College where Emma Flynn tells us what makes a graduate stand out.
