Career service

If you would like to find out more about yourself and how to present yourself to future employers then this is the page for you.

Here you can find out more about what motivates you, your skills and how to find the right job in your future career. For best results, work through the exercises in order. Be prepared for it to take a while and set a target for when you will be finished.

Finding out what you can and want to do will improve your motivation and make it easier for you to communicate your strengths. Then you can be clear about the areas you want to develop in or what you want to do more of. As a result, you will enjoy your work more and perform better.

Start with what motivates you.

Motivation - your driving forces

What motivates you? It is important to know what motivates you both in your studies and in your professional life. This is what make you curious and allows you to advance. Knowing what motivates you will help you find the right job for you and may also help you decide how well an employer is right for you.

Continue with your skills to learn even more about yourself.

Your skills

Your skills are a combination of your ability and your knowledge. Your unique skills profile is a combination of your skills and your personal qualities such as values and motivation. You can develop your skills in many ways, through education, work, other commitments and interests. Your skills simply develop in the contexts in which you can use your ability and knowledge.

When you apply for a job, the employer is interested in finding out whether your skills match the job. Therefore, it is wise to think more about what skills you have and how you want to use them. The exercises below will help you find out which skills you possess. It may take some time to complete the exercises, so work with someone you know if you find it easier to stay motivated that way.

To continue working on how you present your qualities, proceed with strengths and weaknesses.

Strengths and weaknesses

What makes you stand out as a person? In your job search process, it is important that you know who you are and can describe yourself so that others understand who you are and why you are suitable for the job. We often talk about strengths and weaknesses. Actually, weakness is not a good word in this context, as it may be perceived as static without potential for improvement, so therefore you should think of it more as areas in which you can learn about yourself and aspects to work on. This approach also allows you to deal constructively with questions about weaknesses in an interview situation. Bear in mind that it is difficult to hide in an interview if you have not thought about these questions before, or if you have difficulty accepting that you have shortcomings and feel uncomfortable talking about them.

Read more and take part of the exercises to find the professional role that suits you best.

Finding your professional role

When you need to join the world of work after several years at Chalmers, it is no wonder that you are a little unsure of what you want to do and what you can do. Hopefully, by the end of this section, you will have a better idea of how to continue the process of finding your professional role.

Many students are stressed about finding the perfect job after graduation. Of course, it’s not always that easy, especially if you’re not quite sure what you want. In addition, it usually takes a while in your career to find the right job. Maybe looking at it from different angles will get you a little closer to finding the right job.

Looking for a job

Inspiration for job seekers

• Trade or news magazines
  A good way of keeping abreast of developments is to read magazines or follow sites that summarise the latest news in your sector. You can keep track of companies that are doing well and may need to recruit new staff. You can also find interesting new companies to contact. Example: Ny Teknik.
• Job databases
  There are many different job databases on which you can set up alerts for job titles you are interested in.
• Temporary employment and recruitment agencies
  One way into the world of work is through temporary employment and recruitment agencies. These may be consultancy assignments in which you are hired out to the agency’s clients for longer or shorter assignments. They may also handle the recruitment for other companies, which means you may be offered a position with a client company. In addition to searching for advertised jobs, you can also see whether it is possible to come and introduce yourself. Temporary employment and recruitment agencies often want to be in touch with people with interesting skills so that they have a bank of relevant candidates for future jobs.
• LinkedIn
  You can use LinkedIn to find jobs in a number of ways. For example, via the Jobs function, through contacts or by sending unsolicited applications to interesting companies.

Apply for a degree project – a first step

For many, a degree project is a first step onto the labor market and preparation for starting work. Applying for a degree project is also very similar to applying for a job. You can therefore use these tips for that too.

Writing an application

CV

Clear and concise
The purpose of a CV is to present yourself and your experience in a simple and accessible way. Recruiters often follow a checklist, looking for relevant information for the position, so you have everything to gain by being clear and concise.

Your CV should reflect you
What does it matter who I am? Surely, what matters is what I have done? Yes, your experience is important, but so are your personal qualities, as employers want to find the right person for the job. Ultimately, your application documents are about one thing – getting an interview. What you say about yourself at the interview should match your CV and cover letter. The interviewer should simply recognise you from the application documents you have submitted.
The focus is on content and not layout. If you are looking for layout tips or CV templates, search online, check templates in Word or create your own layout.

Cover letter

Match yourself to the job
The purpose of a cover letter is to show that you are the right person for the job you are applying for. You can expand on your experience from your CV and show how it is relevant to the employer. The challenge is to reveal just enough to arouse interest and be called for an interview.

Bear in mind that your cover letter and CV should complement each other, but still stand on their own. In other words, don’t repeat what you have already written in your CV. For example, if you mentioned an important project in your CV, don’t just mention it again. Describe it in more detail in your cover letter and match it to the job qualifications.

References

Experience means references
References are people who can attest to your skills when you apply for a job. The best way to get good references is to get involved in various activities. Whether you work part-time or are active in the student union or another association, you have a great opportunity to demonstrate your skills. The important thing for your future employer is to find out what you are like as a person and how you function in different contexts.

When choosing which references to provide to an employer, take a look at the job advert and find out the skills they are looking for. Employers usually like to have two people to contact. If communication is important, maybe the manager of your part-time job at the café is a good choice? Of course, you can also provide references from your education, such as a supervisor from your bachelor’s thesis or degree project. The important thing is for the person to have a good idea of what you have done and of course to be happy with the result.

Always prepare your references
You must, of course, always ask a person if they can be your reference before giving out their name and contact details. Also, ask them what they would say about you if an employer contacted them. Before you give your references to an employer, contact them to remind them that you are looking for a job and that an employer may contact them. This ensures that they are prepared and have you fresh in their minds.

Conclusion

Whether or not you have completed every exercise, we hope that you have gained valuable insights to make you feel a little more confident about your strengths and how to communicate them to employers. You have everything to gain by getting to know yourself as well as possible and being confident in talking about yourself and what you like to do, both for your job search and your future working life.