Magnify Your Value-Add

Reflect

It is important to reflect on what you are learning/have learnt and consolidate.  Reflection is a necessary part of the learning process – it helps you make sense, integrate, and master what you learnt into useable skills.

Records provide scaffolding for your memory to retrieve more detailed and accurate recollections of your experiences and reflections for future internship and job applications.  For more information on reflective writing, access this overview from the JCU Learning Centre about how to record personal experiences and opinions.

An ePortfolio is a versatile and free-of-charge way to keep records and share them with employers, and is available indefinitely to all JCU students and alumni. ePortfolios can contain artefacts, such as drafts of your work, reflections, photos, videos, certificates of completion, and more. LinkedIn also offers some portfolio capacity as it allows you to upload media (photos, pdf files and videos) and also hyperlinks to other sites, such as your PebblePad, blogs or website.

Articulate

It is also important to be able to articulate what you have to offer in order to win employers’ minds.  You will need to present how you can be of assistance to employers using stories about your past experiences that highlight relevant skills.  It is also helpful for your career planning to be aware of what you have to offer and know how to demonstrate it.  The discourse in recruitment is shifting (in some disciplines faster than in others) from merely listing tasks in relation to a job or activity (your input) towards the output – what were your results/outcomes?  In other words, many employers want to hear about you as a source of business solutions – what new ideas you implemented by applying your skills and initiative. For further details on articulating your suitability for positions, please refer to the Master Written Applications and Interviews and Recruitment Processes modules in the JCU Employability Edge program.

Blogs and vlogs are also a great way to publicise your experiences.  Many study abroad and placement students use this medium, however you always need to consider your online footprint, your privacy obligations with the employer, and the confidentiality of others.  You can create a free blog on PebblePad or through one of the many platforms available online.