Career Coaching with Ingrid

Today I had a career coaching session with Ingrid, which was really useful in terms of organising my head and creating an action plan for the upcoming year. My main focus was getting an internship/work experience.

- Work Experience is ideal for any progression oppurtunity. Look into volunteering?
- Contacting people > Marketing/production managers
- DO YOUR RESEARCH, find out names
- Prospects.ac.uk (Really useful websites in providing employment information) 
  - Use the career planner & possible career options
  - Also use Jobs/work experience section, (advertsises oppurtunities)
- Use prospects to understand what's involved in Advertising roles
- Look into Industry papers, Drum / Advertising Weekly. Understand what's going on in the industry at the moment. Be up to date. What's up and coming.
- When applying for oppurtunities, FOLLOW IT UP. People aren't annoyed by you asking, they are genuinely too busy. Be a polite nuisance. 
- Typical salaries for Post Graduates is 22/23,000 
- Send applications even when job roles are not advertised - The speculative approach.
- When sending CV's, tailor them to specific companies/employers. Send with Covering Letter. Be clear, and show your skills. 
- Grad Schemes are very competitive, and will expect 2:1 and work experience. 
- Look at Guardian top 100 employers to work for. 
- Glass Door(?) Website where people write about their experiences of interviews with employers. 
- When researching look for Company Specific books, e.g Saatchi and Saatchi

ACTION PLAN

1. Research - Companies/Agencies you want to work for. Find out EVERYTHING. Specific people to address.
2. Make contact - Introduce yourself. Meet up(?) to talk about the roles within company/any possible vacancies/opportunities for graduates?
3. Check in with Ingrid as soon as you can
4. Send CVs + apply to wherever you can/want to work.