5 New Year Careers Advice Tips for Students

HARROGATE, ENGLAND, December 21, 2012 (Press-News.org) December is a great month to begin thinking about what you want to achieve in the new year. For most students, thinking about the future inevitably means making decisions about a career path and taking action to get there.

Victoria Tomlinson, CEO at Northern Lights PR & Marketing, author of From Student to Salary with Social Media, works with universities and colleges to help staff and students use social media effectively. She has the following advice for students on planning for a successful career in 2013:

(1) Start planning now!
The Christmas and new year holiday is a great time to take stock of where you are now and where you want to be. Research shows that in this tough job market, it is the students who have been career planning and building their CV and work experience throughout university that get a job first when their course ends. Leaving this until you graduate means you have a LOT of catching up to do!

(2) Set some career development goals
Identify what you want to achieve in 2013 and write them down in order of priority. Goals might include introducing yourself to 10 employers in your chosen field and completing a period of work experience with one of them. Alternatively, it could be setting up a blog to write about your interests and updating it fortnightly.

(3) Make an action plan
Think about what you need to do to achieve your goals. For example, to set up a blog you need to read other blogs in your chosen area and research the current industry hot topics. Then you need to find out which blog platform to use and how to set up the technical side. Put together a realistic schedule for your action plan and stick at it, keeping your end goal in mind.

(4) Use the internet
While students may not have access to the library over the holidays, most have internet access at home. The internet is a great place to begin researching careers, finding out what is involved and selecting which companies to target for your job or placement search.

(5) Use social media
You can use social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn to find out the best way to approach employers then develop relationships with them. There are ideas on how to do this in From Student to Salary with Social Media, which contains over 100 practical tips on how to get a job, and advice on all the main social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

From Student to Salary with Social Media, is available as an e-book that costs just 99p to download from the Northern Lights PR website: Click here to download the e-book.

For more information, please contact Northern Lights PR on 01423 562 400 or visit the website at: http://www.northernlightspr.com/