Demonstrating your competences in your CV, LinkedIn profile and cover letter to convince your future employer

You are approaching the end of your PhD or are working as a postdoc. You are thinking about the next step in your career and have a rough idea of your strengths, ambitions and the type of job(s) you would like to apply for, but you do not know how to communicate this effectively to potential future employers.

This workshop, given by Maaike Taconis, will help you translate your rough ideas into unique and clear ‘selling points’. These will help you to present yourself in such a way that any future employer understands how you can be of value to their organisation. At the end of the workshop you will have an irresistible CV and LinkedIn profile, and you feel confident on how to communicate your competences and skills during network conversations, interviews and in cover letters. You will be ready to apply for the next step in your career!

The workshop consists of a one-day course, which is followed by a 30 minutes individual coaching session after an interval of +- 3 weeks.

Workshop – 1 day

The workshop is an interactive session in which theory and practice alternate. Participants are made to think about themselves and receive and give feedback to fellow PhD students / postdocs. They go to work on the spot to adjust their CV, in which their offer to potential employers is made as concrete as possible. There is ample opportunity to ask general and personal questions. The participants will practice a job interview together and receive feedback. Participants gather a lot of information to refine their resume, LinkedIn profile and prepare for their job interviews well after the day.

The workshop covers the following topics:

• Define your unique selling points.
• Draft the basis for a convincing CV and LinkedIn profile. What do recruiters need to know about you, other than your academic profile?! Which competences are valued outside academia?
• Networking: both face-to-face and on social media.
• Application procedure: how does it work and how can you prepare yourself?
• Effective demonstration of your competences in a cover letter and a job interview.

Individual coaching session – 30 minutes

Three weeks after the workshop, 1 on 1 coaching will take place in which the participants have the opportunity to discuss their personal points of interest in more detail concerning:

• their revised CV/LinkedIn and/or cover letter
• other personal career-related questions
  
  

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of this workshop, you know...

• how to convincingly present yourself when applying for a job,
• how to structure your CV and LinkedIn profile,
• why to tweak your CV to a vacancy,
• what elements make a cover letter convincing.

Competences

An important part of preparing for any further professional step is becoming (more) aware of the competences you have developed and/or want to develop. In the current workshop, the following competences from the UHasselt competency overview are actively dealt with:

• personal effectiveness:
  • self-development
  • self-confidence
  • anticipation
  • responsibility
• interpersonal competences:
  • presentation skills
  • networking
    
    

For whom?

• PhD students and postdocs who have an idea of where they want to go, career-wise, but want support on how to present themselves in a convincing way. (Priority will be given to people approaching the end of their contract.)
• 10 places available

When and where?

• Workshop: November 14, 2024 - 09:30-16:30 - campus Hasselt, Old Prison, yellow room (D1.1)
• Online individual coaching (30 min./person): December 17, 2024 - 09:30-16:30: timeslots will be divided during the workshop

Preparation?

• Please bring one or two vacancies that you might be interested in.
• In case you don't have a LinkedIn profile yet, we advise you to make a basic one prior to the workshop.
• Please send your most recent cv.
• In addition, we send you an exercise in which you reflect on past activities and personal successes. The exercise is designed to help you to explore your skills, motivation and preferences – essential to know when searching for a job.

Registration?

• Register here from June 20 until October 13, 2024.
• Please register only if you can attend both days.
• As places are limited, registering does not automatically imply that you will be able to participate. You will be notified by email after the registration deadline has passed.
• Please cancel your registration at least one week in advance in case you cannot make it (cf. cancellation & no-show policy).

Acknowledged as?

• DS BSH: category 'career management & personal development' - workshop on career management
• DS HLS: category 'transferable skills' - compulsory elective course
• DS ST: category 'career & personal development' - workshop on career management