Often people leave education with no clear idea about what they want to do for a living or even what sorts of jobs there are out there.  This makes it really hard to find a role that they are likely to enjoy.  In this session we will look at a Japanese tool called Ikigai, which is really all about finding your purpose.  The idea is that you will be most fulfilled if you can balance:

• what you love,
• what you are good at,
• what the world needs, and
• what you can be paid for.

Watch the video and then download and complete the worksheet.  You will need to ask other people for their input including even your boss at work.  Ideally you should already be having discussions about strengths and aspirations because the ideal is that you carve out a role that you both love and feel fulfilled by.  But of course you also need to be delivering value and we come to that later in the course.

This session builds on the work you started last time.  You should by now have looked at your strengths and in particular what other people value about you.  Usually there is a pretty strong correlation between the things you enjoy doing and the things people respect you for.  This is not surprising because we do get a good feeling when playing our best game.  But how do we find roles that will help us play to our strengths?  This session is al about ding just that.

Now that you have a better idea about what you want to do, it is time to start going about finding it.  One of the best ways of doing this is to use the informal job market - something that you may not even know exists.  But it does and the even better news is that unlike responding to that well publicised advert, you are not elbowing your way through 200 other people who want the same job you do.  With a well constructed LinkedIn profile, recruiters are more likely to find you - imagine that, just being offered a chance to apply for or go straight to interview.  Sadly it is rarely as easy as that.  To be found, you need to go looking in the right places and even then

This is not about skiving off, but more about how to take the friction out of what you do.  We start by looking at some of the stresses facing the typical boss of a small businesses and then describe 5 things you can do to make life easier for everyone.  We finish with how to plan to make your own luck.

This 9 minute session introduces the CV including pro-tips for making yours stand out.  Check out the resources from some suggestions by Reed, one of the biggest recruiting companies on CV and covering letter templates.  We also discuss some of the criticisms of CV and whether they have a future.

There is no need to be nervous about interviews, it is as much for your benefit as for your prospective employer's.  Think of it as a conversation to see if you like each other and are likely to succeed in the role.

This session offers a primer in the psychology of effective team working. It builds on recent research that shows that the participants themselves have very little influence on the effectiveness of the team. Instead, the culture and interactions between team members is paramount. This session looks at how to create that effective culture and why it is important, emphasising that you don't need the rank or position of the team leader to demonstrate exemplary emotional leadership. The resources provide further links to a TED talk giving more details on the research that lies behind this.