Target China podcast now online

The Target China event at UCL in January was a useful event where Chinese students at UCL were able to meet with Chinese employers and alumni. The event was closed to other students but the speeches were recorded professionally for use as a podcast. The podcast is on iTunesU (the academic branch of iTunes) and can be downloaded here.

International Mentoring Scheme

Students from China, India and Pakistan may be eligible to join the new international mentoring scheme offered by the careers service. This is a new innovation that can put current students in touch with experienced professionals back home.

A survey of students from Royal Holloway last year suggested that some 25% of UK and EU students find their first job through their personal network – family, friends, previous employers or other contacts they’ve made. Personal networks are very important internationally as a means to finding work – and perhaps even more so in a recession. In China there are established connections like Guan Xi where people help each other. This is seen in most countries and is often an underused method of finding work.

However developing your personal network when you are studying in the UK can be difficult. I recently organised a “Remote Networking” event that considered different ways to approach this. The new international mentoring scheme is built around that session and the needs of international students. I am not aware of any other college that has developed such a scheme.

OK, so what is it?

This is an opportunity for students from China, India and Pakistan to develop relationships with alumni who are working back in their home country. These are people who are working in business areas that you might be interested in. These are people who know the sector, the job market, the issues facing companies and the different roles within their businesses. These people can give you knowledge as well as advice on how to get to do what they are doing. This is an essential part of developing your network.

The scheme is currently limited to students from China, India and Pakistan because we are just trialling the system. If successful we will try to open it out to other nationalities.

I’m interested. What do I need to do?

First you must tell me that you are interested. You must go in person to the careers centre and sign up for the International Alumni scheme list. You may not do this by email.

Secondly, you must attend the scheme briefing on Monday March 9 at 5.00pm in the careers centre. Only those who have signed up beforehand can attend this event. This session will give an overview of the scheme, how it will work and give you the first steps for making the contact with the alumni.

If you have questions please email me but if you want to be a part of this scheme you must sign up in the careers centre. Places are very limited.

Online Careers Advice Tonight!

Today is the day of the careers service’s trial of online careers advice. Students in focus groups and through this blog have expressed an interest in having an online chat with an adviser.

Tonight there will be no specific topic so ask anything. In the future we might do some sector specific chats.

To take part you must register first. It doesn’t take long at all but you need to do it to get the access code to the chat room. Click here to register.

Tonight’s chat takes place from 7.30pm – 8.30pm.

National Student Survey – Take Part!

From the college intranet:

Final year undergraduate students at Royal Holloway are invited to complete the National Student Survey online at:

• www.thestudentsurvey.com

Completing the survey should only take five minutes!

This independent survey provides an opportunity for you to share feedback on your academic experience and the quality of your course, with the results being made available to help future students choose what and where they would like to study. 

If you are eligible you will be contacted by email from Ipsos-MORI and invited to fill in the survey online. Alternatively, you can go direct to www.thestudentsurvey.com where you can also find out more about the survey.  Later non-respondents will be contacted by post and ultimately by telephone. 

Please note that Ipsos-MORI keeps all student responses completely confidential and Royal Holloway will not have access to your questionnaire returns.The NSS has the full support of our own Students’ Union and the NUS.

We very much hope you will take the opportunity to participate in this worthwhile exercise at the earliest opportunity.

As an extra incentive to take part, we are offering all participants the chance to win one of four great prizes!

A winner will be drawn each month until April by the SU Sabbatical Officers.

The choice of prizes includes a highly-valued SU summer ball ticket, or a £50 College card top-up, or a graduation tickets/photo package.

To enter, students simply print out their NSS completion confirmation message once they have finished the survey and drop it in the special ballot box at SU reception.

Zara (China)

PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE FOR CVS HAS CHANGED TO MONDAY FEBRUARY 23

You may remember that Zara (China) attended the campus last term. They are continuing to expand and are looking to recruit staff. Any student interested in an interview with them should email me your CV no later than Friday 27 February. Zara will consider the applications and invite students directly for interview.

International Scholarships Awarded

Royal Holloway, University of London awarded 42 overseas scholarships to undergraduate and postgraduate students from 20 different countries at a celebratory reception on 5 February 2009.

Welcoming students, staff and guests at the ceremony, Sheryl Simon, Director of Royal Holloway International, said: ′The provision of international scholarships forms an essential part of our work as this support enables some of the best and brightest students from around the world to come and study at Royal Holloway. This event celebrates their achievements, but more than this, it anticipates the contribution they will make, not only to the life of Royal Holloway, but to their own countries and thereby to the world at large′.

In his speech Professor Rob Kemp, Deputy Vice-Principal, who awarded the scholarships, emphasised Royal Holloway’s commitment to internationalisation and the strategic value of this to the future development of the College.

The College offers a wide range of scholarships. The Royal Holloway International Excellence Scholarships are awarded to international students who have enrolled for either undergraduate or taught postgraduate degrees. As the name implies, the awards are given to those who are considered academically outstanding and who the College anticipates making a significant contribution to the academic life at Royal Holloway.

In addition to these awards, Royal Holloway offers scholarships in collaboration with prestigious external organisations:

The Abbey Santander International Excellence Scholarships were made available for the first time in 2008, when Royal Holloway joined the Santander Universities network. These are awarded to outstanding postgraduate scholars from Spain, Portugal and Latin America. This year three scholarships were awarded to students from Colombia, Mexico and Spain. In addition to the International Excellence Scholarships, Santander Universities supports the College’s 22 choral scholars;

The Bolashak Scholarships are awarded by the Kazakhstan government to outstanding students in order to study at leading universities abroad and 22 of the 100 Bolashak scholars studying in the UK are at Royal Holloway;

The Chevening Pakistan Scholarships are jointly supported by Royal Holloway and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. They are open to outstanding scholars from Pakistan who wish to undertake a Master’s degree in Medical Sociology or areas relating to politics and international relations.

For further information on scholarships, visit http://www.rhul.ac.uk/international/Prospective/scholarships.html

Is this interactive enough?

One of the issues that arose from the recent international student focus groups I’ve run, is that the blog isn’t interactive enough. It has been an interesting observation that very few readers use the comments option on any of the posts. The comments option appears after the tags below each post.  The blog has had 5000 unique hits since it started in November last year but only 14 comments, two of which were replies!

You may notice the Meebo application (yes I know, careers adviser is always offline!) which is part of an experiment I will be running in providing online careers advice for students. The trial date is set for Monday 23 February at 7.30pm – 8.30pm.  To take part you must  follow the instructions here to be able to access the chat. The first chat is a general careers chat and I’ll be online to answer questions or point you in the right direction.

Another way for you to interact is to write an article for the blog. I have a few guest articles scheduled but would welcome others. Perhaps you would like to write about the recession, or problems you’ve faced or how wonderful the local public transport system is here. Ok, maybe keep it realistic!

There are many different applications out there. Twitter is increasingly popular but I’m not sure it would be useful to use at this stage. Also seems like a lot of hard work!  In the longer term, I am working on an exciting Web 2.0 product for international students which we hope to launch for the Autumn term 2009. More details when I can give them – but it is exciting! Well to me anyway.

Thailand: From protest to posting

This is a guest post from a current student:

The Thai Student Abroad Movement (TSAM) group on Facebook was launched in October 2008 in response to the police’s violent crackdown on anti-government protesters surrounding parliament. A group of Thai students studying abroad saw the need for the overseas Thai student community to be aware of the political polarisation back home, of both sides of the argument, and to discuss their own points of view in the hope that a resolution or plan of action may be drawn up to end the violence and to promote national reconciliation.

The crisis was actually solved in the short term before this resolution was finalized, but seeing that more than 500 members were recruited, TSAM continued as an academic network where students could discuss current events in Thailand and how their area of studies sheds light on these events or suggests possible solutions to the problems being faced. The TSAM Facebook group has since expanded to include a wordpress blog, which includes updated analyses on Thailand’s political and economic situation, as well as a section on conferences/seminars, which include summaries of past conferences/seminars and information about upcoming ones.

Power behind the door

 

A very well written article from Orbital magazine: 

Ok, imagine this: there’s a door ahead of you. What happens behind that door can be a life changing experience, and you will remember your first. You will be expected to perform and be compared to others. When you leave you may feel shattered, elated or confused. Can you live up to expectation?

 

Despite the development of intricate competency based assessments, psychometric and personality tests, it is often still the interview that determines whether you get offered a job. So what can you do in forty-five minutes to win over an interview panel?

 

Perhaps a better way to think of it is if you were interviewing candidates for the post, what would you need them to do to win you over? How would you differentiate between several candidates with pretty much the same level of experience?  

 

Preparation is fundamental to interview success. Interviewers are more impressed with company and sector specific knowledge than general references to the recession! What makes this company different from its competitors? Why do you want the job?  Many employers will tell you what skills they are looking for. Make sure you have two or three strong examples of how you demonstrated them. 

 

The benefits of research can be compromised by inadequate planning. Students often underestimate how long it takes to get from Egham to offices in London. Make sure you arrive twenty minutes early so plan your route beforehand. Think about what you should wear – just because an office allows its staff to wear jeans and t-shirts doesn’t mean the candidates can.

 

If you have an interview coming up you can book a practice interview at the careers centre. These one-to-one sessions cover everything from body language to anxiety, skills answers to etiquette. Interactive workshops take place at 1.00pm on February 12 and 25 You have forty-five minutes to make an impression, get it right from the start.

Job: Summer Internships with Nomura

Recent advertisement:

Nomura is a leading financial services group and pre-eminent investment bank, backed by a powerful balance sheet.  We have unrivalled asset raising abilities and a proven record of delivering value for our clients.  Following the acquisition of select Lehman Brothers businesses in Asia, Europe and the Middle East, our combined operation makes us a leader in global investment banking.

 Nomura is offering internship positions as the perfect preparation for a subsequent full time role.  At the end of the 10 week summer analyst programme we will extend full time offers to strong performers to return to Nomura the following year.

 Global Markets summer analysts typically spend 10 weeks on a Fixed Income or Equities desk in one of our Asia offices.  Not only will the summer analysts gain on-the-job experience within their area of placement, but they will also have the opportunity to meet with senior management from all areas of Nomura during the summer’s training sessions and in many other of our planned activities. 

We seek dedicated individuals with a desire to work in Asia who are highly motivated, have strong records of success, and whose abilities and personal qualities indicate exceptional potential for a career at a global investment bank.  The candidates should be interested in and committed to working in Asia and it is highly preferable that they are fluent in at least of one Asian language.  In return, we provide unparalleled professional exposure and the opportunity to work with some of the most talented bankers and global markets professionals in our industry.

 Please refer to our website for further details and to submit your on-line application here before the deadline of February 28^th 2009.  We encourage interested students to apply early.