The Methodology of CVs

Another week, another blog. Bob was ill this week so we didn’t have a lecture…however, still got plenty to crack on with in terms of my LPD portfolio. I decided to have a look at my... 

...I only just updated it the beginning of this summer so I thought it wouldn’t need much amending. Wrong. For some reason it has taken my this long to realise that it is way too wordy, if I was an employer looking for staff…with a stack of CVs beside me, I would most definitely would not want a 2-sheet documents full of lengthy paragraphs. It definitely needed work. Saying that, it did manage to get me a job this summer so it can’t have been all that bad…yet it has become a task to be dealt with…

The uni tends to put on various CV workshops that offer advice on developing our CV’s. I have come to the conclusion that I need to attend one of these. Also, the thought popped up in my mind that if I want to work in the creative industry…will I need a creative CV?? If so, I reckon I’d really enjoy doing that, would be a handy little project to have to keep myself occupied (I say as if I don’t have enough work on already!!). That’s something I need to look into as well.

The proposal was handed in successfully, now just waiting on the feedback. Was a gruelling task to get the word count down but I think I made it down to 826 (just one over the maximum…eek.) This week has been mainly filled with tackling reading up for the methodology section of my project, this has consisted of a lot of note taking and reading of books all saying pretty much the same thing just in different orders but needs must and all that. I feel I’m in a pretty good place when it comes to my project so I’m starting to shift more of my focus to other modules, catching up on readings and commencing research for group projects.

I have two groups projects on at the moment, both in for the end of December and both consisting of a presentation and an essay. One also includes the creation of a website. So this term is definitely full on. Time management and library books have become my best friends in the past month or so…Not. Cool. Hopefully it’ll all pay off in the end though. This week coming up is reading week…whoop :), even though it’ll probably consumed with my head in books. Got a couple of career talks I’m going to go to this week also so I’ll be filling you in on how those go in the next post at the end of the week.

…Watch this space…That. Is. All.

A Week of Careers, Coursework and a side of Cheering

So…here I am again. Filling you in on the life of one particular LPD student. This week has had us thinking about the future. The future of being in a career, hard to imagine but I guess I have to start thinking about it sometime, and I suppose now is a good time.

MMU Careers Website

We had a talk from the careers department in our lecture this week. Who knew our careers website contained so much?! I’ve made a few visits to the site since the talk, it has been very useful and I will definitely be making more use of it in the future. Apart from that I’ve been making progress on building up my portfolio and checking out the prospects website. I remember setting up an account on the website years ago but never really knew it would come in handy and it was interesting to see how my motivations, skills and desired careers had changed. As a result of all the career talks in the air at the moment my mind is now full of questions I’m asking myself. What I want to do? What I need to do? Can I actually do it? Will I want to do it in a couple of years’ time? What’s the best way to get there? Etc.

This week has also been pressured due to my project proposal having to be handed on Friday. My final year project is on Shock Advertising and anti-smoking campaigns, it’s really quite interesting to find out how adverts work and affect people, seeing as they’re absolutely everywhere in this modern day and age. So the majority of my time not in uni has been spent trying to perfect that…750 word count was nowhere near enough!! (Especially when my first draft contained nearly 1,300!!) Getting rid of words is not as easy as it sounds, but I always seem to have to do it when it comes to writing essay and reports…I guess I just have too much to say J

On the other side of my uni life, this Wednesday was the first football match of the season. With one of the games being cancelled due to the wonderful weather (not) we had the previous day, the whole of the 1^st team went to support the 2^nd team in Chester. Standing on the side-lines cheering on the girls felt good…it’s been a while. We ended up winning 5-0 (thanks to our supporting skills of course J )!! What better way to start the season?? Probably without the broken nose of a fresher in the first game of the season…OUCH.

Now at the end of the week and I’ve treated myself to a day of nothingness…well kind of, some work did manage to work its way into being done. After a night out with the girls and a week full of assignment-ing it has been well deserved, even if I do say myself. I wonder what academic antics I’ll get up to next week…

…watch this space…That is all.

Week 1 - I've always wanted to start a blog and now I've been given a reason to

Suppose I should get started by telling you who I am, an MMU undergraduate studying BA (Hons) Information Communications & Marketing, and why I’m doing this. The honest answer is probably because I have to…however, I’ve always wanted to…it’s like the now thing within the media/communications world isn’t it?? Networking and all that jazz…something I need to get on board with if I want any sort of mentionable career in marketing/advertising. Anyways, back to why I’m doing this…Bob Glass and LPD…that’s why.

…Final year is finally here. Decisions made and modules picked. The series of posts to follow will be a little insight into the journey of my LPD (Learning and Professional Development Unit) unit and how uni life is treating me in the following weeks.

After the first lecture I knew that this module would be of great use for me seeing as I’m a bit unsure how I’m going to get on the career life when I can no longer use the excuse of being a student…sad times. Basically this unit will offer me insight into what I want to do, how I can achieve it and what I need to achieve it.

The first couple of weeks have been focusing on the portfolio we will be concentrating on producing during the first term. It all seems quite interesting to me to be honest as I like this method of teaching, no boring hour lectures being given a whole lot of information to take it. This is more about self-development and realisation; this is never a bad thing.

The majority, if not all, of the work I’ve done so far for this unit is based on me, myself and I. My personality, my skills and my career wants. It has in fact made me think about what kind of job I want to aim for when I’ve been handed a degree. On top of this I’ve had a lot more to think about, the majority being the workload I now have as a result of making it to third year…I knew it would be more than the previous but there’s a lot going on and I’m having to brush up on my juggling skills but I’ll get there in the end…hopefully.

As for life outside uni, let’s see…well there hasn’t been much of one in the past couple of weeks really. Does that make me sound like a hermit?? It’s starting to calm down a bit now as I’m getting into the swing of things and dealing with several coursework briefs and reading materials being thrown my way. I am looking forward to the first game of the season for MMUWFC (Man Met Womens’ Football)!! After 2 promotions last season I’m eager to see what awaits us…albeit from the sidelines. No playing for me this season, too much going on (what can I say…I’m in demand), so I plan on being a glorified groupie/chauffeur to the team J . I refuse to let go completely.

Haven’t really got much else to say right now, it’s time for me to catch some shut eye…I’ll be back next week though, aren’t you lucky J

…Watch this space and remember…Hakuna Matata (courtesy of seeing The Lion King at the cinemas twice in one week…good times!!)

Photo: From http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=juggling+work&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1364&bih=683&tbm=isch&tbnid=Ryy3EBH7AHbgsM:&imgrefurl=http://education.fitnessnetwork.com.au/mod/forum/discuss.php%3Fd%3D3935&docid=ywppjFx7YY-ecM&imgurl=http://education.fitnessnetwork.com.au/file.php/1/Enews/jugglingitall.jpg&w=419&h=286&ei=d6-cTovmGcKa8QPoxsSmCQ&zoom=1 ; Accessed 17th October 2011