A lucky one is defined as ‘a uni student that continues to live at home and cop a free ride on the cost of everything.’ If that’s you take advantage of the opportunity whilst you can. We other poor sods have to slog away trying to juggle a uni qualification, deliver at a job so we don’t get fired and stay alive making ends meet. We do the grocery shopping, cook a meal, clean the bathroom, wash up the dishes, pay the bills, not to mention wash and iron, as our clothes don’t magically reappear in our draw like yours do.

If you think I’m envious – too right I am. In fact message to parents: charge them some board, make them do their own ironing and cook a meal one night per week, something that makes me feel better.

But a solution is always in sight – get a good uni job, any job pays the bills but you want one that is not overly taxing, doesn’t cut into uni time too much and whatever social time we workers have left.

So on the topic of jobs and career advice, here are the Top 5 Jobs you can have whilst at Uni.

1. Work behind a bar – it’s night work and/or weekend work and you learn what real communication is all about.
2. Roll and mark up lawn bowling greens each morning – it’s an early start, feel the fresh air in your nostrils and the improvisation can get a laugh.
3. Become a blog writer – doesn’t take long and you can get 20 cents per word if you’re original and thought provoking.
4. Night shift security guard 12 midnight to 7.30am – there are few customers and it’s perfect for getting reading and assignments completed.
5. Stack supermarket shelves – a night time gig but the pay’s OK and you keep fit

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Other matters to consider;

1. It doesn’t matter if the pay is average you’re in it for the short term.
2. Make sure it’s close to home, so others can drive you there and pick you up.
3. Make sure its legal – anything illegal will come home to haunt you. Fewer long term employment opportunities will come your way if you have a police record.
4. Get a job that interests you and can develop you, so you ultimately have some added value to offer an employer.
5. At work be one of the boys/girls, not someone of higher intellect who discusses your university course. Unless the person asking is your boss and especially if they support academic achievement.

You may graduate with a degree and better looking transcript. However I will graduate with a double degree – from university and also from the “School of Life”. And it’s not a rationalisation. I used to think I understood people. Life behind the bar soon taught me otherwise. So now I can cook a meal, iron a shirt, understand a cashflow statement, know how to problem solve and appreciate some of the stuff my parents droned on about.

Oh and if you’re looking for the tomato sauce it’s on the right hand side, halfway down isle 7.....

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

They pay for things like:

• insurance
• food and other groceries
• rent or mortgage payments
• energy costs, water
• possibly your new clothes
• school books and fees
• driving lessons

You may not even think about these expenses. On one hand this is good, but on the other it means you don’t know how much life really costs.

If you plan on going to university or TAFE you’ll have to pay a surprising amount of money. And no, not just on the upfront fees. You can temporarily ignore them with a Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP) debt.

You might be up for:

• course fees
• student union fees
• specialist course materials
• text books and stationery
• a laptop and mobile internet connection
• credit for printing and internet connection on campus
• transportation costs
• lunch and coffee
• not to mention shouting a round of beers and other social expenses

This all adds up very quickly, especially since you have to pay most of it in the first few weeks of semester one.

But that’s not all. Uni related costs aren’t the only things that suck your bank account dry.

If you’ve bought a car there’s:

• rego and insurance
• roadside assist membership
• service costs and
• the cost of petrol

If you end up sharing a place with other students, your accommodation costs will include:

• your share of the rent,
• your share of the outgoings (electricity, gas, and water)
• any necessary furniture
• food and groceries

If your parents are willing to spring you the money, you’re luckier than you realise. As for those of you who don’t have this luxury, you have to find other sources of funding and cash flow. Getting a part-time job is a good start - although it does cut into your social life. Without it, you’ll be hard pressed to afford a social life at all!

This summary of costs may have you freaking out, or casually waving your hand through the air in a carefree ‘it’ll-all-take-care-of-itself’ fashion. So just to make the costs somewhat more concrete at this point, here’s a table to give you some approximate figures:

Educational Costs		Annual Cost	Motor Vehicle Costs	Annual Cost
Course Fees		$4077 to $8499	Car Purchase Price - one off purchase	$2000 to $9000
Text Books		$400 to $1000	Rego & 3rd Party Insurance	$400 to $700
Student Union Fees		$0-$80	Comprehensive Insurance under 25 years	$2500 to $3000
General amenities		$40 to $400	RACV membership for students	$100
			Service Costs - Three per year	$500 to $1,500
			Petrol - One tank per week	$2500 to $4,000
Total Education		$4517 to $9979	Total Motor Vehicle	$8,000 to $18,300
Accommodation Costs		Annual Cost	Personal Expense	Annual Cost
Bond (3 share) equals one months rent		$600-$1,000	Clothes: $20-$100 per week	$1,000-5,000
Rent (3 share) assume $155-$230 per week		$8000-$12,000	Social outings provision: $40-$200 per week	$2,000-$10,000
Share of Outgoings: $40-$60 per week		$2,000-$3,000	Health Insurance: $0 if in family cover	$400-$800
Food & Groceries: $50-$100 per week		$2,500-$5,000	Mobile phone: $80-$200 per month	$1000-$2400
Total Accommodation		$13,100-$21,000	Total Personal Expenses	$4,400 to $18,200
			Annual Total Ongoing Total	$30,017-$67,479 $28,017-$58,479

That final figure is scary, but not necessarily factual. You can, eliminate a section or two entirely. Here’s how.

A Roof Over Your Head

If it’s possible, don’t move out of home while you’re studying. It’s not uncool to live with your family to save money. Almost every uni student understands a financial crisis. Besides mum’s cooking is probably a whole lot better than yours will ever be. Some of your friends living in a shared house may actually beg to move in with your parents too. You may still be asked to contribute to the finances of the household. But overall, it will still be cheaper than supporting yourself with a full-time study load.

Getting Around

Check if public transport can get you to uni. It’s much cheaper than driving, especially since as a student, you are entitled to a concession rate. And for future reference, car parking is hugely expensive at uni, and unless you’re there before 9am (regardless of whether your lecture starts at 2pm), it’s near impossible to find or jag a spare park. Many students miss the first half of a lecture, simply because there was no parking anywhere. Weigh the above motor vehicle expenses with a bus, train or tram ticket that might cost you $20 maximum weekly and your decision is practically made for you. Just keep on good terms with Dad to borrow the keys on weekends.

Keeping Your Expenses Down

In terms of personal expenses, don’t stop socialising. You need to balance study and work with time out with friends. But if necessary, don’t buy that new jacket just because your old one needs a dry clean. Visit your local op-shop or ‘Vinnies’ instead to find some hidden treasures. If mobile bills are your enemy, then text or wait until you get home and use the landline.

Government Allowances

If you do find yourself struggling, look into Government Allowance schemes. You may be eligible for Youth Allowance, Austudy, ABSTUDY or perhaps Assistance for Isolated Children. To be eligible for Government Allowances, you usually have to either be employed or actively seeking work. But chances are, if you’re having financial difficulties, you’re going to have a job or be looking for one anyway.

It will come as a surprise how much everything costs, but it’s not impossible to get by. You just need to be careful with your income, and learn how to prioritise your spending. Try to take advantage of alternatives while you’re at uni. After living on a budget with your thoughts constantly darting to your bank balance, entering the workforce on a full-time income will be a magical change.

What about the HELP debt I hear you ask? That’s the topic for another day......stay tuned.

If you’ve got other suggestions on financial strategies to get you through uni, jump onto the Forum.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Well, you might be surprised to find that outside of school times, public transport can be quiet, spacious, and mostly on time. I’m serious.

What was that? You need more convincing? Here are the Top 5 reasons to take public transport to uni instead of your comfortable car with a wicked sound system:

• Universities and TAFE’s are usually strategically placed near public transport, to make the campus accessible to all students.
• The parking at uni is, horrendous. It’s expensive and impossible to find a space. And the odd time you park illegally because your running late for a lecture, always without fail, attracts a $60 parking ticket
• Travelling on public transport is a good opportunity to furtively catch up on the reading you’re supposed to have done by the time you get to your lecture not to mention getting to know other students.
• You don’t have to pay insurance, registration, tyres, service charges and weekly petrol bills over $60 for public transport. If you need a weekend car, ask your dad for the keys
• It’s environmentally friendly. Whether climate change exists or not, the world will be better off with a reduction in petrol use. Simply opting for the train is doing your little bit for the planet!

So while you’re standing in the rain in the middle of a bitterly cold winter, with wet shoes waiting for a bus that was due 20 minutes ago, the concept of public transport does seem less than ideal. But with the opportunities for emergency study, it just might save your marks as well as your money. Have you reconsidered? Skip to the forum and share your opinions on public transport.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Part-time study suits the lifestyle of students who need to balance their education with other commitments. A student might be run down after the pressure of Year 12, but not so exhausted as to warrant a gap year. Their job is essential for survival and takes up too much of their week, and so aren’t able to dedicate the appropriate amount of time to study. Or they may be a mother or father, with parenting responsibilities to distract them from study. These kinds of situations are supported by university or TAFE systems, where part-time study is readily available.

Part-time study tends to be classified as less than six subjects per year, or under 75% of the standard full-time study load. Students can choose to simply reduce the load by one subject per semester, or even to reduce to one subject per semester. Depending on how much study a student wishes to undertake, contact hours can range from a few hours a week, often in a single day, to three to four contact days a week. If the university offers a self-scheduling system, a part-time student may timetable their classes in blocks to limit the number of days they need to attend university. Although classes are sometimes offered in the evenings, or otherwise outside of business hours, they are not available at every university or for every course.  

However, since a part-time study load is spread out over an extended period of time, students will be at university or TAFE longer than a full-time student in the same course. For instance, where a full-time Arts student may take three years to complete their undergraduate degree, a part-time student may take from four to six years. Although part-time might be necessary, students can often reach a stage where they want to just finish their degree and get it over and done with. The flexible tertiary system anticipates these changing needs, and allows students to change from part-time to full-time study at any stage during their degree, or vice versa.

Full-time study generally involves undertaking four subjects per semester. Each subject is worth a number of units, and each unit is worth a certain number of credit points. Occasionally full-time students may end up undertaking three subjects in a semester, if the units are worth more credit points than usual. They are still considered full-time, as the credit points still equal the necessary number per semester.[NEWPAGE]

Another study option is to overload, although this is not a standard mode of study. In order for a student to overload, they have to apply for approval. If a student has a low academic record, such as failed units, a ‘pass’ average, or incomplete units, then their request will not be accepted. It is possible that a student may not reach their academic potential if they overload, and so the process for approval is strict. High achievers tend to be the students who are able to take on more than four subjects per semester.

Students who wish to advance their studies, but are unable or unwilling to overload, have the choice of studying over summer semester. The options for summer semester depend on the tertiary institution. Some universities use this short, fast-paced semester as a method of fast tracking student studies, to help them finish their course sooner. Other universities have a trimester system, where a full-time student load is two full trimesters of study, with trimester three in summertime acting as another option for study. These trimesters are all the same length, instead of two semesters being longer than the quick, intense summer semester. Many students take advantage of these options to reduce the duration of the undergraduate degree.

University and TAFE offer more than the full-time study load of high school. It can be beneficial to each student to consider the various options, and which mode of study would best suit their lifestyle. Overloading is uncommon but an option to be considered by students who are bursting to finish their degree, just as summer semester can assist in reducing the duration of a degree. Part-time is an option that suits the needs of different lifestyles, whether students are too busy with work, family, or just needing some time out. It offers flexibility, reduced pressure, and time for other commitments. When life gets too full for full-time study, consider the advantages of part-time.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Hopefully you have selected the right course for yourself because 30% of your peers change courses, change universities or simply drop out altogether. It’s a disturbing stat and one to avoid contributing to. So without stating the obvious here are some tips for choosing the right course first time;

• You must be really interested in the subject.
• If you are not sure, ask people with experience and knowledge, dig deeper, ask questions and  actively  collate decision making information.
• You must be confident you will get a job when you graduate as 30% of graduates don’t and remain unemployed for a period of time
• You must be able to afford the course fees as well as the costs of living
• Is the university environment right for you – large verses small campus, city verses country living. We are all different and so are the campus environments

Freedom

The first thing you will notice is the freedom you have. At school everyone wanted to know where you were every minute of every day and if you skipped a class, where was your note. The bell rang for recess, then lunch and you were part of a structured program. On a geographically fragmented campus where things are difficult to find, nobody cares whether you turn up for class or not, whether you skip a tutorial or not. The lecturer is unlikely to know you name, ever and your tutor will know your name but really is not going to lose sleep if you’re not ‘getting it’ and fail. You’re now in an unstructured environment and it’s a great feeling. You’re in control of your own destiny and sometimes the choices are pretty difficult to make – do I go the boring Econometrics lecture which I don’t have a clue what the lecturer is talking about anyway or do I go to the beach or better still to the bar with my friends and enjoy a cold beer, in the sun with my shirt off.

Expectations

So don’t have too many expectations about university. The content will be tough and there is lots of it. Fall behind & you will struggle. Work at an even pace and you will be fine. There is no-one to hold your hand, nor do you want them to. The only folk, who will be concerned about you, are you and your family. Others don’t, so accept that up front. You must be proactive, track down, search and get whatever you need, from facility enrolment, to library card usage, missed lecture handouts and so on. Subscribe to the theory of ‘push management’ not ‘pull management’ as nobody, repeat nobody is going to pull you up at university.

Get Smart

If you’re half smart, then utilise technology for information rather than relying on personal input from others. It’s quicker and more reliable. When assignments are given out, get the reference material quickly to avoid all copies being ‘out’ if you leave it till the last minute. If that’s likely to be you, then steel yourself for your first ‘all nighter’ and hand in that assignment in right on the 12 noon deadline.  If you’re a day student try to avoid 9.00am and 5.00pm lecturers or tutorials. Despite your best intentions your attendance rate is likely to be lower at these times as there are so many other more attractive things to do, like sleep, go for early morning surf, not get caught up in the peak hour traffic and play time with friends.

It's about life...

For many students there is a huge letdown after a tough Year 12. The long strokes you put in took their toll and despite the 3 months holiday you had it’s now March and the thought of more intense study is demotivating and unthinkable. If this is you, then relax, you’re normal. Many students are burnt out before they start 1st year university or they are now experiencing the sobering reality of picking the wrong course or worse still not getting the pass they had hoped for. In fact I repeat, 30% of 1st year students either changes courses, change universities or simply drop out altogether. Some take a Gap Year overseas or Gap ½ year and commence university in Session 2.

...and balance

You see university is about learning at a higher level and about life. It’s about application and socialising. Sure you need to learn and acquire knowledge about the course that will underpin your future career aspirations. Being diligent with attendance to lectures and tutorials will get you part of the way there, handing in assignments with proper research, clarity of thought and effort will get you further but the bottom line is there is no substitute for application – taking good lecture notes, doing the required reading, resolving issues you don’t understand and when exams roll around swat the hours. Some argue it’s an exercise more in application than intelligence.

But you also have to be realistic – what grade of pass do I want? Some students strive to achieve the University medal for their course, whilst others take a more balanced approach. They argue a HIGH DISTINCTION is way too much study, a life completely out of balance, in fact get a life, whilst a PASS grade is a fine delicate balance between work and play and you both move to the next subject. At university the way you learn is simply different from school and takes time to adjust to the new system. Be patient and keep an open mind. It’s OK to not have immediate goals and it’s also OK just to jog along for a while. You don’t have to have the same intensity and finely honed study habits you had at high school.

Your grades will be influenced by the groups you hang out with. The campus if full of people who have differing priorities. Some are even professional students. They enjoy a good time and so should you, within reason and with a sense of balance. Socialising, making new friends, managing the freedom responsibly, choices and decisions you now have is an important part of your adult development. University has such great scale and social scope, with factors such as gender, cultural differences, people from the city and the country all providing new challenges related to interactive learning between students, tutors and lecturers.

...and being lucky

If your one of the lucky ones and still live at home, be thankful for the family support and the fact your dirty clothes still magically reappear back washed and ironed in your wardrobe, Mum and Dad still give you some cash when your short and you have a team behind you. But if you’re not and share a flat, working part time, having domestic responsibilities, maximising that heavy social independence, then chances are your reality check has just arrived, you’re pressing the envelope and loving it. The mark of PASS looks good.

There is the middle ground of living on or near campus. Most of the universities offer accommodation of some sort, usually halls or colleges residences. The rooms are small and Spartan – desk, bed, cupboard about 3m x 5m in dimension. The upside is the convenience of allowing a focus on study, socialising, meals provided and little to no housework but they are very expensive and you receive virtually no privacy. Off campus, university owned apartments allow more independence, you get more privacy but you have to cook and clean.

Fantastically some of life’s great times occur during this time – the cooking skills to rival Jamie Oliver, the domestic skills to challenge any Nanny and the financial management skills that Peter Costello would be proud of. Then there is your first car, whether it’s a $2,000 masterpiece with multiple former lovers or if Mum and Dad buy one brand new it doesn’t matter. They are your wheels and you can go anywhere. So go everywhere, never drink and drive and demonstrate maturity whenever you’re behind the wheel.

...and realistic

Remember your HELP debt will accrue. So a ‘FAIL’ mark in a subject not only will require you to repeat it but will cost you double. That’s right the HECS applies again. Make sure this is not you. It doesn’t enhance your Academic Transcript and employers seeking high quality graduate and cadets will more likely shy away from you. Take time to assess and reassess your career direction. Don’t be surprised if you change your career choice the further you get into your undergraduate course. That’s normal. Make a pact with yourself to better understand who you are, what your personality really is, how you impact on people around, what are your strengths and weaknesses and which career choices you are likely to be better suited to. Making an informed choice can only lead to you attaining high performance in both career and life.

To deliver the bottom line

It is one of life great moments when you stand there with a cap and gown to receive your first degree. So enjoy university life, graduate and make yourself proud. Some say it’s the last frontier of unbridled enjoyment and freedom you can experience before you face the real music....

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Going directly to university can feel like the only acceptable path to travel after you finish school. It’s generally the first thing someone asks about your future plans: ‘So, are you going to uni?’ But times are changing. There are alternate routes for students who either don’t want to go to university, don’t yet know what career path they’d like to pursue, or don’t achieve a high enough score to be accepted into their desired course. Don’t start thinking that university is the only option, because there are many other avenues that are open to you.

You may want to think about:

•     TAFE courses
•     TAFE credits to get you into university
•     Work experience or volunteering
•     Life experience
•     Recognition of prior learning
•     Your passion

Starting out at TAFE

Starting out with a TAFE course can give you further education, without the pressure of being selected on the basis of your tertiary entrance score. Some courses will require you to have completed Year 10 or Year 12. Other requirements can include: other qualifications, specific school subjects, skills and experience. You may be asked to perform a self-assessment to show whether you would be able to cope with the demands of a particular course.

TAFE offers a huge range of courses across a wide variety of vocations. The good news is you can learn about trades, tourism, hospitality, construction, engineering, secretarial and administrative skills, visual arts, computer programming or community work. Depending on the number of contact hours and the course you choose, the fees can vary but are generally less than a university course.

Credit Transfer

If you successfully complete a TAFE course but ultimately want to go to university, consider articulation or credit transfer. Articulation is the process of connecting two qualifications, often from different levels and education sectors, so that students may progress from one course to another.

If you’re considering using TAFE as an avenue to get into university, then make sure you contact the TAFE so that you know the correct application procedures. Also keep in mind that although you who may qualify for credit transfer you do not automatically receive entry to a university course. There are often additional pre-requisites and selection criteria necessary for entry, which may place another applicant above you. So it’s wise to contact the university you wish to enter to understand how to apply successfully.

If you complete your TAFE course a number of years before applying for university, then you will have to meet the university’s requirements on time expired since your TAFE studies. This is measured by the ‘currency’ of your qualification. This refers to your acquired skills and knowledge and if they have been used or updated in current workplace environments. For instance, if you completed a TAFE diploma in Creative Writing five years ago, and have been working as a copywriter since, then this related working experience will grant you positive currency, and improve your chances of entrance.

Work Experience or Volunteering

Work experience or volunteering can be an active and productive method of pursuing your career. If you gain relevant work experience it can benefit you in a number of ways.

It can give you real life experience in an occupational field, which can help you figure out whether it’s an area you enjoy. You may form contacts that can help you get a job in a field closer to your passion. This valuable work experience may also count if you later decide to apply for university and want to take advantage of Recognition of Prior Learning status.

Not all workplaces or fields offer work experience or use volunteers; however you’ll never know unless you try. Contact the company or organisation and ask whether they offer work experience places. Contact your school Careers Practitioner, as they may be able to help you find suitable work experience relevant to your desired field. Or if you’re at TAFE, search for work experience opportunities in the industry of your choice, or discuss opportunities with career advisors.

You can find work experience or volunteering opportunities with places like hospitals and doctors’ surgeries, schools and kindergartens, RSPCA shelters, theatre companies, newspaper offices, hairdressers, accounting firms, television and radio studios, or sporting organisations. If you would like to work in the environment join your local creek, river or park ‘friends’ group. You get to know the people who are getting paid to be outside working and this can be a way into an organisation. You will have heard the expression ‘It’s not what you know it is who you know’.

It is also possible to get work experience while you are traveling overseas. Check with the relevant embassy before you go as many countries have strict working visa requirements that take months to process.

Life Experience

Life experience is about having knowledge and practical experience in your field, but no formal qualification to show for it. Applying for life experience recognition when applying for Recognition of Prior Learning can give you the credit you deserve. You are reviewed for what you have learned outside the classroom.

You may have learned a language while traveling overseas, or gained industry-specific experience and knowledge while doing work experience. You might have worked in reception and developed sound typing and data entry skills, or performed computer programming for professional use.

To make your life experience count towards a related course, look into the following steps. Firstly, search for an institution that credits life experience when offering Recognition of Prior Learning. Secondly, contact the institution to learn how to apply for the credits. Thirdly, draw together all evidence of your experience to form a portfolio, if requested. And lastly, present your life experience portfolio in a convincing manner.

A friend was physically and emotionally drained after a long, arduous and unsuccessful Year 12. He could not face further study, so instead he delivered pizzas for the next six years, went surfing, played sport and socialised with whoever had time. A bright bloke, who one day woke up at age 23 and decided to be an architect.

So he enrolled in a drafting course at TAFE, passed numerous subjects over the next two years and applied to university for special consideration for entry into their Bachelor of Architecture course. His credentials included his poor Year 12 pass, prior high grades from school, quality TAFE results, excellent personal references together with an explanation of why he took six years off, what he had learnt in that time and a justification as to why the university should grant him special consideration. He packaged it all up and made a polished, personal presentation to the Faculty Head.

At the age of thirty, he graduated with his architecture degree. This fellow is now a respected architect with his name associated with many successful projects. He just needed time to clear the way forward, become passionate and never gave up his dream.

Recognition of Prior Learning

Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is acknowledgement of a student’s current skills, competencies and experience, regardless of where and when the learning occurred. These abilities and knowledge must be related to the required learning outcomes or standards of entry to a course. Students can support their application with any combination of formal and informal training and education, work experience or life experience. Your application will need to be based on real competencies. ‘I can type a little bit’ is not going to be approved as RPL.

You will need to contact the TAFE or university you wish to attend for information on their particular RPL procedures. Generally, you will need to complete an application form and supply supporting evidence. Applicants are assessed on a case-by-case basis. Evidence can be provided in the following forms: 

•     Interview or professional conversation
•     Observation and questioning
•     Portfolio of work
•     Assessment tasks or tests
•     Trade test
•     Authentication of evidence by employer(s)

Your passion

What do you love spending your time doing? Sometimes your interest can lead to your future career. It is worth finding out what career you could follow that combines your passion with earning money. Perhaps you love traveling. Why not work as a flight attendant? Love going to the movies - perhaps being a film critic is the career of a life time for you? Love food? Is a chef the career of your dreams?

If you can’t meet the requirements now, find out about companies that employ people in your dream job. Then apply for other jobs with that company in a different area. Many jobs are only advertised internally. While you are working there as the receptionist you could enroll in a subject and study for your dream job. That shows the company you are passionate and motivated and will do whatever it takes to pursue your dream.

University isn’t the Be All and End All

Whilst a university degree makes a statement, there have been plenty of highly successful people, high achievers and those who have made a difference who have not gone down that path.

Some careers might not require a tertiary degree. TAFE might get you into the field you want, or work experience might get you a permanent job that you enjoy.

Do what makes you happy. And if taking time to achieve your dream career in cardiology, brings you to happiness as a script writer, then so be it.

Conclusion

Remember that if you have a goal you want to achieve, don’t let a low tertiary entrance score or reluctance for further study stop you. There are other pathways to get you there. Be proactive. Get out there and get work and life experience, go to TAFE as further education, and gain credits. Times are changing – there’s always a way forward.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Are there any other differences you’re looking forward to at university? Feel free to share on the forum!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

If you have any other ideas on how to spend your break, drop us a line on the forum.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Utilising these steps can help you to make an informed, considered choice. Do you have any methods that help you make decisions? Feel free to jump on the forum and share your ideas.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

It’s a big one.

The biggest yet, so why is it that so many high school students put this question on the back burner, and don’t give it the thought and consideration that it deserves? You thought long and hard about your car – so why not your tertiary studies and job?

Think about it like this: no one can pass a subject without doing the appropriate study and assessments. Just as no employer hires someone without doing their research, and no applicant gets a job without the right qualifications and personal requirements. This is the same thing. Unless you were born into the Hilton family, you’re not going to get a desirable career if you don’t do your research, study your options, and ensure that you have what it takes.

If you’re sick of being asked, ‘So, what are you going to do after year twelve?’ it’s because you don’t have an answer, and essentially, the answer will determine your future; the rest of your life. A career is a vital part of living. If you have dreams of making lots of money and living in a big, well-furnished house, then be proactive and get career savvy. If you say she’ll be right mate, then, you’re in for a rude awakening, because she won’t be right, mate, not unless you do your research and make a plan. 

So every time the question of Life Beyond High School comes up, and you get that familiar twist in your gut, that anxious sensation of feeling out of control, don’t shove it to the back of your mind. If you don’t know what you want to be or what you want to do when you leave high school, well, all the more reason to sort this doubt out for good.

But how can you sort it out? Not knowing where to start is probably another reason you keep avoiding the issue. And, according to The Department of Education, 30% of first year university students change universities or drop out altogether, so it’s not uncommon to still have no idea by the time year twelve is out. But you don’t want to be a figure in that statistic. You want to know what to do; to get it right the first time.[NEWPAGE]

There are a few things you can do to help determine your future career. The first is to jump on the internet and search for a few jobs that are of interest to you. There are different reasons to pursue an occupation, like passion, ability, salary, qualifications, travel, weekly hours, demand, social respect, location, or benefits. Do a few searches based on a range of these reasons, to give you a broad selection of ideas to consider or reject. Find out exactly what each job entails, how much you’ll earn, what qualifications you’ll need, and what type of personality is best suited to that career. This is a great screening process. It may help you discard science teaching, and pick up an interest in radiography, or realise that no one can write The Great Australian Novel overnight, so best look into journalism.

Then, find out what course you’ll need to do in order to pursue a particular job. Check exactly what prerequisites you will need to enter a course, and compare them to what you’re studying at school. If you’ve still got a year or two to go until you finish high school, use these prerequisites to help you decide what electives to do. If you’re in year twelve and not doing appropriate subjects, then either look into other jobs that follow your interests, or research other potential avenues to study what you want.

Careernav is designed to help you with these issues. This site has a range of occupational profiles you can browse through to develop an understanding of what particular jobs entail. Some jobs will appeal to you, and some won’t. Each profile has a range of information, from a general description, to qualifications, possible career paths, and the best and worst things about the job. If reading through this information doesn’t help, don’t despair. 

You can navigate a bit further and take up the opportunity to have a career advice session, a personality test to determine what occupations might best be suited to you, and a range of professional and personal development packages. Take a look around, because your future is worth the investment of time and consideration. You don’t want to flounder after high school, drop out of an ill-considered uni course and wish after ten years that you’d had a plan in high school. And just think of how great it’ll feel to have an answer when someone asks what you’re going to do after year twelve.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Before you enrol in a tertiary course, consider the upfront cost, or accumulated debt of this decision. If it is simply to buy time while you think of what you’re going to do with your life, perhaps it would be cheaper to think about this while working part-time instead. Gap years are not uncommon: don’t feel pressured to go straight to uni because everyone else is doing so. Consider your options when the craze of year twelve is over. Because unless money is of no consequence, you should only enter a course if you know the career path you are going to follow afterwards. Otherwise, when the bank turns down your application for a loan to buy a car or house, you’re going to kick yourself that it was due to your unrepaid HECS-HELP debt, for a qualification you’re never going to use.

However, when you’re confident in your course selection, there are a few options to consider in terms of funding your education. At the start of 2009, the Federal Government abolished full-fee paying undergraduate places, making the only place at uni a Commonwealth Supported Place. So you can either apply for assistance schemes such as HECS-HELP, FEE HELP, Government Allowance, Apprenticeships, or Scholarships.

The Commonwealth Government runs the Higher Education Loan Programme (HELP), which helps students to pay for their university or TAFE courses. The two programs HECS-HELP and FEE HELP both allow deferment of payment until later in your life, when you’re earning above a certain income and can afford the repayments. FEE HELP is not supported by the government, but is offered by some universities on a limited basis and can be more expensive than HECS-HELP. Your contribution is between $4077 and $8499 per year depending on the cost of your course. Contribution in this sense doesn’t mean paying it at the time, but the amount being transferred into the loan. You don’t have to pay a thing while studying.

After you’ve finished your studies, your accumulated HECS-HELP debt is going to be a daunting figure, considering you haven’t even started working full-time, without a house or possible mortgage. Depending on the completion time and cost per annum of your qualification, you’re going to run up a debt between $15,603 and $52,062. If you complete Honours or Masters on top of this, the figures soar even higher.

Yes, you’re going to start your career with a big debt. But the upside to the loan is that you don’t have to make compulsory repayments until you earn over $41,595. At this base level of income for compulsory repayments, 4% of your annual income will be deducted, and this percentage increases incrementally until your income reaches $77,428 and above, at which point 8% is the maximum deduction.  

This period will be easier if you make voluntary repayments wherever possible during your studies. Generally, you can do this on campus at the administration building. You have the option to pay back either the full cost each semester, or make partial upfront payments. If you do happen to have some spare cash, then this can be highly beneficial in the long run. If you make a full or partial repayment of over $500 then you will also get a 20% discount on the amount paid upfront. So say you pay $500, a further $100 will be taken off your debt. If you choose to pay the entire balance of your debt upfront, then you receive this 20% as a reduction on your fees. So if your semester one balance is $2500, then this total will drop down to $2000.

Once you have finished your course, you can continue to make voluntary repayments, and receive a 10% discount of payments over $500. So if you pay $600, then you are actually reducing your debt by $660. All of these options can prevent the build up of debt and save you worrying about the full amount later down the track. 

You are not charged interest on your HECS-HELP debt, but an indexation rate is applied to it annually in order to maintain its real value. It is adjusted to keep up with the changes in the cost of living.

Other than HECS-HELP assistance, you might like to look into Government Allowance to make tertiary studies more financially stable. You may be eligible for Youth Allowance, Austudy, ABSTUDY, or even Assistance for Isolated Children. These fortnightly allowances can help you make rent, buy text books, fill up with petrol, afford lunch and a social coffee, to name a few necessary regular purchases. Generally, you have to either be employed or actively seeking work to be eligible for Government Allowance. 
You may decide to take up an apprenticeship or a traineeship to gain your education. In doing this, you will actually be paid for your practical training, while also having the opportunity to become qualified with simultaneous study at TAFE or another training provider.

Lastly, do not underestimate the power of scholarships. If you don’t apply for a scholarship simply because you don’t believe you’ll be successful, then you’re just making it easier for the other students who have applied. Don’t doubt yourself – there’s no harming in trying. Most educational institutions offer scholarships, awards or bursaries, which will help pay for your studies. The reasons behind the scholarships vary from the financial needs of the students to their academic records. Also, you may choose to look into Commonwealth Scholarships, which are offered by the federal government to assist students in paying for their education and accommodation.

While undertaking tertiary studies is an expensive endeavour, and should not be done lightly, you don’t have to feel the weight of the cost immediately. Apply for HECS-HELP assistance, but don’t view the accumulation of debt as a problem: it has given you the opportunity to continue your studies in order to achieve a career path of your choice. Look into Government Assistance, apprenticeships and traineeships, and don’t doubt yourself when it comes to scholarships. Take advantage of the doors being held open for you. Stepping through them will turn your dream career into an achievable reality.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

A Pass is a nice grade. Not too much work or worry, and you’ve passed. Particularly in your first year of study, this is a great way to roll. And to be honest, if you’re simply at uni for your undergrad, then keep it up if it suits you. Study time can take a back seat for socialising which can be more rewarding than attending lectures.

However, simply passing isn’t for everyone. Here are so tips to remember:

• A Pass is the bare minimum to successfully complete a subject. You can do better than that, come on!
• You may look back on your efforts and feel disappointed that you didn’t try harder. You’ll never know what you could have achieved.
• It’s satisfying to feel your worth show itself in high grades.
• Acceptance into postgraduate courses generally requires students to have a Distinction average. Too many Passes will lower your average, and eliminate your option of further study down the track.
• A degree states whether you graduated with distinction or high distinction. Don’t you want that prestigious studious sounding word on your degree?

Are there any reasons you’d like to add to this list? Or any reasons you think passing is better overall? Discuss your thoughts below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

It’s a common misconception, and a choice that many students feel is an obligation. The decision to continue directly from the intensity of Year 12 to a tertiary course can suit some, but can be detrimental to others. This is a leading reason behind 30% of first year uni students dropping out or changing courses each year.

Instead of freaking out to decide on a career, and therefore which course and university to apply for, just take a step back. By all means, apply for uni or TAFE, but take a year off before you start. Taking a gap year in between high school and uni can suit students for a number of reasons.

• It will give you time to sit on your decision regarding your future course and occupation. Stepping back from the hype of Year 12 can allow you to work out what you really want to do, and give you time to seek further career advice.
• It can give you time to figure out who you are as a person outside of a school context. The social hierarchy and the strict structure of educational institutions can be limiting in terms of your personal development.
• A gap year can give you the freedom to work part-time or full-time and save money. You may buy a car, a laptop, or other pricy personal items.
• You will have time to travel. Although the university year does give you about three months off over summer, this is peak travel time. A gap year will give you the chance to travel without the rest of Australia coming along too.
• It can be necessary to recover from the pressure of Year 12. Exhaustion affects the best of us, and going directly into further studies can cause your tired intellect to struggle. You won’t get the marks you know you’re capable of achieving. Be fair to yourself, and if you want to do your best, then take care of yourself.

It is becoming increasingly common for students to take a year off before uni, and quite simply, it’s obvious why. Are you considering taking a break in between high school and further study? Are you uncertain? Feel free to talk it through below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Hopefully you have selected the right course for yourself; 30% of your peers change courses, change universities or simply drop out altogether. This is a disturbing stat; don’t let it include you!
 Here are some tips for choosing the right course first time;

• You must be really interested in the subject.
• If you are not sure, ask people with experience and knowledge, dig deeper, ask questions and actively collate decision-making information.
• You should be confident you will get a job when you graduate; 30% of graduates don’t and remain unemployed for a period of time.
• You must be able to afford any course fees as well as costs of living.
• Pick a university environment which feels right for you – large versus small campus, city versus country living. We are all different and so are the campus environments.

The first thing you will notice about university life is your new-found freedom. At school everyone wanted to know where you were every minute of every day; if you skipped a class, where was your note?

Your life was governed by bells telling you where to be and what to do. The bell rang for recess, then lunch and you were part of a structured programme. At university you will be on a geographically fragmented campus and have to find your own way to classes. Nobody knows or cares whether you turn up for class or not, whether you skip a tutorial or not. In large first-year classes the lecturer will probably never know your name. Your tutor in each subject will eventually learn your name if you show up, but will not pursue you if you don’t. Nor will your tutor automatically know if you’re not ‘getting it’ and are heading for a fail.

Many tutors express frustration that only “good” students seek them out and ask questions. Perhaps the truth is that bothering the hell out of your tutor makes you a good student! Anyway, you’re now in an unstructured environment - what a great feeling. You’re in control of your own destiny and sometimes the choices are pretty difficult to make. Do I go the boring Econometrics lecture where I don’t have a clue what the lecturer is talking about anyway?  Or do I go to the beach or better still to the bar with my friends and enjoy a cold beer, in the sun with my shirt off?

So don’t have too many expectations about university life being easy. The content will be tough and there is lots of it. Fall behind and you will struggle. Work at an even pace and you will be fine. There is no-one to hold your hand, even if you want them to. The only folk who will care about you are you and your family. Others don’t, so accept that up front. You must be proactive, track down, search and get whatever you need, from faculty enrolment, to library card usage, missed lecture handouts and so on. Subscribe to the theory of ‘push management’ not ‘pull management’ as nobody, repeat nobody is going to pull you up at university.

If you’re half smart, utilise technology for information rather than relying on personal input from others. It’s quicker and more reliable. When assignments are given out, get the reference material quickly to avoid all library copies being ‘out’ if you leave it till the last minute. If that’s likely to be you, then steel yourself for your first ‘all nighter’ and hand in that assignment in right on the 12 noon deadline.  If you’re a day student, try to avoid early morning and late evening lectures or tutorials. Despite your best intentions your attendance rate is likely to be lower at these times as there are so many other more attractive things to do, like sleep, catch the early morning surf, avoid the peak hour traffic and enjoy play time with friends. If you are feeling industrious early in the morning or in the evening, these can be great times to catch up in the library or the computer lab.

For many students there is a huge let down after a tough Year 12. The long strokes you put in have taken their toll. It’s now March; the three months’ summer holiday is a distant memory; and the thought of more intense study is demotivating and unthinkable. If this is you, then relax, you’re normal. Many students feel burnt out before they start first year university, or they may be experiencing the sobering reality of having picked the wrong course; or worse still not getting the pass or the course offer they had hoped for. In fact, I repeat, 30% of 1st year students either change courses, change universities or simply drop out altogether. Some may choose to take a Gap Year overseas or working; or for some it is possible to defer for six months and commence university in Semester 2.

You see, university is about learning at a higher level and about life. It’s about application and socialising. Sure you need to learn and acquire knowledge about the course that will underpin your future career aspirations. Being diligent with attendance to lectures and tutorials will get you part of the way there; handing in assignments with proper research, clarity of thought and effort will get you further; but the bottom line is there is no substitute for application – taking good lecture notes, doing the required reading, resolving issues you don’t understand; and when exams roll around swat the hours. Some argue it’s an exercise more in application than intelligence.

But you also have to be realistic – what grade of pass do I want? Some students strive to achieve the University Medal for their course, whilst others take a more balanced approach. They argue a HIGH DISTINCTION is way too much study, a life completely out of balance, in fact get a life, whilst a PASS grade is a fine delicate balance between work and play and you both move to the next subject. At university the way you learn is simply different from school and takes time to adjust to the new system. Be patient and keep an open mind. It’s OK to not have immediate goals and it’s also OK just to jog along for a while. You don’t have to have the same intensity and finely honed study habits you had at high school.

Your grades will be influenced by the groups you hang out with. The campus if full of people who have differing priorities. Some are even professional students. They enjoy a good time and so should you, within reason and with a sense of balance. Socialising, making new friends, managing the freedom responsibly, making new choices and decisions, are all important parts of your adult development. University has such great scale and social scope, with factors such as gender, cultural differences, kids from the city and the country all providing new challenges related to interactive learning between students, tutors and lecturers.

If your one of the lucky ones and still live at home, be thankful for the family support and the fact your dirty clothes still magically reappear back washed and ironed in your wardrobe, Mum and Dad still give you some cash when you’re short and you have a team behind you. But if you’re not at home but share a flat, working part time, having domestic responsibilities, maximising that heavy social independence, then chances are your reality check has just arrived, you’re pushing the envelope and loving it. The mark of PASS looks good.

Some can choose the middle ground and live on or near campus. Most of the universities offer accommodation of some sort, usually halls or residential colleges. The rooms are small and spartan – desk, bed, cupboard about 3m x 5m in dimension. The upside of on-campus life is the convenience allowing a focus on study, socialising, meals provided and little to no housework; but halls and colleges are very expensive and you receive virtually no privacy. Off campus, university-owned apartments allow more independence, you get more privacy’ but you have to cook and clean.

Fantastically some of life’s great skills are developed during this time – the cooking skills to rival Jamie Oliver, the domestic skills to challenge any Nanny and the financial management skills that the Treasurer would be proud of. Then there is your first car. It may be a brand new number from Mum and Dad, or a $2,000 masterpiece with multiple former lovers. It doesn’t matter which; you have your wheels and you can go anywhere. So go everywhere, never drink and drive, and demonstrate maturity whenever you’re behind the wheel.

A ‘FAIL’ mark in a subject not only will require you to repeat it, but will cost you double. That’s right; the HECS applies again. Make sure this is not you. ‘FAIL’ marks don’t enhance your Academic Transcript and employers seeking high quality graduate and cadets will more likely shy away from you. If you feel you will fail a subject despite your best efforts, it is possible to discontinue without a fail being recorded. Deadline dates for this appear in student diaries issued by most universities.

Take time to assess and reassess your career advice and direction. Don’t be surprised if you change your career choice well into your undergraduate course. That’s normal. Make a pact with yourself to better understand who you are, what your personality really is, how you impact on people around, what are your strengths and weaknesses and which career choices you are likely to be better suited to. Making an informed choice can only lead to your attaining high performance in both career and life.

It is one of life’s great moments when you stand there with a cap and gown to receive your first degree. So enjoy university life, graduate and make yourself proud. Some say it’s the last frontier of unbridled enjoyment and freedom you can experience before you face the real music...

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

In order to make an informed decision, employers try to learn as much about candidates as possible. And with Google providing easy access, all they have to do is type an applicant’s name into the search engine and see what pops up. A blog, a photo, a link to a Facebook page. It’s the contemporary version of running checks on academic degrees and criminal records, except that they can discover information about the applicants in a social and cultural context. It is common for these background searches to be performed on fresh university graduates, since these applicants have no previous career experience and no referee to call and question.

The main things that turn off potential employers and derail your career before it gets started are inappropriate photographs, particularly as a profile picture or in the act of illicit behaviour. Other incriminating factors include bad writing or grammar that may indicate low communication skills, derogatory comments, radical political positions, lies about qualifications, the releasing of trade secrets, and bad-mouthing previous employers. The surprising part is that social network users don’t realise or forget how accessible their information really is to the broader public.

Many people believe that sites like Facebook are private, and that their information can only be viewed by friends. This may be the case, depending on what privacy settings are selected, but often the image that they are unknowingly presenting on the net does not promote them professionally. Even if a hiring manager does not have a Facebook account, they can still search a candidate on the site and view a condensed version of their profile page. Exactly what shows up depends on the preferences of the user. They may allow people other than friends to view: their profile picture, friends list, link to add them as friend, link to send them a message, and fan pages. In the security settings section, there is even the option to allow Facebook to create a public listing for the user and submit it to the search engine index, so that if their name is typed into Google, their profile will show up as a link.

These social networking scans are not only run on young people applying for jobs in specific fields, such as education or childcare. They are becoming routine for employers in all areas, to understand candidates beyond their resume. Some argue it can be seen as an invasion of privacy and unfair discrimination to judge someone on their personal networking page. But it’s the Internet—it’s a public zone. It would be an invasion of privacy if their page was made private to begin with. But if a candidate hasn’t taken the care to block their page from the public eye, and their profile pic shows them guzzling beer with their shirt off, then a job rejection is the price they may have to pay.

The best career advice for people who are career or job hunting is listed below. Your career may turn on these so consider them carefully. Here are a few precautions to take to avoid making a bad virtual impression.

• Check the privacy settings on your social networking pages
• Remove any inappropriate photos
• Be wary of what groups you join. If a potential employer sees that you’re a fan of ‘Drinking til Dawn’ then it’s not likely to make a good impression
• Censor your updates and wall posts
• Monitor the pages of your friends. They may post and tag incriminating photos of you, write derogatory messages on your wall, or otherwise act in ways with which you will be negatively associated
• Watch the photos you post—there have been cases of people copying and pasting friends’ photos on blogs and discussion boards without their knowledge. This can provoke harmful or derogatory comments and spread a negative virtual presence of the person in the photographs
• Put your name in a search engine and see what comes up
• If you have a negative virtual image and don’t know how to fix it, try visiting http://www.reputationdefender.com/ for a serious solution.

It’s not necessary to cancel social networking accounts when deciding on a career or job hunting, but to simply be aware of the background checks that are performed on candidates. If a profile page is friendly and professional, then there is no reason for an employer to think negatively of the applicant. Users of Facebook and similar sites simply need to be aware of who can view their personal information, and be proactive in creating a positive virtual image.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

If you don’t know what to pursue, then the best career advice is choose subjects or a course that you’re passionate about. And if you do have an idea, then congratulations!

But just make sure that you are open to change, instead of blocking out other career possibilities simply because you currently know what you want to do.

To keep your career options open, here are some ways to be open to change:

• Be aware that you and your interests change. If you ‘know’ what career path you want to pursue now, don’t reject all others just yet. Accept other suggestions, research them, and picture yourself in those careers. This may solidify your initial decision, but it may also open your eyes to other opportunities.
• Don’t get too set on your plans. Plans are good, but not if they close off other ideas. Be confident in your choice, but not ignorant about alternatives. 
• View set backs in a positive light. If things don’t go well, it’s not necessarily a disaster. Turns in events can open doors that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.  
• Don’t view your career as a ‘job for life’. These days, if you decide to be a baker, you do not become Mr Baker for the next 40 years. Your job does not define who you are. Instead, view your career as constantly forming, developing, growing and changing through the years.
• It’s never too late to change. If you get worried that you’ve locked yourself into a course and career direction that you mightn’t like, just remember that you can always change. Mature-age students are becoming increasingly popular at university, so if you lose interest after ten years in a career, then you can educate accept the career advice of viewing yourself in a different field. But if you do like it now—stop worrying about possibilities that may never happen!

Careers are what you make of them. Take career advice from people who have knowledge backed up with experience. You find their wisdom is generally an excellent guide. What other factors should you consider?

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

What is sustainability? The most appropriate definition was given by the World Commission on Environment and Development, which claims that sustainability is the ‘forms of progress that meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs’. Basically, we should be using the Earth’s resources at a rate at which they can be replenished. But there is scientific evidence that proves humanity is currently living unsustainably. If we do not make the effort now to use natural resources within sustainable limits, then the planet will not be able to support us into the future.

Many people take a level of responsibility for the environment in their homes; recycling, saving water, turning power off, and choosing energy efficient appliances. However, surveys have shown that people often draw a line between responsibility at home and at work. Instead of being conscientious, workers feel helpless, disconnected, and as if making a difference in the workplace or company is beyond their control. The responsibility is believed to lie with managers or the government.

Now when you’re considering a career or looking for a job, sustainability may or may not matter to you. You might be a-okay with a workplace that creates waste and uses a lot of energy. However, other businesses try to do all they can in order to ‘green’ their workplace. For example, an office workplace may strive towards sustainability by using recycled paper, saving water, installing energy efficient lights and appliances, turning computers off at the end of the day, using VOC free toner in photocopiers and printers, and supplying the kitchen with organic and fairtrade products.

Large producers may avoid the issue of environmental sustainability, since it would increase the cost of production, therefore heighten prices, and consequently lose customers. However, with the increasing focus on sustainability, consumers will begin their career search looking for environmentally conscious companies and manufacturers. This will create a long-term competitive advantage for the companies who are environmentally aware, with the rising demand for more sustainable goods and services. So even for the greedy companies who care more about their bank account than the uncertain future of the planet, there will be a reason to become sustainable.

Unfortunately, at this time there is not a global seal of sustainability; a logo to look for in the shops to tell you whether a product has been produced through sustainable methods. However, it is only a matter of time before a logo is designed to indicate an eco-friendly, sustainable product or business. With the increasing awareness of our planet’s uncertain future, careers that do contribute to do their bit will be preferred as will the sustainable companies.

If you worry about the Earth’s depleting natural resources, perhaps the right career advice for you would be a career in the direction of sustainability, while also giving you a sense of proactive pride. Career paths in which you can address the issue of sustainability include waste and recycling, water, building design, energy, transport, landscaping, and paper and purchasing. There is also the career option to enroll in courses that offer training for ‘green-collar’ careers, which include learning how to install solar panels, repair wind turbines, produce biofuels, among other work, related to renewable energies, such as geothermal energy, hydroelectricity, wind power, solar power, and ocean energy.

t’s a fact that people are more proactive when they are given set instructions on how to solve something. Planned action events such as Clean Up Australia Day and Earth Hour are huge successes, because we are told exactly how we can help. A big part of the sustainability issue is people not knowing how to help. So here’s one way you can contribute: if it interests you, consider a ‘green collar’ career, or a job in an area where you can directly address the issue of sustainability.

If these careers are too far from what you’d like to do, but you would still like to partake in sustaining the environment and our natural resources, then seek sustainable career advice in fields such as architecture, engineering and technology, energy, environmental studies, built environment, or agriculture. If you’re interested in teaching, then incorporate sustainability into your classes to educate students. If you’re into creative arts, integrate the topic into your work to raise awareness.

If you want an office job, encourage the workplace to become ‘green’ in its products and activities. Because even if you know your future career, and it has nothing to do with sustainability, you can still brainstorm ways in which you can make it the most sustainable career of its kind.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• If they don’t give you a letter of confirmation of employment – this is mandatory as it outlines the terms and conditions of your employment, including responsibilities, remuneration, hours, leave entitlements
• If they pay you below the minimum wage. Some companies will take advantage of their younger employees and pay them unfortunately low hourly rates. Check your minimum wage to determine whether you are being duped. For instance, the minimum wage of a beginner in the fast food industry, under the age of 17, is $8.87 an hour.
• If they don’t roster around your exams. If you’ve explained that you’re a student and have an exam period coming up, but your shifts do not decrease to allow for study or exams, then you have a nasty boss. This isn’t illegal, but it’s certainly not ideal for a student who wants to do their best at school.
• If they don’t pay you for overtime. Unless you get paid a bonus at the end of the year, which considers all of your overtime and efforts, you should be paid for any overtime you do. If you don’t get paid for this time, then be strict with yourself and don’t work overtime. You didn’t apply for a volunteer position.
• If they discriminate against you. If you feel that you are being bullied, harassed, or unfairly treated due to your ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, social-economical situation, or other reasons, do not tolerate it. You are being discriminated against, and have the right to do something about it. 

If you have or know of any other problems with employers, we’d love to hear about them in the comments box below. Your comments could very well alert another reader that they are in a dodgy workplace.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Career Advice #1: Be different – don’t be like all the rest – candidates are a dime a dozen, so stand out by having energy, passion, confidence to burn and the zeal to tackle the interviewer. Let your personality shine through—let the employer see that you have a positive approach, a sense of humour, and enthusiasm for the job. Look them in the eye, have firm hand shake, sit upright. Have stature – if you don’t know what it is, go and find out. Practice in front of a mirror to see what your hands and facial expressions are. Listen to yourself on tape so see whether your voice tone changes or you stumble on words etc. Video yourself and play it back to see what the interviewer see.

Career Advice #2: Ask pointed, tough questions. – There is always another candidate, but you only have one career. Ask the difficult questions like;

• Why should I consider joining this organisation?
• What’s different about this organisation?
• What are the company’s practiced values and give me an example of one.
• What words describe the company’s personality?
• What is my boss going to teach me?
• Using individual words, describe my bosses management style.
• Is my boss, more a leader or a\ manager?
• What qualities are you seeking in the successful applicant?
• What behaviours do you seek?
• What level of functional knowledge is desired?

The only way to learn if the job is right for you is to ask questions. Employers like being questioned, because it shows you are interested in the position. However don’t be cocky. The way you ask questions is more important than the question itself. Tell the interviewer, you accept someone will get the position, but you only have one career and it is important to get the fit right. They will understand. Let them do most of the talking and engage in conversation and prove that you are keen and willing to dedicate your time to the job. Come prepared with memorised questions and get on a roll when asking them.

Career Advice #3: Submit a current, well-structured resume. The first words they read are the impressions you want them to retain about you. Your personal details go last. Employers need only 15 seconds to read a resume. Short, sharp to the point with up-to-date information  including personal profile, summary employment history, key achievements and what you offer.

Career Advice #4: Clean your digital dirt. Make sure that if an employer types your name into Google or Facebook, they are not greeted with reasons not to hire you. Ensure you either have no negative presence, or can only be researched in a positive way.

Career Advice #5: Wear power clothes – wear a business suit, with contrasting colours and power tie or scarf. If you don’t have a suit, buy the best one you can practically afford – it will make you money.

Finally the best career advice I can give you is that being ready for an interview is not the same as being prepared. Learn about the company’s products or services, what major announcements or events they have, anything that demonstrates you have made an effort to understand them. Now that’s preparation. Want to talk about it, write me a blog below

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So what are top 5 things to know about Facebook?

• Mark Zuckerburg is the original founder of Facebook. He created the site while in his dorm room at Harvard University with his three roommates, and launched the site in 2004, at the age of 20. He is known as the world’s youngest self-made billionaire.
• Facebook has officially overtaken My Space as the most popular networking site.
• In 2008, Facebook was worth an approximate $15 billion.
• Facebook’s largest downfall, according to user preferences, is the applications. It’s irritating to have to accept or decline a load of different applications, each time you log into your account.
• Facebook is currently rumoured to be suffering a mass exodus of young people, due to its increasing popularity. It used to be a place where you could talk and share photos with friends, but who wants to do that now that your parents are on-line as well?

Are you a ‘Facebooker’? Feel free to discuss its pros and cons below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Dentistry. This includes the time it takes to specialise within a chosen area of dentistry, including orthodontics, Periodontics, Paediatric Dentistry, Prosthodontics, Endodontics and Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery. The initial degree is five years, and then add another year for Honours, with two years of clinical experience, and then post-graduate studies.
• Medicine. A standard degree in Medicine or Surgery takes around four to five years. Following this, students have to attend four years of medical school, two years of internship and residency, and between three and eight years as a registrar, depending on their chosen speciality. Some people are not fully-qualified specialists until they are well into their thirties.
• Engineering. Well-known for its specialisations taking up to five years to complete.
• Law. As a stand-alone degree, this tends to be four years. Put it in a double degree, and you’ve got yourself at least five years of intensive study.
• Construction Management/Architecture. This degree can take between four and five years. 

Other lengthy degrees include areas of health science, education, social worker and veterinary science. Do you think you could handle up to six or more years of study before you start working in the career of your choice? You can only hope it’s financially worth it and there are jobs available when you start.

If you have any advice for potential uni students, post a reply and share you experiences.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So you’re in year 12, and suddenly you’re going to be making some choices you’ve never had to make before.  Some people are excited, some just ignore it because there’s too much going on with mates and Facebook, others are just plain scared... but what you decide now could mean the difference between the life you want, and the life you really don’t.

Life is a pretty big thing to think about.  Lots of people far brainier than you or I have tried to figure out stuff like this for eternity, and failed.  The message here is, don’t over complicate things.  Think about what you like and dislike, then apply these things to the career choices you’re about to make.   

The reality is that making a decision on your career or further education is simpler right now than if you decide to change direction in 10 years time.  Getting it right at the start can mean the difference between shopping on Chapel Street, at Eastlands or on eBay!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So here is the Top 5 Gadgets you've got to get into;

1. Wrist watch phone from LG
2. Double screen laptop from Lenova W700DS - great for traders
3. Projector phone from Samsung - gets screen image onto paper, walls etc
4. iPhone 3GS is still the most powerful iPhone yet
5. Surge solar case for iPhone

Post your latest gadgets for all to see. Enjoy!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Depending on your state, you will apply for your courses through the following centres:

• Victoria – VTAC (Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre)
• New South Wales – UAC (Universities Admissions Centre)
• ACT – UAC (Universities Admissions Centre)
• South Australia – SATAC (South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre)
• Northern Territory – SATAC (South Australian Tertiary Admissions Centre)
• Queensland – QTAC (Queensland Tertiary Admissions Centre)
• Western Australia – TISC (Tertiary Institutions Service Centre)
• Tasmania – Direct application. Websites are accessible from BSSC Careers website.

You have to be an Australian citizen, an Australian permanent resident, a New Zealand citizen, or a temporary resident currently studying in Australia to apply through these centres. Otherwise, you will have to apply directly through the institution you wish to attend.

Take a look at the step-by-step guidelines for course selection and application below if you are uncertain about how to apply. In fact, even if you know what course you want to do, follow the below tips, just to test your certainty.

1. Jump on the internet and search for career advice sites. Have a look around, read about various careers and what they entail, what qualifications you’ll need for each career, and which institutions offer those courses. In terms of career advice sites, www.careernav.com.au has it all. It offers career descriptions, life skills, career skills, features and blogs on the latest issues, packages to assist with your personal and professional growth, and a forum to discuss any issues or opinions you have. Use the information on offer, buy a package to help you develop a sense of direction if necessary, and get an idea of what areas you might like to pursue. 
2. Get your hands on a tertiary guide. For instance, if you’re in Victoria, you’ll buy a VTAC Guide, and if you’re in New South Wales, you’ll get the UAC Guide. These guides include a list of all bachelor degrees, associate degrees, advanced diplomas, diplomas, and certificate IV courses.
3. Go to the index, and look for major studies/areas of study. This index will list all the institutions that offer a particular major/course and the page number. Look up each course you might be interested in – even those you might not – to see if it is exactly what you want.
4. Find out how each tertiary institution makes its selections for each course. It may select using ENTER/TER/OP/ATER (previously UAI) scores alone, or it may have extra requirements. The handbook will list the previous year’s required scores to be used as an estimate, as well as the middle-band, and the size of course’s student intake. If you think you can reach a score that will get you in, and you like the course description, then good. If the score seems too high, then have a look at similar courses that require a lower score for selection.
5. Instead of a study score, the guide may state that a range of criteria (RC) is required. This will usually be specified in Extra Requirements, such as audition, interview, folio presentation, UMAT, and so on. Always check Extra Requirements for every course: If you don’t meet the extra requirements, then your application will be invalid!
6. Once you have looked through the guide and read about all of the courses that you might want to do, create a shortlist. Your top 10 courses, in order of preference. Number 1 will be the course and university you most want to attend.

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You might also want to consider applying for special consideration. This can help you if you get into a tertiary institution if you are at a disadvantage to other students. Depending on your state, you may apply for:

• EAS – Educational Access Scheme (New South Wales, ACT and Western Australia)
• SEAS – Special Entry Access Scheme (Victoria)
• SCD – Special Consideration of Educational Disadvantage (Queensland)
• SEAS – Student Equal Access Scheme (Flinders University. Each institution in SA has its own access scheme. Contact the institutions for details).

The categories for special consideration access schemes include rural and isolated students, mature age students, non-English speaking background, recognition as an Indigenous Australian, difficult family circumstances, disadvantaged socio-economic background, under-represented schools, women in non-traditional courses, personal disability or long-term medical condition, and refugee status. In some cases, you may also apply for consideration on the grounds of the health of a family member, personal health or trauma, death of a close family member or friend, divorce or separation of parents, adverse living conditions, excessive family responsibility, or natural disaster.

If in doubt, apply. It is better to have applied for special consideration than miss out on a place at university because your marks weren’t high enough due to your circumstances. Applications open in August, and close around the same time as course selections close.

Now, once you have made your course choices (remembering that once you get your ENTER/TER/ATER/OP in December, you are able to alter your preferences), it’s time to make your selections. To apply, your will need:

• Your Application Number (in Victoria, just known as VTAC Number, and WA as TISC Number). You will have either been sent this number by your state’s admissions centre, or it will be on your student ID card. Contact your admissions centre if you have lost your Application Number.
• A PIN number, which you will get when you register online.
• The Course Code of each course you have selected. These codes are 5 numbers, and end in 1, 2, or 3. These final numbers are very important, as they indicate whether you are applying for a Commonwealth Supported Place (1), full-fee place (2), or as a non-Australian citizen – also full-fee place (3).

The application process varies slightly from state to state. However, for an example, those in Victoria need to:

• Register online (www.vtac.edu.au)
• Receive VTAC ID and PIN number
• Login to MyInfo
• Access the:
  • VTAC Course Application
  • STAT DULSAT Application
  • Scholarship Application
  • Apply!

If you are stressing about your course or career selections, don’t. Just remember that you can change your preferences along the way. If you are completely at a loss and have no clue, refer to some of the blogs on www.careernav.com.au or consider taking a Gap Year next year so that when you apply next August, it will be for something you’ve really thought about.

Happy selections!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Whilst you may be concerned about and feel like you should have a clue, the fact is its perfectly normal not to have a clue. When I went to high school the careers practitioner suggested I would be well suited to an engineering role and my parents wanted me to be a PE Teacher.

So when my HSC results came I decided to commence Law at UNSW but quickly found  I could not read the mountainous volume of case law, so in quick time I switched to marketing. This in fact was the best career decision I could have made and I have enjoyed a long and successful marketing career.  The four career choices could not have been more polarised but I learned you should only take career advice from individuals who have experience backed up with knowledge.

Feeling a little confused on your career, don’t have a clue – share your thoughts with us. We will help you resolve what’s chewing away at you. Better still ask your parents about their career experiences. Bet you get the same answer – they didn’t have a clue either. If you’re a parent it’s time to come clean on your early career path!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Sadly they don’t, but as a parent, now is the time to support them even more. If you have the commercial background that you can draw upon, that’s a great start. Talk to them, nothing too heavy, and try to tease out the indicators, the threads of their thinking. One by one, explore each option.

But what if you don’t have the personal background that can provide sound advice? This is where career practitioners and career websites like www.careernav.com,.au come into play. Get your year 12 student into thinking about the basis of a career – what is important to them? Is it career progression, working outdoors, or is chasing the big salaries the motivating factor. How about careers with international travel, executive management or are they good with their hands and spectrum of trades that gets them passionate. How about their creative or artistic flair - a career in acting, entertainment, interior design or an artist? Ask what they are good at, interested in, ask what study topics they enjoy or despise, anything to start to narrow the options until you get to a long list of possible career choices. The go to the career profiles on the careernav website, read all about each one and this will narrow the list even further.

Now get them to go into industry – talk to people in industry, ask questions, ask why and why not. Don’t be put off thinking you have interrupted their day. Senior managers generally enjoy helping Australia’s youth as they don’t do it every day. So be bold and ask and ask a range of people to ensure you receive a balanced view. If you can then get some work experience opportunities, then all the better. Keep refining the process and crossing off the long list to make a short list, then put the short list in a draw for a month. Then dig it out and see if everyone still feels right. If it doesn’t then retrace the path and if it does, then proceed with an even more targeted approach.

Not having a clue about career choice is not only normal it’s a great opportunity to explore who you are and how flexible your thinking is. Never know you may even want to be an entrepreneur!!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Australian’s have always had a love affair with sport. If we don’t play it, we watch it and read about it and talk about it and argue about it. It’s normal and Australian.

So when you come to the point in the career path road which leads to a career as a professional sportsman verses a career elsewhere who do you turn to for advice. Whilst your heart says yes, your brain will often say no, it’s too big of a risk, what happens if I get injured early in the career, am I really good enough, what happens  if..... these are just a few of the issues you will ask.

However the upside is substantial. Quite apart from participating in something you love and enjoy, there is the opportunity to pit you against the best and satisfy yourself competing at the highest level. Then there are travel opportunities and the serious money you can make and lifestyle rewards if you crack the big time.

BRW magazine listed the Top 50 Australian Sports earners. Not surprisingly the really big money earners went to golf, tennis, soccer and motor sport. Greg Norman headed the list with $20.0m with none from prize money which proves money makes money if astutely managed. Adam Scott a golfer made $5.8m, golfing ladies Karrie Webb and Katherine Hull about $1.1m reach. In soccer Harry Kewell $10.5m, Mark Viduka $7.12m and Lucas Neill $7.7m led the way in the most played sport on the planet.

Australia has long produced competitors in motor sports starting with Sir Jack Brabham back in the 1960’s, the Alan Jones in the 1980’s and now Mark Webber earned $8.5m in Formula One racing. Chad Reed earned $8.5m in Motor Cross, little known Mat Mlidan $6.8m from Superbikes, Ryan Brisco collected $1.5m from Indy car and Marcus Ambrose $1.2m from NASCAR. In Motor GP we had Wayne Gardner, then Mick Doohan and now Casey Stoner.

If you’re over seven foot tall head to the US and the NBA basketball just like Andrew Bougat did and at 24 years of age he earned $8.2m and secured a 5 year contract. And yes as long as you possess foot speed, supreme fitness and acute eye hand co-ordination, like Layton Hewitt did you can still earn $6.6m, even when you’re past your best.

Did you notice all the Top 10 made their money internationally. So if you aspire for the big bucks, then on your bike, travel light as you will be in and out of planes, taxi’s, hotel rooms, packing, unpacking and waking up wondering which city you’re in today. And family, they are the ones you call on the telephone. As for your body clock it will get used to it.

So that’s the Top 10, but what about the real footy I hear you ask...... Tune in for Part 2 soon

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You still want the best education you can provide for your children but as the school work gets tougher your contribution can go down. But it need not. There are plenty of other valuable contributions you can make.
So what is the best advice and contribution you can make as a parent?

Here is a 5 Step Plan for parents wanting to maximise their teenager academic performance.

1. Get your daughter or son to understand and accept there is a direct link between academic performance and future career prospects. Provide examples they can identify with.

2. Discuss specific study strategies, emphasising the importance of time management, study effectiveness, priortising workloads and establishing a study routine.

3. Instil the value of education and linking school work to career options is a great topic to break the ice if communication is a little awkward. Reminding them of the lifestyle rewards study can bring is more likely to prick their interest. After all, whose dream doesn’t include a bright shinny red Ferrari or a memorable overseas trip. Your student is more likely to buy into the program if it is expressed in emotional benefits and then more likely to excel in school.

   Many sectors of the education system say Years 9 and 10 are the times student interest in school declines and so do their grades.  Let’s face it at this age puberty, hanging with friends, and increasing the space between you and them is pretty normal. Students start being their own person, as you want them to be. Adolescence is a time when analytic thinking, problem-solving planning and decision-making skills start to increase, and making their own decisions within reason. These factors are always going to win over listening to parents and studying.

4. Increase the frequency of your chats, appeal to their march to adulthood and increase the sophistication and communication level but remember to be a fantastic listener. Teens are starting to internalize goals, beliefs and motivations and use these to make decisions. You need to get them talking, so tease them out by asking open ended questions. Although your teenager may want to make their own decisions, they need advice and guidance from their parents across a range of issues. Whilst discussing more personal issues can be more difficult, the discussion on a career is non threatening and likely to draw a positive response. This is your chance to provide the link between school performance and their career aspirations. So communicating the value of education and offering curriculum advice about what to focus on will help your student plan their long-term career and life goals.

5. Parents' involvement in school events and career expos still have a positive effect on adolescents' achievement, but not as much as parents' conveying the importance of academic performance, relating educational goals to occupational aspirations and discussing learning strategies.

Tell us about strategies that work for you. Post a reply for all to learn from, both what to do and what not to do.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The top 5 most expensive things are -

• Bad advice
• Closed Mind 
• Insufficient education
• Indulgences you cannot afford
• Making the same mistakes again

You should only take career advice and advice from people who have knowledge backed up by experience; that being open to other people’s ideas will expand your horizons; that we live in a world that demands education, both formal and informal; that living beyond your means is a recipe for financial ruin and that if you cannot learn from your mistakes, then some people say you are an idiot.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. The right attitude – Talent is cheap and everywhere. Education is not cheap but its for hire having the right attitude is the key to career success.
2. A capacity for hard work – Stickability will mean you’re still there long after others have quit.
3. To listen more than you talk – Especially when the tribal elders speak!
4. Be a brilliant communicator – In writing. Orally, and formally on your feet. Practice, practice and practice some more.
5. Strong business ethics and principals – Success without honour is not success. Make a pact never to tread on anybody in your surge to the top.

How many of these qualities do you have? Why not share it with us..

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So here are Top 5 purchases to make you more competitive and enhance your career.

• Career Enhancer #1:  Buy the latest model iPhone – its’ got everything you need with immediacy at your fingertips.  Everywhere you go, it goes. You won’t miss a piece of communication, forget or be late for an appointment and your replies have shorter turnaround time. It can make or break a deal.
• Career Enhancer #2:  Personal presentation creates first impressions. So the most expensive item of clothing in your wardrobe is the suit you wear to work – it’s the suit that makes you money, makes you look sharp, and oozes quality and success. Match up tasteful shirt and tie for guys and blouse for ladies. Oh and guys learn how to tie your tie correctly. Your expensive casual clothes look great and make a fashion statement but don’t make you any money.
• Career Enhancer #3:  Purchase a membership to a business club or association – go there at least once per week. Get yourself known, networking opportunities will gradually open up. What you know is important, but who you know well......
• Career Enhancer #4:  Enrol in a course where you can learn all about personal stature and leadership gravitas. When you enter a crowded room, you will be noticed. Does Danny DiVito have stature?
• Career Enhancer #5:  Save up and pay for a coach and mentor. Start by seeking out someone who has an interest in teaching younger players. Progress to a professional coach and if you receive a positive performance review, ask to go halves with your boss. Benefit is wisdom at a young age – invaluable
  Think about all your purchases – understand which are for fun and indulgence (essential for a balanced life), which move your career and life forward and which are simply a waste of money.

Post a blog for us all to share.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are the top 10 exam tips for you to think about -

• Exam tip #1 – Stay in routine, maintain your usual diet, sleep pattern, and continue to eat nutritious but bland foods. The last thing you want is food poisoning or some illness that prevents you from taking the exam.
• Exam tip #2 – Aerobic exercise in any format blows the cobwebs away, so make sure you do a balanced amount without over exerting yourself.
• Exam tip #3 – When you turn the paper over, read and re read the questions and highlight the key activity words they want you to address. If they say evaluate and discuss then make sure you evaluate and discuss, by putting forward differing points of view. Highlight the key action words.
• Exam tip #4 – Map out a rough time plan to allocate to each section. The last thing you want is to ramble on too much and be cramped for time at the end. Likewise make sure your answers have a structure about them and use your neatest possible handwriting. Don't test the examiners patience with lazy handwriting.
• Exam tip #5 – Do the easy questions first. The ones you know the answers to. It builds confidence and sets the pace for your exam.
• Exam tip #6 – Each hour devote 30 seconds to stretching your upper body; arms, shoulders and neck.
• Exam tip #7 – Use all the time allowed. If others finish early and walk out, let them do so. If you finish early, go back and review your answers to ensure correctness.
• Exam tip #8 – For questions you don’t know the answer to, if they are multiple choice, then eliminate the two least obvious options and then use your best guess. If they are essay questions, then choose the question you know most about. If you are short of time simply construct your answer in bullet points rather than full narrative; this at least tells the examiner you have at least some clue about the answer.
• Exam tip #9 – When the exam is over, irrespective of how it went, let it go and turn your mind to the next subject. Try to avoid comparing answers with fellow students.

• Exam tip #10 – Make sure you get enough sleep the night before each exam. 

We leave you with Careernav's final comment - " Somewhere, some place, some time, you have to make a statement about who you are and what you believe in. When that time comes you simply have to do it."

Good luck in your exams from the Team at Careernav.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Cars are a depreciating investment; they will cost you money and without one life is more difficult. But what the heck everyone’s got to have one, you can have a great time and you can become emotionally attached, so you may as well get the best and most reliable car to get you around or to make a statement that your budget permits.

Here are the some important tips in buying your first car –

• Take your parent/s and or an expert with you. Their advice, knowledge and unemotional view is one thing you cannot do without. Not all sellers are honest!
• Have it checked out by the RACV, NRMA or automobile club in your state irrespective of buying privately or through a dealer.  It may cost you a couple of hundred dollars but could save you thousand in unwanted repairs. Take it for a long test drive and put it through it paces.
• If it is over $3000 in value insure it, if not then don’t bother. Get an insurance quote estimate before buying, as it can be quite costly to insure your car as a ‘P’ plate driver. The more modifications, sports versions or powerful the vehicle the greater the insurance cost.
• Buy something that is fuel efficient, doesn’t have any rust, and has got proof of regular service history. Ask to see the paperwork, has it been involved in an accident, and make sure you inspect the car during the day, so as to be able to spot any defects it may have.
• Do a Murcott’s defensive driving course www.murcotts.com.au and then go to do their advanced driving course. You will quickly learn all cars can get you into difficulty and having the driving skills that can get you out of difficulty – this is worth every cent it will cost you.
• Reliability is more important than looks. Some of the young guy’s cars are awesome to look at and everyone will, including the police. It is unlikely to be garaged at night, sitting out on the road any passers buy interested in taking it for a joy ride.
• You also don’t need to spend any more than $5000 on your first car. You can get a great car on this budget and at $5000 it is likely to be fully depreciated.  The younger the car the better, so avoid old cars that have too many kilometres and parts near the end of their life.

Here are our tips of affordable cars that are available for purchase around the $5,000 mark -
1. Mazda 121, Metro, 323
2. Toyota Corolla Seca, Ascent, Conquest  Seca.
3. Holden Vectra, Barina,
4. Ford Laser or Ford Festiva

Good luck  and write telling us how you go on.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

What did surprise us however was the fact they had no clue as to the best process on how to find out what career choice they are best suited to. We gave them career advice that focussed on the path to travel to find the best career options, the options that best suited their personality, thinking ability, engendered passion and genuine interest.

Ten minutes later they left with a smile on their face and we felt our good deed for the day was done. But the confused and frustrated faces kept on coming and we kept talking, advising and supporting. Everyone left with a smile.
Do you have a Career Plan? Careernav have put together a six step career plan. Ask them about it and write telling us about your plan.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

People are seldom good at all activities but usually excel in a smaller range of activities. Were they born like that or were they were taught? Do they think a particular way or was it the only way they knew?

People who are ‘Creative Thinkers’ have a fantastic range of career opportunities available to them and are often the envy of society. Their efforts will frequently deliver high achievement, immense personal satisfaction, reward and recognition, not to mention bucket loads of money if their design in ground breaking.

If this includes you, then some great careers available include;

• Architect
• Any of the Design Careers – fashion, interior, creative, landscape gardener
• Creative  advertising
• Writer or copywriter
• Film or Television Director
• Photographer

Creativity can be about words or pictures, about scenes or artistry, it could be telling a story, nurturing a design or combinations of the above. Creative thinkers enjoy freedom, unstructured environments and the chance to freewheel to wherever their creative mind takes them.  In the artistic world the above careers would thrive. In the commercial world creative thinking centres more on innovation, new products or services and new systems and procedures. Some of the factors that stifle creative thinking include criticism, too many constraints, time pressures, budget funds and personal stress.

If your career depends on your creative thinking, the management style of your immediate boss is important you understand. If they don’t cut you some slack, manage to tight and continually place demands on you, you’re likely to left your best behind. So you need to stand up and ask about their management style. And tell them the management style you best respond too and what style will get the best quality of work from you.

When going for a job the company’s environment will also be important to your decision. At interview ask for words that best describe the company’s environment, look to see if  staff are wearing casual or suits, seek out indicators of formality, check out the structures such as  offices verses open plan, formal meeting rooms verses round tables and workstations.

Creative thinking is a gift – make sure you use every inch of it to deliver a rewarding career for yourself. Oh and don’t confuse creative thinking with lateral thinking, or thinking outside the square. This is for problem solving and the last thing creative thinkers need is heavy problems.

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Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

People are seldom good at all activities but usually excel in a smaller range of activities. Were they born like that or were they were taught? Do they think a particular way or was it the only way they knew?

5 Great Careers for Analytical Thinkers;

Meteorologists study the atmosphere and make predictions about the weather conditions that are expected over land and sea.

If ‘Creative Thinkers’ are often the envy of society, then ‘Analytical Thinkers ‘ are surely the backbone of society and they too have a fantastic range of career opportunities available to them. Their efforts will frequently deliver problem solving, utilise complexity of thought and overcome major obstacles to find a solution. Their thinking is often mathematically or science based, full of logical and sequential thought, based upon rich and accurate information. You can be sure their advice is mistake free.They too attain high achievement, immense personal satisfaction, reward and recognition, not to mention bucket loads of money.

Analytical thinkers enjoy problem solving, finding fact based solutions, gathering information, deciphering data, finding facts and proof of evidence. Structure and process is the environment they feel most comfortable with, they must get it right preferably first time and will stick with their analysis until they have reached their personal criteria for success. They fear mistakes.

If your career depends on your analytical thinking, the management style of your immediate boss is important you understand. Often managers have high achievement, steam roller styles with a preparedness to take calculated risks. They will often create artificial deadlines. As an analytical thinker, you are likely not to respond to this style. Accuracy and reliability are more important than deadlines and checking and rechecking results to reduce commercial risk. Tell them the management style you best respond too and what style will get the best quality of work from you.

Also be aware of the image you project. Analytical thinkers can often fall into the trap of being introverted, lost within the world of research and fact finding detached from others. Your natural conservatism, pedantic eye for detail is easily misunderstood as being cold and reserved, overly cautious and too steady as she goes.  Take care your analytical style does not get you overlooked for leadership opportunities. Practice juggling the art of being a chameleon – change your style to suit the occasion.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are 5 tips to see you through the exam period

1. Ensure your student gets enough sleep and balances off with some physical activity. Understand they will be demanding, tired, moody, frustrated and for this period only, you can tolerate that.
2. Maintain a study environment that gets the best out of your student; if that is keeping quiet, or having music playing then so be it. This is their time to shine, their time to actually show you just how determined they are to get what exactly they want, so for the short term, let them go!
3. Serve brain and energy food such as fresh fruit and vegetables rather than stodgy starched foods.  Keep caffeine products to a minimum as they will generate an artificial high.
4. Screen away all non exam related issues so the student radar keeps focussed on the job at hand. But keep in mind they will need a break from time to time – let them go and see friends or simply go shopping, as long as they stick to the study routine.
5. Keep well wishes to a minimum. Even though they are meant well they add unwanted pressure to the student to achieve their number. Working and studying hard is no guarantee for success, but without it you are guaranteed to fail.

The team at Careernav wish you all the best and good luck for your exams.

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Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are our top 5 reasons to get a trade...

  1. You have the feeling of creating something. You start from scratch on nearly all of your jobs and the outcome is a finished project. Whether it is building a house, doing the plumbing, installing electrical wires, or laying bricks, at the end you can see your creation.
  2. No two days will be the same. As your project progresses it changes each day. For example if you are building a home, one day you may erect the frame, the next you will attach the roof trusses, the next you may straighten the frame and so on until the job is complete. It can be challenging but will always be interesting.
  3. Independence – Once you have the experience your boss may ask you to take over some jobs from certain stages. This means less supervision but your boss will almost certainly still check your work to ensure proper management of the project to completion, and customer satisfaction. Once qualified you have the opportunity to choose if you want to run your own business. Running your own business means you choose the work locations and the hours you work.
  4. The ability to travel. A “tradie” means that you have the necessary skills within say the building trade, plumbing, or an  electrician. You could also be a baker, or hairdresser as these are considered trade careers.   Don't forget there sre may trade careers out there and with them you are able to work just about anywhere you choose in just about any country (depending on rules and regulations of those countries).
  5. Money. Most trades have the ability to earn reasonable money. If you choose to work hard, be honest with your customers, work to a quality outcome, finish on time with the projects and respect your clients, you will go a long way.
While you may think being in a trade will be an easy run, think again. It is a hard, strenuous, physically tiring, and you have to understand all aspects of safety on each and every job.

While we have listed 5 reasons to get into a trade, there are bound to be many more reasons to join this type of career path. 

Have any other tips for us? Please let us know in the forum...

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are some tips to helping you choose the right career path...

If you have no idea what trade you will be best suited to then follow your instincts to the ones that really interest you and you feel most comfortable with. Gather all the information you can possible get your hands on. The more informed you are the more you know what to expect once employed.

If you still attend secondary school, the careers advisors will give you career advice on the different areas of employment, as well as the option of possibly beginning some of your training while still attending school. They will tell you the subjects you should think about for the right apprenticeship. This would be a school based apprenticeship and that means it gives you industry required knowledge while still being able to complete higher levels of schooling.

Look through newspapers for any advertised positions or articles in your field of interest.  The internet is another great way to search for any information relating to trades. The information is just about endless but can be very useful in your search.

Group training companies, or you local apprenticeship centre are all there to assist in your career planning. They will help in the search of the correct information, as well as giving you career advice on how to obtain an apprenticeship, what prerequisites you may need, the training required and the steps you could take to obtain employment.

Aside from just researching all the different trades out there, why not contact some people who work within the industry of interest and see if you can do some work experience with them. What better way to find out if you are suited to your preferred career choice. This not only shows you the day to day requirements, but will give you the best insight by far. You get your hands dirty before deciding if this career is for you!

While these are just a few of the avenues you can go through to find the trade that will best suit you, don’t forget your parents. They may not know much about trades, or they may know plenty, but you can guarantee they will always be there to offer you sound advice.

Good luck in your search and remember it’s not a job you want, it’s a career.

Have any more ideas...why not share them with us

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Open a savings account. An online account can be helpful because you can’t access it with a card. Use this account for saving only – no transferring money out once you’ve put it in. A good idea is to put a certain percentage of your pay packet in each fortnight. That way, you’re keeping, say, 25% of your earnings without fail

• Save money from extra shifts. If you cover a shift at work, don’t look at it as extra spending money – it’s extra savings. Since you’re not used to having that amount of money each week, you won’t miss the extra.
• Op shop. If you need new jacket this winter, or more shirts to wear to the beach, then instead of going to pricy stores, visit the op shop. You have to wade through the rubbish, but you’ll be amazed at the cheap yet brilliant gems you can find. 
• Student Concession. If you’re a full time student, get a student concession form from a newsagent, and get it stamped at uni. That way, you save on public transport, movie tickets, exhibitions, and more. You student card is not the same as a student concession card.
• Visit Careernav.com Life Skills section. For detailed tips and tricks on how to manage your money, click on the Life Skills tab, then Financial Skills, and scroll down to Money Management - 11 Essential Tips.

If you have any other inventive pointers on how to save money, then feel free to post a comment below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

This is due to a number of social and economic factors, including a reduced ability to save for a home deposit, cost of rent, mortgages, and house prices. Studying at university to enhance their career prospects has also contributed to this issue greatly, with extended study periods delaying young people from entering the workforce full-time, study negatively affecting their possible work-load, and compulsory HECS/HELP repayments which runs into tens of thousands.

When young people graduate from their degrees and commence their careers, they have a huge debt weighing them down. Student loans are technically interest free – but they are adjusted according to the Consumer Price Index every year, which is interest in disguise. Some banks will even take a HECS/HELP debt into account when deciding whether or not to approve a loan, affecting a young person’s chance at buying their own home.

The youth of this generation are aware that affordability is a problem, and will only get worse. They have seen their parents battle with mortgages or rent, they have heard about the housing shortages, they are aware of university costs, and with a small glance at a real estate flyer, they know that affording their own home will be difficult. They know that they will be faced with a mortgage, rising interest rates, and skyrocketing house prices.

If they have already moved out of their family home and are renting, then that in itself is a battle. The cost of renting is rising through the roof, and young people struggle just to make rent, let alone save money to one day own their own home. Due to the demands of the growing population, prices are being jacked up because people will pay more just to get a roof over their head. Those who can’t afford to pay the highest prices are losing out to wealthier people, or are struggling to keep up with repayments of something they couldn’t really afford in the first place.

What can be done to help the youth of today afford to live in the same comfort as the generation before them?
1. Review the Youth Allowance system to make it fair for all students, not just those with low-income earning parents.
2. Revise the rent assistance scheme, to account for those living in higher rent areas such as major cities, and to help out students living away from home and studying full-time.
3. Increase student housing for those who live away from  home and find accommodation hard to come by due to the negative bias against university students as tenants.

To do nothing means the dream of owning their own home will remain a dream for years after they graduate. The prospect of a mortgage they can’t afford, a university debt, rising interest, and the increasing cost of everything, is not only intimidating and a little scary to the young people of today, but it’s a unfair of the world at large to expect it of them.  

The best career advice Careernav can give;

1. Work a high paying part-time job that relates to your intended career
2. Make regular voluntary HECS repayments along the way however small
3. Make lump sum payments off HECS debt when your tax return arrives or a financial windfall comes your way.
4. Ask your family to give CASH not presents for your birthday and Christmas and pay off the HECS debt
5. Make sure you pass all subjects. Repeating a subject also means you pay HECS twice.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

A corporate accountant works for a large corporation that may offer any range of products or services to the businesses, individuals and governments. You would focus on the cost management side or the financial management side of the business, with the highest position being Chief Financial Officer or Finance Director.

You need a degree in business or accountancy and accreditation as a CPA or CA. Your salary usually starts at about $45,000 and if you progress to a Finance Director in a large company typically earning upwards of $400,000. You get to learn all about business, there are great career opportunities and the demand for accountants will always be there. It’s an office job usually with 40 to 50 hours per week, some travel but comes with great responsibility.

Whilst the numbers can get boring, the continuous tough deadlines and high pressure a drag, accountancy offer great scope with a multitude of career paths and different organisations.

For a more detailed view on accountants check out Careernav  on http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/corporate-accountant/66 or go to the Institute of Chartered Accountants on www.charteredaccountants.com.au

Help other students by posting your views and give your career advice on a career in accounting.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Once you’re qualified here are some of the main specialisations available;

• Corporate Accountant -  either as a cost accountant or financial accountant as you progress to Finance Manager, Financial Controller and onto to Chief Financial Officer
• Auditor -provides an external, independent assessment of an organisation’s finances and accounting systems.
• Actuary - analysing mathematical, statistical, demographic, financial or economic data, so as to predict and calculate long-term risks regarding financial decisions and planning.
• Financial Analyst - analyses financial information, researching macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions and company fundamentals  to give an opinion of the company's investment potential with a rating, such as "buy," "sell," or "hold” to brokers, traders or clients.
• Professional accountants -  work in professional services accounting based firms and specialise in taxation, business services, insolvency and liquidation, advisory services (such as risk management), performance management, corporate efficiency, corporate structure, mergers and acquisitions or assurance including corporate governance and regulation and stakeholder compliance.
• Forensic accounting - is about fraud investigation, giving evidence in court as an expert accounting witness, investigating allegations of fraud, and capturing and analysing large amounts of electronic data.

There are numerous related career paths your accounting background is well suited to;

• Career in the financial markets, economics, foreign exchange or financial analysis.
• A company secretary. 
• Work on a freelance basis.
• Become a partner in an established accountancy firm.
• Starting up your own accountancy firm.

So you can see, if you get bored with one side of the accounting ledger (excuse the pun), there are plenty of other like minded career path to wander down. This is one career your previous experience and knowledge can be used productively elsewhere.

If you have transferred successfully career path’s, write a reply to help others.
For a more detailed view on accountants check out Careernav  on http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/corporate-accountant/66 or go to the Institute of Chartered Accountants on www.charteredaccountants.com.au

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

It’s a great career in the right agency and cultural fit, allowing you to use your creative talents everyday in a relaxed although demanding environment. With good experience and a great design portfolio you can work in different agencies or freelancing anywhere on the globe.

You need a degree in Creative Arts, Graphic Design from University or a TAFE diploma in Graphic Design and Communication or Interactive Digital Media or a TAFE Certificate in Web Graphic Design. In many cases it is a definite passion for visual communications that ultimately lead to success in this field rather than the qualifications gained.

You start as a Junior Web Designer on a salary at around $30,000 and in 10 + years can progress to Creative Director on around $200,000 but you will have accumulated post graduate quals along the way. You get to work with other passionate people, receive varied creative briefs and design styles to explore and your skills are easily transported to other countries. It’s an office job usually with about 40 to 50 hours per week, with little travel but highly transportable and employable overseas.

There are some tedious repetitive tasks when first starting out, you quickly learn from time to time you must bow to client demands and the pressure of deadlines can be a drag when the creative juices are not flowing. But hey everyone needs a website and so demand for your work will be there.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on web design or for a more detailed view check out http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/web-designer/29

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

I want to make something very clear; I like my life.  I’m at the stage where I have a beautiful wife, awesome baby boy, fun dog and all the stuff that goes with it.  My life is pretty good. 

This is also not a blog about going back and changing world events for gain or human posterity.  This is a blog about what I would do with the knowledge I have learned over my 35 years on the planet.

I would have loved my future self (or the present self writing this) to have popped up when I was in Yr 10, 11 or 12 and given me some advice about my future career, what education I’d need, what University to go to or tell me what jobs would be in demand when I grew older.  I’d be a part owner of Google or Virgin, maybe even have started a site like Facebook or Yahoo, but you can understand what I’m saying.

The beauty of today and the information superhighway is that you can get all of this information here and now – in real time.  It can’t help you to decide what you want to do, (and knowing me, I’d probably have ignored future Tom because I hate being told what to do by anyone) but in my experience, if you decide what you DON’T want to do, it narrows down your options!

Some advice I would have listened to would have been as follows:

1. Play hard, but earn it by working hard on your studies – The more you do now, the more fun you can have in the future.
2. Be cautious but enthusiastic about new ideas – you never know, that thought you had could be the next big thing.
3. Watch technology closely – it will enrich our life in ways you can never imagine right now.
4. Plan a bit more for the future – would I have bought that Audi TT when I was 28, or could I have invested the money to make more money!?!?

I think a time machine will one day be invented, and used for good, could solve the problems of humanity but in the meantime, take some advice from future/present Tom – think about your career now and you can have the future you dream about!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The minimum educational requirement is completion of Year 10, followed by a 3 year apprenticeship in General construction of brick laying & block laying training both on and off site. Your off site training is usually a certificate course available through TAFE.

As an apprentice you may earn around $ 20,000 but you will see wage progressions throughout your apprenticeship until qualified, where the bucks increase to around $ 45,000 + but vary by employer. When you run your own business the bucks increase significantly if you’re technically good and have a professional eye for commerce.

Whilst it may not be until your 3rd year that you actually get to lay a brick think of all the learning you would have done to this stage.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on bricklaying or for a more detailed view check out
http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/brick-layer

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Dietitians have years of university training and in today’s day and age where the affect of nutrition on health is growing in awareness, the demand for dietitians will continue to grow. People are becoming smarter about nutrition, eating plans, food labels and healthy eating.

To become a qualified dietitian you need to complete a tertiary-level course accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA), which is generally a four year course.

It is difficult to pinpoint earnings for the career of a Dietitian as there are so many different career positions that can be held. Earnings will depend on the work setting, the credentials of the person employed and the location. You will generally work 40 – 50 hours per week and have little travel.

This is a great career that makes a difference to peoples lives.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on Dietitian or for a more detailed view, check out
http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/dietitian

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

It’s a career chock full of new challenges, a deep sense of purpose and genuine involvement in your community. You are the front line of healthcare services problem solving, providing medical and interpersonal skills and an ability to keep a cool head under pressure to saves lives - not just occasionally, but every day.

You need a recognised Ambulance qualification at an Australian/New Zealand university and the paramedic qualification must be successfully completed prior to commencement of employment. Successful applicants complete a one year practical training program in order to become a Qualified Ambulance Paramedic. 
You work to variety of rosters that rotate across 7 days per week, 24 hours per day. Rosters are provided 5 weeks in advance to ensure adequate planning time.

Australia has a drive to be the best in the world with many opportunities to undertake training to further develop skills and knowledge. The challenge of dealing with the physical and emotional situation that ranges from a casual ride to hospital for the elderly to the emergency procedure that saves lives means no two days are ever the same.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on an ambulance paramedic or for a more detailed view check out

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/ambulance-paramedic

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Formal. It’s a time to dress up and show off in more than your school uniform. Dinner, dancing, speeches, plenty of time to socialise, and usually an after party: it’s the biggest social event of the year.
• Turning eighteen. No longer do you have to feel restricted by your age – you can legally drink and attend overage events. You don’t have to watch live music with lemonade and squealing twelve year olds!
• Getting your licence. A huge step towards independence: you can go driving on your own. You don’t need to rely on someone else just to grab something from the shops or to go see a movie…of course, that’s only if you have your own car already.
• Graduation. The final milestone at the end of Year 12 is Graduation or Valedictory. You’ve finished classes, assessments, and exams – you’ve finished high school. This ceremony marks the end of an era; the six years of your life you spent in secondary school, and even the six years before that in primary school. If you don’t intend on going on to further study, then this is the end of school for the rest of your life.
• Course offers. Not a milestone as such, but course offers determine the direction of your life for the next few years. It is the final thing that makes use of your high school education, before sending you off to university or the workforce.

Are there any other milestones that you’ve experienced throughout high school or university? Please share in the comments section below!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Walk around the block. The smallest block surrounding your house might take you fifteen to twenty minutes to walk. This is a perfect length of time to stretch out your muscles and bring some fresh air into your lungs. You can even take a cheat sheet with you so you can revise as you go.
• Do a short exercise DVD. There are many types of exercise routines out there, so you won’t be short of choice. A common running time is 20 minutes per workout, for those on the run. Just 20 minutes out of your study session to get some blood moving, muscles loosened, and oxygen in will help you to think clearer and not get restless.
• Stand up and stretch. If you feel you don’t have time to walk around the block, or the weather’s too nasty, at least stand up to get the blood circulating. Stretch your arms across your body, behind your back, touch your toes, do star jumps, lunges, push ups or sit ups, or any other stretches that loosen your key stress areas. This will help to prevent your muscles tightening with tension from remaining in a stationary position.
• Play with the dog. Take a ten minute break and take you dog for a walk, or just have a good romp around the backyard. They’ll love you for it, and your muscles will too.
• Dance to a few songs from your favourite album. The whole album might be too long for just a study break – maybe reserve that for when you’re finished. But close your book for ten minutes, pump some contagious beats and move your body to loosen it up. This is a great one, because listening to music you love is also bound to improve your mood.

Do you have any ideas for other students out there that weren’t listed above? We’d love you to contribute in the comments section below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Adolescents and young adults may find themselves troubled by pressure, expectation, and criticism. The causes vary, but often come down to pressure from family, friends, peers, school, and society, with expectations to succeed at study, sport, relationships, friendships, appearance, work or decision making. The weight of this can be hard to bear, and is often accompanied by feelings of doubt, fear, worthlessness, or resignation. In order to beat these pressures and expectations, most young people need to feel supported either by family or friends.

A family can have high expectations. They may put pressure on their teenager to get high grades in school, do housework, look after siblings, get a part-time job, strive for the ‘right’ career, get into the appropriate course, have particular friends, be in an acceptable relationship, or not to be in a relationship at all. 

A supportive family is often viewed a foundation to a stable life, especially during the developmental years of adolescence. Pressure from a family to perform in particular ways can remove that support, making the expectations a burden rather than a reason to succeed. 

Many social pressures can also come from friends and peers. A young person may feel the expectation to drink, smoke, become involved in a relationship, have sex, and experiment with drugs. In terms of schooling, there can be pressure to get high grades, but also the reverse, in which academic performance is seen as ‘nerdy’ and can be subject to ridicule.

In social situations, there is a lot of pressure to be ‘normal’ and successful, as well as beautiful, sexy and attractive to others. So much so that adolescents don’t have time to understand who they are, and develop a sense of self based on their own interests. An experienced gestalt therapist, Judith Williams, believes that ‘so much is defined by the mainstream ideas of others, and the pressure to conform is so powerful, that any young person who does not live up to the relentless pressure can begin to criticise themselves.’ From here, self-esteem and confidence can plummet.  

Criticism, either from oneself or from others, is hard to fight against. Self-criticism can involve people telling themselves that they’re ugly, useless, or stupid, and thinking that they’ll never be able to do something, that they always fail, or that there’s no point in trying. Criticism from others may take the form of insults, arguments, judgements, bullying, put downs, or nonverbal communication. A passing sneer at someone’s body is interpreted as criticism about their appearance. The more someone is criticised, the lower their self-esteem and confidence falls.

In order to fight against these negative thoughts, it can help if people are able to:

• Believe in themselves
• Accept that they are good human beings
• Respect their own values
• Be proactive about their ideas and dreams
• Understand that only they have the personal power to make things happen in their life
• Accept compliments as genuine, and not turn them down; and
• Recognise their successes – no matter how small.

Another expectation is in relation to appearance. Body image is a major cause of low self-esteem and confidence in young people today. Body image does not refer to the way a person’s body actually looks, but the value they place on it. Many people believe that their body is undesirable, and often wish they looked different. Issues regarding body image tend to be more common in females than males; this has a great deal to do with the way women are portrayed in the media.

Women are suppressed by the pressure to conform to an idealised concept of beauty: idealised, but in many cases, unrealistic. It’s hard to feel good about yourself when the only beauty the media emphasises is that of youth, prettiness and slimness.

It’s also becoming increasingly common for the media to alter images, either with cosmetics, airbrushing, or facial structure modification using computer design programs. Females are being told to strive for an ideal that can rarely be achieved. Most people would need to have cosmetic surgery, a stylist, a personal trainer, and constantly diet to meet today’s standards of female beauty.

Males also suffer from body image issues, which tend to focus on a desire to lose weight, look more attractive, or gain more muscle, strength and height. In 2008, body image was an issue for 28% of males aged between 11 and 24. It’s no longer an issue that should be associated with women alone; it needs to be universally recognised. And in a society with an unrealistic concept of beauty, most people struggle to accept themselves as they are. 

Pressure and expectation can be received in a positive way, helping to motivate or provide challenges to be beaten. However, too much pressure can have the opposite effect, seeming oppressive and unbeatable. People respond to expectation in different ways, but some common affects include stress or anxiety, feeling helpless or overwhelmed, depression or despondency, guilt, and low self-esteem, while physical affects can include lethargy, insomnia, not eating properly, and being run down and unwell.

It is important for young people to improve the way they feel about themselves. It can be a challenge, both mentally and physically, but there are a number of things can that be done to help feel more relaxed, confident, and happier.

• Regular exercise. Not necessarily to loose weight, but to keep the body fit and healthy. Exercise releases endorphins, a chemical in the brain which reduces pain and can induce euphoria, so going for a jog really can brighten a grey mood. It also gives the body fresh air, increases the metabolism, and improves self-confidence. 
• Eating healthily. It doesn’t have to be all the time – in fact, gorging on hot chips and gravy can taste amazing after a long day. But food is fuel for the body; healthy eating keeps the digestive system clean of fat and grease, provides more energy than a quick sugar fix, and helps to maintain general good health.
• Laughing. This also releases endorphins, and so improves a mood instantly. There doesn’t necessarily have to be something funny to laugh at; pretending to laugh can seem fairly ridiculous in itself, which can bring out the real, genuine laughter.
• Singing. This can feel like exercise, as it releases endorphins, but it can be a lot more enjoyable. Pumping a favourite album and belting out the lyrics, or joining a choir, singing group or musical can be a great way of incorporating singing into a regular, social routine.
• Make a stand. There’s nothing like a confidence boost from standing up to people. No one has the right to dish out insults, or derogatory comments, without being put back in their place.
• Talk to someone. Sharing issues and problems, no matter how large or small, can help to improve self-esteem and confidence.

For further information on support services or related organisations, try the following:

Kids Helpline: 1800 55 1800
www.kidshelp.com.au. The only free, confidential and anonymous helpline for young people aged 5 – 25 in Australia.

Beyondblue: A national organisation that addresses issues regarding depression, anxiety, and related substance misuse disorders. www.beyondblue.org.au.

Local doctors are also available to talk to about self-esteem troubles, low moods, pressure and expectation problems, or any other concerns. If necessary, they are able to offer a referral to a counsellor or psychologist.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Wow what a career and what a challenge. Beats the pants off civil engineering designing a boring old road, that’s unless you’re into roads and the smell of new bitumen.

Your work involves supporting Australia's aircraft fleet including special mission operators with aeromedical aircraft, training organisations and airlines. This includes writing instructions and preparing drawings for repairs to damaged components, making mathematical calculations aided by computers, design modifications to systems outlining installation procedures and supervision of construction of equipment for aircraft, and installation of avionics and electrical equipment.

As a minimum, a tertiary degree in engineering with a major in Aeronautical / Aerospace Engineering is required.  A Masters degree or MBA will aid career progression though not mandatory. Different universities will have different prerequisite subject for entry but an assumed knowledge of English, mathematical methods, physics and chemistry are generally required.

Once qualified, membership of the Institution of Engineers Australia is an option available to you and membership of the Association of Professional Engineers, Scientists & Managers Australia (APESMA) is recommended.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on an aeronautical engineer or for a more detailed view check out www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/engineering-aeronautical/220.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Each day will be varied and interesting. You will examine sick and injured animals, treating them with the appropriate medications required, take tissue samples from some of the sick animals to identify their illness and advise clients how to better care for their animals.

You don’t become a vet for the financial reward. The salaries are OK not great and the tertiary qualifications are up there. However it is very rewarding to see the joy on owners’ faces when you reunite them with their pet that you have nursed back to good health. Now that’s what being a vet is all about.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on veterinarian or for a more detailed view check out
http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/veterinarian.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

“Where do you want to go”........Hmmm I don’t really know – of course you don’t know, all you have done for the past 3 years is poor over theoretical nonsense which tries to make sense of a world that does not exist in actuality. We need the theoretical, BUT, there is a serious practical nature lacking in commerce/accounting/finance related disciplines causing a mass hysteria of the also rans – who set out to make a fortune only to realise they really dislike what they had to do to get there.

Imagine a physio or a nurse just graduating without having worked with a real live patient and actually gained some ‘real world experience’ before starting their post graduation career. 

“I want to go where I will make the most money”........ hmmm this sounds familiar! This just screams “I have absolutely no idea what I want to do for my professional career or where I want to go” and the worst part is I hear it all the time.  Career direction can often seem a very daunting thing to examine, especially when you are just beginning. The best career advice I can give, is go find out – Education is your best friend. Want to be a trader? Go ask someone, go work for free in a broking house, ask your friends, get a fake trading account, do absolutely everything in your power to find out as much information as you can – then make an informed choice.

A degree is necessary in this competitive environment (sometimes you need 2 + a postgad!) but it is just an entry fee. What determines where you go and where you end up is completely up to the individual. Become informed, learn as much as you can about the theoretical and the practical, know your career path and get busy!

 Oh and don’t forget to work your 50 hours each week and learn how to manage your boss and time management before you drown in a sea of projects, and become an effective problem solver and an effective communicator and get that project in on time and to budget and, and  - the list goes on and on.
Phew I get tired just thinking about it and so the last piece of career advice – plan and take a regular holiday to recharge before you burn out. Everyone is dispensable.

If this sounds familiar, then post a reply for others to share this experience.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Initially you work at clinics or in a small practice before you are likely to establish your own consulting practice and build from there. You can work in tandem with chiropractors or centres for Oriental medicine. You generally can expect to make $50,000 to start out with and double that after a few years' experience.

Fees vary at different practices but the initial consultation usually costs $70 thereafter the consulting fee is $55. Seeing thirty patients a week would earn about $80,000 a year.

Commencing in an established clinic with other health professionals is a good way to begin,  as establishing and consolidating a viable practice takes several years. Some are engaged in academic and clinical research.

Post a reply or to read more go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/acupuncturist.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

But when it comes to marketing, everybody thinks they can be a marketer and have an opinion. This opinion is usually well wide of the mark, is not coordinated to the brands positioning. Marketing also has a science attached to it.

Finding out and understanding what the customer really wants and delivering the product of service with a meaningful point of difference with both rational and emotional support, along with the correct tone and manner, is a delicate skill in itself.

So if you are interested in a career in marketing, be aware of the general perception that anyone can be a marketer and don’t let the frustration you will experience deter you. Simply smile politely and ignore them.

The shelves are full of outstanding products that lay gathering dust because some clever marketeer has not breathed life into the project. Take comfort knowing clever technical marketing is the key to success.

Post your view on this in the forum...

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So what do you do?

• Locate the 24 hour computer labs. These are open all day and all night, with security doing regular check-ins. Can't work at home? Pull an over-nighter on campus.
• Visit the resevered section of the library. This is an important part of the library that not all students know about. Reserved means that students cannot borrow the book and take it home - so it will always be there. You can photocopy it within the reservede section, or in some cases, borrow it within the library for 2 hours. If you're on a deadline, these 2 hours can act as a self-enforced bullet-up-you-butt.
• Listen to audio-streamed lectures. If you can't find your lecture notes, this is the place to go. Listen to the lectures while jotting down notes in word. Choose which lectures to listen to, depending on your assignement - you'll never get it done before 5pm if you listen to every lecture for the semester!
• Read on-line discussion. Many students love to partake in on-line discussions, breaking down texts and theories. You can learn a lot from reading these (and participating), as they are often in simpler language than the texts. Just ensure that you only use these to help understand the texts - you won't get away with plagiarising other students thoughts' since the tutors regularly read these discussions toanswer questions.
• Ask for an extension. This is the worst - case scenario, because really, it is your own fault for losing track of time. Some tutors are happy to give you an extra day or two if you're struggling, but some stick to deadlines like flour to honey. Worth a shot if 5pm is running at you, leaving no time to get it finished on time.

Learn from your poor time management and make sure it doesn't happen again. Career management is just a step on from time management.

Uni makes it too easy to pull an all - nighter. Are you the type of student who could happily leave a career make or break assignment to the last minute and work in the computer labs all night?

Post your tips on studying on campus for all to read in the forum...

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

On a daily basis, rangers focus on:

• The ongoing protection, enhancement and management of natural, recreational and cultural assets
• The management and development of staff, volunteers, contractors & work experience students
• The management of stakeholders and issues
• The delivery of information, facilities, events, and services to customers and stakeholders
• The planning, implementation and management of projects, programs and contracts
• The management of business operations
• The allocation of budgets, staff and resources to best meet business needs
• Responding appropriately to a range of emergency situations, including bush fires

So for those considering a career as a Park Ranger, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Complete an appropriate tertiary qualification in Natural Natural Resources/Park Management. It will certainly help.
2. Undertake volunteer work at your local park. All parks have volunteer groups and this will give you a good insight in how a park operates.
3. Understand that to gain work as a Park Ranger is quite a competitive process and not to be dishearten if you are not successful in your first application.
4. Be resilient and have perseverance.
5. Be passionate about your career choice and try and gain as much knowledge and experience to assist you to obtain employment as a Park Ranger.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au/careerfinder/profiles/park-ranger for a more detailed profile for this career.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are a few quick pointers ans tips for anyone looking to get into a career in marketing.

These points are just some 'quick off the top of my head' ideas - so why not start by writing down where you want your career to go and how you see yourself getting there. Update it as you go and track your development.

For more information on a career in marketing, have a look at www.careernav.com.au/careerfinder/profiles

Alex Wilson, Marketing Manager, Wiliam Pty Ltd, one of Australia's leading web developers.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Geology in mining and exploration is all about finding valuable commodities (such as gold, copper, zinc, iron etc) that are buried within the earth, and that are vital to the ongoing function of our society and lifestyles.

So for those considering a career as a geologist, here are the top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Valuable work experience can be gained during the university summer vacation period as a field assistant or pit technician with either an exploration or mining comapny, though most exploration companies in Australia do shut down operations during summer due to extreme heat and monsoonal rains.
2. Be willing to accept the tough or monotonous tasks initially in your career; this can be a physically demanding industry but hard work and a good attitude are well rewarded.
3. A lot of the bigger companies have well - structured graduate programs and a clearly - defined career progression, however junior mining or exploration companies can offer a far greater range of roles and responsibilities which can be more challenging and exciting, with the potential for more rapid advancement but at the expense of job security.
4. If you are considering a double degree, with geology as one major, compatible second majors for the minerals industry are engineering or environmental science.
5. If you don't like travel or the outdoors, then consider an alternative career.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won't go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/geologist for a more detailed profile of this career.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The University of Western Australia recently held its 78th Prosh day – an anniversary to be proud of – on April 1st 2009. Each year, the day involves dressing up in costumes and arriving at university by 4am in the morning, assumedly the earliest start to the year for most students. From here, the students collect bundles of a satirical newspaper written by UWA students, and proceed through the streets of Perth with money tins to sell the paper to the public for a gold donation.

Prosh survives only because of these fantastic students who write, edit and distribute the paper each April, all in the name of charity. The money collected from selling the paper along with extra donations goes directly towards a selected group of charities for the year. No money goes towards the students or the university. In fact, a severe penalty of $200 goes towards any student who fails to return their collection tin – an expense most university students cannot afford!

The chosen charities of 2009 were Foodbank of WA, Inc. (a not-for-profit, charitable organisation which acts as a bridge between the food industry and the community, and services over 600 charitable organisations), the Epilepsy Association of Western Australia, Inc., and Grow WA (a consumer driven, non profit, mental health organisation). The efforts of UWA students on 2009 Prosh day collected an astounding $139 000 for charity.

Aside from the selling of papers during their procession through Perth, the students organise floats, stunts and many harmless practical jokes to play on the public. Although occasionally disgruntled by these mischievously frivolous acts, the people of Perth are generally tolerant considering the aim of the day.

Across the country, Adelaide University has extended the Prosh experience to stretch over a week, and includes games, competitions, food, and greatly appreciated happy hours. During these shenanigans, students are encouraged to perform pranks. Money is collected from other students who want to see the prank carried out, in aid of raising funds for the University’s chosen charities. Although not as charitably driven as the UWA, the students of Adelaide do their part for the less fortunate, while thriving on the social events of university life.

However, the Prosh week of Melbourne University is different again. Its origins are unclear, with several rumored possibilities. The Melbourne Uni website states that Prosh week is a long part of university tradition, with the focus “on socialising and being silly”. Other generalised statements claim that it may have evolved from an annual charity procession that once paraded through Melbourne, or that it originated from a time when all of the faculty social balls where held in the same week, dubbed ‘Posh week’ from all of the formal attire, and slurred into ‘prosh’ from alcoholic effects.

Currently, the week is organised purely for the enjoyment of the participating students, with no charity involved. It’s one big competition, and so the students are required to form teams. The teams pay a registration fee, which goes towards food and alcohol for the week, and are then assigned a colour and sub-culture for their costumes, such as pink and punk, and must dress their team accordingly. The activities of the week range widely from simple drinking games, scavenger hunts around the city, and long drives, to the more notorious requirements of public nudity.

Second year Melbourne University student Ruby Barker* participated in her first Prosh week in 2005. Ruby feels that “it’s a great experience. It’s just one of things that I’m only ever going to do at university, and hopefully never going to go to jail for”. Her apprehension about going to jail is justified, considering some of the things the teams are asked to do. One such example, Ruby referred to as the Noah’s Ark incident. One night during Prosh week, each team had to take three toy animals and place them in the middle of a specific roundabout that was adorned with a large wooden ark, with the intention of befuddling the morning traffic. However, as the teams arrived with toys in hand, they could not resist the temptation to have a dance war. They were spotted by neighbours who called the police, believing they were witnesses of a gang brawl. This task was cancelled when two paddy wagons and a police car rocked up twenty minutes later.

So where is the procession in each of these state’s events to justify the title Prosh? As previously mentioned, the students of UWA proceed through the streets of Perth with their collection tins and newspapers to raise money for charities. Adelaide University traditionally held a procession through the city’s streets, enabling the students to voice any issues they had with current social and political situations.

Over the years, this procession has side-stepped its original political nature and has now settled for a Prosh Parade, which involves floats made by the university’s unions and students. For Melbourne University, a procession is also one of the traditional requirements of the week. Each year, the judges name the nature of a procession, and each team has to participate in it, lest they lose a hefty number of points off their running total. A previous theme was a funeral procession, in which a nominated team member had to lie ambiguously still inside a coffin, and the rest of the team carry them in their best funeral attire.

Although each university regards Prosh as a time of great fun and frivolity, this enjoyment is achieved in different ways. UWA loves their Prosh because they are doing something worthwhile for the community, and can justifiably brag about how much money they raised. The consumption of alcohol is strictly forbidden, with the number one rule of the day being, “If you appear to be affected by drugs or alcohol at Prosh you will be asked to leave and not ruin Prosh for everyone else.” This restriction, along with the rule, “Don’t do stupid things that could get you hurt,” ensures any wild students are tamed for the day. Whereas Adelaide Uni students love their happy hour, and most Melbourne students wouldn’t dare attend the Nude Olympics while sober.

UWA is the only university that can clearly define how their Prosh came about, claiming that “in 1931 the UWA Student Guild decided to replace some defunct Graduation Day events with a procession, stunts and skit show,” which was not received warmly by all, and those involved were asked to donate money to charity. From this point, “Prosh had a moral justification for all its craziness,” and has been allowed to developed into one of the largest UWA events today.

Adelaide University is less meticulous in the upkeep of their event history, and vaguely claims that “Prosh has been a tradition at Adelaide University for over 100 years,” while Melbourne simply states that it is “long part of the university tradition.”

But, regardless of where the traditions have come from, they are all a wild annual social event for the students. Each university has their own style and unique approach to Prosh, and for the students taking part in the festivities, they are joyfully keeping the traditions alive.

What are your thoughts on this. Post a reply on the forum and let us know...

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The top 5 uni events are:

1. Prosh day/week. Read this week’s feature article to find out more!
2. Australian University Games. A multi-sport competition held annually in September/October between qualified teams fielded from a large number of universities and tertiary institutions across Australia.
3. Faculty Balls. Most universities hold balls for each faculty once a year, in which you get to dress up and go formal.
4. Green Week. Held at Monash University, Clayton campus, in the second week of semester two. Drinking games, activities, an extreme Scavenger Hunt, and an Iron Gut competition. It’s great fun, but you may need to detox afterwards.
5. Orientation. Believe it or not, some universities have amazing O’ Week options. Camps and events are a fun way to meet new people, and make friends before uni even begins.

Would you be interested in any of these uni events? Share you thoughts on what would make an ideal uni event in the forum.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Walking around campus on your own at night. Keep your wits about you, instead of wandering with your head down and ipod in your ears. It’s very rare, but there have been late night incidents at universities.
• Missing the last bus. It can be too easy to stay for just one more coffee or beer after class. And if your clas finished at 6pm or 7pm, by the time you’ve finished up socialising, the last bus home might have just sped by campus. Now what are you going to do?
• Learning under the influence. There is often a bar or two on campus, as well as free or cheap beer going around on particular occasions, so it’s not difficult to sit down with some friends in between classes and have a drink. Just try to save the bulk of your drinking til after all classes for the day. It can just be a tad embarrassing when you’re asked to leave your next class after asking a few too many loud, slurred questions.
• Audio-streaming. It’s easy to get into the habit of audio-streaming lectures instead of going to class – and if it’s an 8am lecture, you’d be crazy not to take advantage of it. But for some less-motivated students, it can become such a comfortable method of learning that they fail by not turning up to uni entirely.
• Attendance. This can be a tricky one. Every now and then, attendance makes up a part of a unit’s overall grade. And sometimes, instead of the lecturer reading out everyone’s names, they place a class list at the front of the room. It’s up to you to remember to mark your name off each week. Too many students don’t realise this, and lose a portion of their grade, despite having actually attended class.

Have you heard of anything that you should bear in mind when starting out at uni? Let us know below.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Here are some tips for your gap year:

• Travel. Fly away from reminders of high school, and see the world. This can broaden the mind and cleanse the spirit.
• Work. Whether part-time or full-time, this can give you something productive to do while helping you save money for when the poverty of being a uni-student kicks in!
• Teach English overseas. This is travel and work in one. Go overseas and teach English for a new experience, free accommodation (generally the school you teach with will supply you with accommodation), and an opportunity to immerse yourself in a different culture.
• Short courses. If you get intellectually restless and want to keep learning while taking a break from major study, then take up a short course. This can broaden your life experience and give you a focus. A new language, cooking, computer skills, or an instrument – anything you have an interest in.
• Socialise. It can be difficult during a gap year, when your friends are all at uni or working full-time. It’s easy to just slip into the background and let them continue their busy lives while you recuperate. Don’t think that you’re not worth their time – get out there and socialise.

If you have any tips for other students planning on taking a gap year, then please share in the comments section below!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. Be prepared to work hard and understand the objectives in your role, and the need to hit those for progression and success. Be patient and get the job done. Marketing people have to be results driven. Expect to be measured against achievement of the businesses goals as well as the marketing strategies (including budget management).
2. Try to work for great leaders/managers from whom you can draw many in-field skills: the interpersonal and the technical skills. Find yourself a mentor and utilize their advice and guidance as you need it. Reflect some executive maturity in your dealings with people at all times.
3. Listen, analyse, listen again and harness this learning into your personal skillset. There is a constant need to listen to your consumers but it doesn’t stop there. There is always valuable insight within an organization both from more experienced managers in the office and out in the field. (eg sales people, plant managers etc).
4. A Marketing person has to be like Octopus. You have to draw upon the expertise of many, cobble it together, ensure it works for your consumer, and finesse it accordingly along the way. Being able to juggle many balls, and get the best out of a diverse group of individuals requires major co-ordination and relationship capabilities. 
5. Action-oriented: You must be focused on the achievement of results. Marketing is a fast-paced and contemporary industry so those who succeed have the ability to act swiftly to meet trends in competitive marketplaces. The best marketing executives find solutions at every turn, rather than presenting problems.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/marketing  for a more detailed profile for this career.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Surveying and Spatial Information is all about the measurement, management, analysis and visualisation of land and the built environment. Surveyors oversee the integrity of every land parcel in Australia so that you know that the land you are buying is indeed yours. This is the biggest investment most of us will ever make so very important to be sure you wont be ripped off!!

But modern surveyors do much more than that. Every large piece of infrastructure you could imagine has a project surveyor involved. From the MCG extension, to the Olympic Stadium for the Sydney Olympics, the Opera House and Sydney Harbour bridge and all the road and rail infrastructure that we all rely on.

Nowadays surveyors are using high tech equipment like total stations that can measure to mm accuracy, high precision GPS, satellite imagery, digital aerial imagery for a range of land monitoring applications and even laser scanners that can measure 500,000 points/ second!! All of this data needs to be handled by sophisticated, visual software to produce spatial products for a range of client needs.

How do you think an iPhone can position the blue dot with GPS and fit it on a map or satellite image and put all of it in the right spot? If it wasn't for surveying and spatial, none of these modern devices would work. We provide the framework that stitches it all together. What more can we do with all this information? Well that's why we need you. Young, tech savvy people with great ideas.

So for those considering a career as a surveyor or spatial information professional, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. You get to work in a professional career that lets you work indoors and outdoors. You choose!
2. You can work for yourself, in a small practice or for a large consultancy.
3. The fields of surveying and spatial are expanding so there are lots of opportunities for a varied career.
4. You are virtually guaranteed a great job with a great salary. There is a huge and growing skills shortage as many older surveyors will retire in the next 5 years.
5. You can work locally or internationally with a degree from UNSW. We enjoy very close relations with our profession and our school is highly regarded internationally.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/surveyor for a more detailed profile for this career.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The best way to start is with some unpaid work. From there you can progress through the ranks from junior copywriter earning around $ 40 - $ 60,000 per year. With 2 years experience you would expect to be known more as a mid weight copywriter, although earnings tend to be around the same as that of a junior copywriter.

It is not until you have had around 6 to 8 years experience and gain employment as a senior copywriter that your remuneration will increase to around $ 80 - $ 120,000. After this you can progress to creative director and executive creative director, and it is here you can earn considerable amounts of money.

But keep in mind, to become the top of the tree, you will need a university degree, or possibly a postgraduate degree, and will have more than 10 years experience.

The most common places for you to work would be advertising and marketing agencies, magazine companies, newspapers, web development companies, or even public relation firms. The competition for employment is extremely high. Your work can vary from being part of a creative team, writing copy for newspapers, magazine articles or press releases, working with marketing on content for sales brochures, web design or corporate public affairs.

You usually work in an office, although occasionally leave to meet with clients or designers. There is the option of working as a freelance copywriter, where you may be able to work from home or ‘hot desk’ between companies or agencies.

Post a reply for all your peers to read on copywriting or for a more detailed view check out http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/copywriter/447.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

As a forensic scientist, you will specialise within one of the main areas outlined below;

• Digital forensics
• Toxicology
• Document examination
• Audio & Video analysis
• Drug analysis
• Blood alcohol Examination
• Chemical Trace evidence
• Clandestine laboratory investigations
• Fire & explosion investigation
• Ballistics
• Forensic biology & DNA Science
• Forensic Botany
• Crime scene investigation
• Fingerprint identification
• Vehicle examination, Shoe & Tyre impressions
• Bloodstain pattern Interpretation

Your career path is usually upward initially as a senior forensic scientist, then onto team leader, deputy manager and manager, all requiring experience accumulation and ongoing study.

In forensics, most scientists work for federal, state, or local law enforcement and investigative agencies. It is likely that you will be working in a crime laboratory, although other options for employment include in the offices of lawyers, at universities, and in hospitals. A major employer in Australia is the Australian Federal Police.

You have the opportunity to enhance your career by specialising and developing a track record envied by your peers.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to

http://www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/forensic-scientist

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Patient care - Working as part of a health care team in hospitals and nursing homes, dietitians are responsible for assessing the nutritional needs of patients, planning appropriate diets and educating patients and their families.
• Community nutrition and public health - Dietitians are involved in nutrition and health education programs. This can be at the local community level or for the population at a national level. You’re working in public health also assist with health planning, setting nutritional standards, and developing and implementing nutrition policies.
• Food service and management  - Dietitians combine management skills and nutrition expertise when delivering food services in hospitals, nursing homes, meals on wheels, hospitality and catering. You also manage nutrition services and health programs.
• Consultancy/private practice  - Dietitians provide consultancy services to individuals, groups and organisations which include individual counselling, group programs, preventive health programs and nutrition education. You also prepare nutritional information for publication, and work with the media and in public relations.
• Food industry - Dietitians working in the food industry are involved in food regulatory issues (food law), food safety and quality systems, consumer and health professional education, nutrition research, product development, nutrition-related marketing and public relations.
• Research and teaching -  Dietitians work as part of research teams investigating nutrition and health issues and developing practical nutrition recommendations. You are also involved in training student dietitians, doctors and other health professionals.
• Other fields - Dietitians are able to transfer their skills to other fields such as management, public relations, marketing, program management, communications, media, health promotion, policy development and information technology. 

Write a reply to help others in this career with their choice of specialisation, based on your experiences.

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Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Or you can return to school to do the relevant training courses and obtain the licenses required to become a builder. This expands the career options significantly. You may accept a position with a builder in supervising or site management, or you may be employed as a sales representative for a building products company. 

With more advanced studies at diploma or degree level occupations as quantity surveying, surveying, interior design and technology are logical extensions and use all of your background. In some of these you may be eligible for prior study credits that will shorten your course length.

Post a reply on the career path of a bricklayer for all to read or for a more detailed view check out
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There are situations where you might be required to examine material not related to a crime, such as for civil disputes or coronial enquiries. This occupation is based on the complexities of science involving detailed, laborious work, and is not nearly as simple as popular television shows have made the viewers believe. Your work will provide impartial, factual evidence to be used in courts of law to assist in either the defence or prosecution of criminal, coronial and civil investigations.

Being a forensic scientist is a rewarding occupation. There will be times when you spend a long time working on a case, examining, analysing and problem solving. Your results are capable of serving justice, which is of great benefit and importance to the community. You always feel that you are having a positive influence and your work makes a difference.
Forensics is an area of scientific growth, so if you are interested in scientific investigations, in a continually changing environment then the employment opportunities are very rewarding.

Some of the work can be quite disturbing and your personal well being may need to be monitored, especially in cases of continued exposure, to ensure that you maintain a balanced approach to the material you are confronted with. Deadlines occur with court cases , which can add additional stress to an already stressful situation.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to

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Urban and regional planning is all about shaping cities, towns and regions by managing development, infrastructure and services. Planners are professionals who specialise in developing strategies and design the communities in which we live, work and play.  Balancing the built and natural environment, community needs, cultural significance, and economic sustainability, planners aim to improve our quality of life and create vibrant communities.

So for those considering a career as an urban and regional planner here are the Top

5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Take time to review the university urban and regional planning courses that are offered and make sure you select those that meet your interests.
2. Planners work in areas as diverse as housing, law, community development, development sector, energy, health, education, communications, environment, leisure, tourism and transport - so there is plenty to choose from throughout your career.
3. Planners can work with government (local, state and federal), development sector, private consulting and in research and teaching - and you can easily move between these.
4. Make sure you keep up to date as there are many dynamic and emerging issues e.g. climate change, sustainability, environmental issues, social needs.
5. Planners are at the centre of complex debates about the places in which we live so expect controversy!

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won't go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/careerfinder/profiles for a more detailed profile for this career.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

An audiologist is all about diagnostic hearing and balance assessments, rehabilitation of hearing loss, and helping people with their hearing needs.

So for those considering a career as an audiologist, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Choose and undergraduate degree in a science stream.
2. Do some work experience in a variety of audiological working environments. For example: Australian Hearing; a hospital setting, a private practice, a paediatric clinic.
3. Do some reading on hearing loss, balance problems and tinnitus.
4. Apply to all courses in all states and be willing to move.
5. Study hard.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/audiologist for a more detailed profile for this career.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Being in HR is all about people.  Not only in the warm and fuzzy space, but also in ensuring the right people are doing the right things at the right time in your organisation to ensure it is succeeding and growing.

So for those considering a career as an HR professional, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Understand how the business you work in makes money and what makes it tick.
2. Be perceptive.
3. Get really good at giving constructive feedback.
4. Get really good at facilitating sessions with groups of people be they small or large.
5. Know who you are.  The value you can bring to the business is based on who you are not what you know.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/human-resources-manager for a more detailed profile for this career.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So here are some tips to becoming the very champion you strive for in your chosen career.

• Have a Career goal? – Do you know where it is you are heading and who exactly you are trying to impress and why? Simply put, if you have no idea of where you want and need to be, how will you know if all that hard work is pointing you in the right direction? Plan long in advance and the climb up the hill may not be so hard.
• Focus areas – Find an area within your workplace, that not only are you measured on, but one that needs some extra focus to improve its standing. Pay attention in every meeting you, making note of the problem areas, or in your case an opportunity area. Improve the figures and praise will come your way.
• What are the numbers? – Before you go around telling everyone how good you are, think about your achievement and is it measurable? Bosses love numbers, especially revenue, margin contribution and profit. (They rarely) have the time to sit and talk about how good you think you are. If you can put your achievement into numbers, showing figures for each month (especially if you are going to be working towards budgets), for the sales etc, your boss will probably appreciate your initiative.
• Hard work and Pride –  There is no substitute for hard work. Take pride in the work you perform. Challenge your own efforts, week in and week out, at work on a continuous improvement program. Remember success knows many fathers and failure only know one. YOU.
• Persistence is the key – Climbing the career ladder of success is one that is easy. Managers notice results and usually acknowledge and reward achievements usually with bonuses, incentives or promotions. Maintain your dignity, do not blow your own trumpet, and you will get noticed.
• And the winner is? – So you have set and achieved targeted outcomes. Good bosses know the real source of the success. Humility is a great quality. Share the praise around amongst your team members and you will find you are a better person for it.

There are no guarantees when you begin a career that it will reach its pinnacle. Naturally people change places of employment or even career direction. Be sure to challenge yourself, think smart, work hard and you may be surprised what you achieve.

Got any further tips on how to be the best in your workplace? Post a reply in the forum.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

In our first blog we suggested working behind a bar, marking of bowling greens, becoming a blog writer (still a great idea as you can do this from your place of residence, library, in your work breaks), night shift security, and stacking of supermarket shelves.

Well here are a few more ideas for work;

1. Work at a fast food outlet such as McDonald’s. Most are open 24/7 so you can choose the hours that suit you and your schedule. During semester breaks you may have the possibility of working extra shifts.
2. Tutoring. Why not tutor students that may need that extra bit of assistance in their schooling. Select the subject or subjects you have excelled at and know very well. You can name the hours you work and the hourly rate can be quite nice.
3. Telemarketing or call centre operating. Ok so you have not planned a career in the customer service field but this could be a good one. The money can be great, especially if you get paid bonuses for targets achieved. Many have a range of different shifts available, making it easier to fit in with your schedules.
4. Work in retail or in a supermarket on checkouts. You can choose your hours around your available times, both during the day and nights or weekends. Even better you can increase your hours over semester breaks giving you the opportunity to save those extra dollars to cover when you are back in classes.
5. Letterbox delivery. Not a bad idea. You get paid for staying healthy. Think about it, how many jobs can you do while exercising? All the deliverable items get dropped at your door. All you need to do is bundle them up, if need be, and walk around putting them in letterboxes. Too easy!!
6. Become a swimming instructor. Another way for you to stay healthy while working! You will have a blast with those young kids teaching them how to swim. At the very least you will have a great laugh with them. All that is needed is for you to complete an instructor course as well as having a working with children pass.

Do you have any other ideas for working whilst at University? Post your ideas on the forum for everyone to read.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Most optometrists are private practitioners and have patient consultations of up to 20 a day. With the support of administrative staff you also handle the business aspects of running an office, such as developing a patient base, hiring employees, keeping records, and ordering equipment and supplies.

You will generally work relatively long hours and the concentration can be intense. Some, however, work in a flexible part time capacity. The career future is bright as demand will always be driven by the ageing population. You work with interesting people in low stress environments and don’t take work home. The financial rewards are above average and you seldom get burnt out like many other medical related careers.

Some people consider Optometry to be a mid level medical career which does not provide sufficient financial return for the financial cost of the degree and the time spent in school. Other medical careers are more lucrative.

Optometrists generally have long careers, retiring late, and so there is less opportunity to buy a practice but you can start your own practice.

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You prepare cost estimates and cost plans, audit projects, manage construction costs and administer construction contracts and work on a range of porjects including residential homes, industrial sites, commercial developments and transport networks. Some may call you the accountant of the building industry.

This is a career that you can take around the world, as there is generally a shortage of quantity surveyors. Satisfaction is gained by seeing buidlings completed. Remuneration is generally good, particularly if you can demonstrate a record of achievement in completing projects to budget and on time. No two projects are alike and it combines both the theoretical and practical.

Disputes that arise and the wasted time and money spent in resolution can be a pain. Clients who change their mind mid stream is an accepted part of the job. Overall, the industry is recession sensitive. A very good career can be built if you’re a people person who bills relationships and have great attention to detail.

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What this is all about recognizing business opportunity, researching opportunity, making it happen, evaluating performance, minimizing risk, empowering people, making calculated decisions, recognizing when to stop or proceed, and when and how to enjoy success.

So for those considering a career as an Entrepreneur, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Get a feel for business and the world around you as you need to project the future. Work a few jobs, travel in Australia and internationally is a must. Seriously consider doing tertiary studies and doing them part time…much harder but much more relevant.
2. Skills in Accounting & Finance are essential ingredients as a great idea or opportunity has to be underpinned by sound financial planning, cash flow requirements and constant evaluation.
   Figures are not mundane digits and when viewed correctly dance and give enormous insights into what is going on.
3. Skills in Marketing are essential and when blended with Accounting “know how” give excellent business balance.
4. Skills in communication and H.R. are vital as you will need to be able to very effectively not only tell, inspire and excite your target audience but to be able to listen and assess feedback.
5. Believe and trust yourself..it is an exciting journey that at times can be lonely as you might be the only one to recognise the opportunity and commit to it before others recognize what is going on.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

All photography jobs are different. Once the client has chosen a photo location you will use a range of different cameras as well as any lighting required to achieve the optimum outcome. For an outdoor “photo shoot” you may be required to advise clients on locations to optimise the end result. Indoor assignments may vary dramatically, so correct lighting is essential.

You have the opportunity to meet many people whose trust you to not only deliver a great product, but to exceed their expectations. You will experience a strong sense of achievement seeing your client’s satisfaction and knowing that moment will always be timeless in their life. Setting your own hours is a bonus but you need continuous business development to consolidate your business.

At times a career in photography can be lonely if you are working alone on assignments. You seldom have the working team environment that comes with other professions. Deadlines, high volumes, low margin for error and demanding client expectations can create stress. Your working hours will include many weekends and holidays, thus your social life may be affected. The best career advice is to rationalise this is an integral part of the job.

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You will teach and train across a variety of aerobic and anaerobic topics taking into account each client’s particular requirements. Your approach may range from preparation and management of fitness programs, general health and well being, to addressing specific objectives with rehabilitation programs, weight loss, body-building, cardiovascular gain and body flexibility.

You demonstrate and give correct advice on how to operate any fitness equipment, such as exercise bikes, treadmills, or weight-lifting equipment. When working in a facility that provides areas for fitness programs, you will assist in the general cleaning and maintenance of all the equipment. You may also have to answer telephones to take bookings required and to answer all relevant questions that customers may have in regards to any programmes.

Being a personal trainer you have the ability to help those who wish to improve their health, fitness and general well being. You get an enormous sense of satisfaction seeing your clients achieve their milestones.  The hours are flexible and the harder your work, the more money you make.

You will find much of your work is requires inconvenient hours and over time your body may fail you. The best career advice to give is to make sure you listen to your body and manage it well. Clients generally require your services before and after work, so early morning starts and late nights are the norm.

The in-between is a good time for specialisation groups, university education or another part-time occupation. Holding clients to a sustainable programme (or retaining them at all) can be a challenge.

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Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Being an electrician is all about being at the forefront of technological advancement. It offers exciting career opportunities, with various avenues to pursue. The industry and client base is varied, ranging from small domestic customers, to international mining giants and government departments. As well as tha traditional electrical trade work, electricians are now also able to move into the area of power and green energy, utilising means such as solar and wind power.

So for those considering a career as an Electrician, here are the top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Pay close attention to your peers and supervisors right from the beginning, as the benefits you gain from their experience makes the job so much more interesting. The work is both varied and challenging, so the more knowledge and information you can consume the better.
2. Keep up to date with your TAFE studies. Not only will higher than average results provide you with a better understanding of "so that's how it works", but it also combines with your "on the job" efforts, making you more attractive to your employer with regards to career progression.
3. There is scope for impressive salaries, so put in the 'hard yards' early on, and your efforts will more than likely be recognised and rewarded.
4. Generate both short term (6 to 12 months) and long term goals (3 to 5 years) for yourself. You will more than likely enjoy greater success in whatever you do if you asre working towards a goal you have set yourself. You will discover the numerous avenues associated with the electrotechnology industry. By working towards a career plan, you are able to map out you future study to accomodate the areas of work that interest you.
5. Obtaining a trade qualification is something to be proud of, and remains with you throughout your career. It represents the years of determination and commitment, and provides a good base upon which you can build.

Follow this advice and you won't go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Chiropractic is all about prediction, prevention and management of health and the relationship of how a healthy spine leads to a healthy life.

So for those considering a career as a chiropractor, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Be sure you have a keen interest in helping people; you will need to connect to people through touch and a keen interest in helping them via natural means.
2. Chiropractic is a five year university degree bachelors and masters offered in Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and New Zealand.
3. Chiropractors are registered and regulated by the government and have an increasing acceptance and strong working relationship with Allied health professionals and the Australian health system.
4. Dealing with the spine and nerve system is a unique and powerful tool. As a chiropractor you will assist the body to heal and mend many health presentations and that is why Chiropractors see young babies, children, adults and the elderly through all the seasons of their life with considerable success.
5. Most Chiropractors run their own businesses in private practice, masters of their own future and have a toolkit in their hands that they can take with them around the globe. Chiropractors easily pick up work internationally and work to help people effectively even with language barriers because so much of what we do is listening to the body and addressing its needs.

Follow this advice and you won't go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

My main responsibility is to profitably invest the funds from our investors and to maximise their returns. Our investors are major Australian superannuation funds. We invest mainly in private Australian businesses. We provide the capital for their business to grow.  We also assist our investee companies in developing their growth plans, acting as a sounding board for the entrepreneurs/proprietors and helping in most financial issues relating to the business. Please see www.champventures.com for more information.

So for those considering a career as a venture capitalist/private equity manager, here are the Top 5 pieces of career advice I can give you;

1. Get a good university education.
2. Get a job in an accounting firm, management consulting firm or a corporate finance job in a bank or a large company. This is to get some real business experience.
3. Work hard and learn all you can even the most mundane job will teach you some useful life experience.
4. Take some risk. You are young and that’s when you ought to pursue your passion and take some risk.
5. Be humble and learn from those that are willing to teach you.

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles for a more detailed profile for this career.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. Stay connected to your passion for the underlying values of the social work profession - social justice and equality, human dignity and worth and service to humanity. 
2. Know yourself. Social workers need a high level of self-knowledge which is gained through continuing self reflection. You need to know who you are before you can help others. 
3. Notice the small gains. Social workers need to celebrate the small moments of positive change that result from the work they do each day. You may not be able to change the world in one day, but the small changes that you can make, go some way towards beginning to make the world a better place. 
4. Embrace your profession. Social workers who join together with colleagues to create supportive networks are able to remain connected to the bigger picture of their profession. Celebrating World Social Work Day, attending professional development workshops and conferences, reading online social work blogs and websites and spending time socially with other social workers helps you to remember why you do the work you do. 
5. Choose your career path intentionally. Social work is an extremely diverse profession with something for everyone. Be sure to think through carefully which path fits best with your skills, knowledge and passions for the work. 

Follow these pearls of wisdom and you won’t go far wrong. Good luck with your career development and if you need further information go to  www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles for a more detailed profile for this career.
 
Good luck.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

A resume is an important piece of personal marketing material, and one of the most vital when you’re applying for jobs. Whether it is for your first job or your fiftieth, you will always need to supply a resume for the employers. If done properly, it will represent you accurately and positively, highlighting your proficiencies and skills for employers to read.

When composing your resume, remember that employers only have time to give each resume a quick scan for pertinent facts. So if your resume has pages of information, with detailed paragraphs describing skills and capabilities, it is likely that they will cast it aside as too much trouble. So, keep your resume short and to the point. Get the facts across, promote yourself, but don’t be self-indulgent. As a guide, try to keep your resume down to two sides of A4 paper, but less is better.

Things to remember are:

• Promote yourself. There’s no point submitting a resume if you describe your abilities as okay, not bad, or pretty good. Use strong adjectives like capable, sufficient, developed, and competent. This is your marketing tool – use it!
• Do your research. Know what the employer is searching for, and try to provide information that best covers these areas. Consider whether the information is relevant, or whether your resume would be more suitable without it.
• Use keywords. In this age of electronic job sites, enabling you to submit a resume online, ensure that your resume contains job specific keywords throughout, so that they show up in an electronic search.
• Keep it simple. Don’t include colour, fancy fonts or experimental layout on your resume. If you choose to use bullet points, stick to the one kind. Keep it simple and easy to read.
• Be honest. An employer will soon learn that you lied on your resume. Exaggeration is fine in order to promote yourself – but keep it truthful.
• Differentiate yourself from other applicants. Give the employer a reason to hire your over others.

Now, how do you actually structure a resume? There are a number of different ways, but the most common is one that employers in most areas will recognise, called reverse chronological. This is the best format to use when looking for part-time work along with your studies, or if you are looking for a job after high school. Generally resumes become more complex after undergraduate and postgraduate studies. The tertiary institutions you attend can provide you with resume writing information on their website or upon request. In this article, we will be looking at the most standard form of resume.

Here are some step-by-step instructions on what you should include,

Personal details
It is not compulsory to include age, nationality, or marital status.  This information can be used to discriminate against applicants. Also, if your email address is off topic, like naughty_devil@ change it to something more professional.
Under personal details, you will need to include:

• Full name
• Address
• Contact details

Career objective/ Personal statement
A brief sentence or two about your goals for the future, either immediate or long term. Try to make this relevant to the position you are applying for, if possible.
Education history
Begin this section with your most recent education, and work backwards through past study. For each form of education, include:

• Name of qualification
• Name of institution
• Time frame of qualification: year began – year completed
• Secondary school results (optional)

Employment history
Begin this section with your most recent job, and work backwards though past employment. This can include both paid and voluntary work experience. For each position, include:

• Position title
• Name of employer
• Location of employer
• Time frame of employment: year began – year completed
• Responsibilities/ Position description
• Achievements

Key Skills
If relevant to the job position, list key skills that you possess. Include:

• The type of skill
• Brief description of how you have implemented the skill

Personal affiliates
(Optional) If you are a member of an organisation or volunteer group, list them here. Although these should be relevant to the position you are applying for, it can promote your personal qualities to list your affiliates even if irrelevant.
Achievements
List any awards, certificates or other achievements that you have gained. Be sure to include:

• The title of achievement
• The source of achievement (e.g. name of school, sporting club)
•  Date of achievement

General Information
This is not usually required, but if you are applying for a first job and your resume looks a bit bare, then include a few brief statements about yourself and your interests, if possible, relating to the job position.
Referees
It is preferable to have at least two referees on your resume. For each, include:

• Type of referee (professional, academic, personal)
• Name
• Position or relationship
• Contact details

We hope that this helps you to produce that career winning position. Got any comments?Why not post a reply for your peers to read in the forum.

We at Careernav wish you all the luck in finding the career of your choice.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You can progress through levels of seniority and associated responsibility in the public or private sectors to be a Department Head and onto Deputy Principal and Principal. Your specialisation remains and there is little transference between primary and secondary schools.

Teaching jobs are available in most towns and cities across Australia. If you are willing to teach in the country areas you greatly improve your chances of getting a job. Staff turnover tends to be higher in inner city schools. The demand for teachers in some areas is high and outstrips supply. International opportunities are readily available.

With further study you may become a lecturer in further education or a school inspector. You can make extra money from private tuition or writing educational materials. Your teaching skills can be used to change careers: moving into many different fields such as social work, policing and management.

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Trainer registrations are the responsibility of either Fitness Australia or Kinect Australia,. Trainers also need to hold a current first aid certificate level 2, which will need to be kept up to date each year.

As a personal trainer you may be able to specialise in areas that interest you more. Some of these areas include swimming, personal training, aerobics, weights or group fitness. You can choose to be fitness instructor for private fitness companies, to work in organisations such as the armed forces, large corporations or to work for yourself.

Once you are qualified, you can set up your own personal training business either from home or in commercial premises. Whilst general fitness is popular, so too are specialized programmes for particular client needs, and specialized services tend to command premium prices. Rehabilitation, injury recovery work, or gentle stretching and flexibility for clients with movement restrictions such as Parkinson’s disease or arthritis can all be financially rewarding.

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With this career, the typical progression is very arbitrary and  depends on the  skill and enthusiasm of the individual. It can be an extremely financially rewarding for a career farrier with the skills to work at the top level (eg racing stables). Financial return depends on the social demographics of the area, number of horses, distance travelled.

The working environment is variable. Generally, you will travel to the stables of the horses or donkeys, and carry out your work on the property. This is outdoors work, exposed to the elements. Occasionally, you might be called into a vet clinic or hospital to assist a horse that has been brought in. You will work long and irregular hours and to many of your clients, you will be on call, since their horse’s welfare is of high importance to them, no matter the time of day. You may work days, weekends or over holiday periods. There are physical risks such as being kicked or bitten, and you will always wear protective gear when working on a horse and making their shoes.

You will ensure that the horse is treated with respect just as the owner would expect. You clean out their hooves, file back any over growth and reshoe if necessary. Taking pride in what you do takes precedence over everything else. Naturally because you have a love of horses, you take care of them as you would if they were your own. The last thing the owner needs is a horse that is lame and unridable. At times you will also advise the owner on preventative measures in hoof care.

For the most part, farriers are self-employed. Many will start out working part-time while working another job, and only become full-time when they have developed sufficient skills and  a large enough client base. Success in this field is largely dependent on experience, and so part-time work can help you gain experience until you have developed a reputation. Farriers may travel to breeding farms, riding stables, acreages, farms, stations studs, racetracks.

Farriers may choose to specialise in a particular type of horse, such as standard bred horses, show horses, or leisure horses. Career progression in this field usually comes in the form of a building up a large client base.

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Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

In your search for success you know that a positive attitude can set you up for success. But just how do you inspire those around you to have a positive attitude?

Here are some helpful tips to help you give that positive feeling within the office or workplace.

Have a great day.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The other side of it is that it will free up your time, so you can have more time with your family and friends. Below are some points to remember for effective time management, that we hope will help you to manage your time better.

1. Preparation. Whether you have to attend meetings or greet clients, always be prepared. Allocate enough time to be able to fully discuss any relevant issues within the meeting or with your clients. You will give the image of being professional. Nobody likes someone who fusses around trying to find the right information being relayed to the relevant people.
2. Timing. Be careful in your planning. Assess your days correctly and it will be smooth sailing. Bad judgement will have a definite impact on your day. Always allow for meetings that run overtime, travel time if needed, or that client that just loves to chat!
3. Always confirm appointments.  It can be a little tricky juggling many different appointments on a day to day basis. Modern technology makes it easier for us enter appointment times and send ourselves a reminder of that particular appointment. Confirming your appointments shows you respect the time of others as well as your own.
4. Be on time. The best thing anyone can say about you professionally is “he/she is always on time”. It shows you are reliable while managing a busy work schedule, as well as showing respect to those you will be meeting with. You will gain the respect of your co workers and set an example of how to present yourself.

The bottom line of it all is be consistent. We all work a set number of hours, and within those hours we are expected to do a certain amount of work. Maintained properly, your day will run somewhat smoother that a miss managed day that feels as though it will never end. Keep in mind your professional persona is on show, so stick to your schedule allowing time for everything.

Good luck in your scheduling.

Got any other tips for time management? Then why not post a reply for your peers to read in the forum.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

No matter the position or career  you hold, our career advice is the more you tech savvy you are the better you understand and the more it will help you.  Here are  some widely used terms for the beginner, intermediate users and the advanced users, so read on and see how much you know.

Beginners -

• Password – used for authenticating a user on a computer. Many passwords are made up of characters that include letters, numbers and symbols but no spaces. To have the most secure password it is ideal to have it made up of letters and numbers but do not contain actual words.
• Defragment – A great way to increase the performance of your PC. We all add and delete files on our computer but sometimes not efficiently. When this happens the file can be broken into multiple sections on the hard disk. While your computer still reads the new file as a single file, the drive will scan multiple parts to read it. A great time to do this is when you hear extra grinding sounds or the computer seems to run slower than before. Windows have a pre installed Intel defragment program or you can use a commercial product such as Norton Utilities.
• LAN (Local Area Network) – A lan is a computer network that is limited to a small area such as an office. Many businesses uses LANs, making it easier for employees to share information.
• ISP (Internet Service Provider) – This is the company you pay a monthly fee to in order to use the internet.
• Server – The server supplies information to computers that connect to it. When you connect to a server you are able to access information, programs, files and other information. Common servers are web servers, mail servers and LAN servers.

Intermediate users –

• Vector - Unlike JPEGs, GIFs, and BMP images, vector graphics are not made up of a grid of pixels. Instead, vector graphics are comprised of paths, which are defined by a start and end point, along with other points, curves, and angles along the way. Because vector-based images are not made up of a specific number of dots, they can be scaled to a larger size and not lose any image quality.
• Configuration – This is referring to the technical specifications of a computer. Typically these will include the processor speed, the amount of RAM, hard drive space, and the type of video card in the machine.
• FTP (File Transfer Protocol) – This is a common method for transferring files via the internet from one computer to another.

Advanced Users –

• DNS (Domain Name System) - The primary purpose of DNS is to keep Web surfers sane. Without DNS, we would have to remember the IP address of every site we wanted to visit, instead of just the domain name. The reason the Domain Name System is used is because Web sites are actually located by their IP addresses. For example, when you type in "http://www.abc.com," the computer doesn't immediately know that it should look for ABC's Web site. Instead, it sends a request to the nearest DNS server, which finds the correct IP address for "abc.com." Your computer then attempts to connect to the server with that IP number.
• Meta Search Engine - Meta search engines are search engines that search other search engines. Confused? To put it simply, a meta search engine submits your query to several other search engines and returns a summary of the results. Therefore, the search results you receive are an aggregate result of multiple searches.

These are just a few of the many terms used in the world of technology. As technology grows so do the terms. We found the websitewww.techterms.com helpful in the definition of these terms.

Get yourself up to speed. Technology rules. It’s the best piece of career advice we can give you.
Got any comments for us, why not post a reply in the forum.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Though tiling remains mainly a male-dominated industry, some females have taken it up in recent years. Self-employed tilers contract their services to different building companies. Tilers often find themselves working alone rather than as part of a team. Tiling is a highly competitive trade career in which a skilled tradesman can earn substantial income. There is a  high degree of job satisfaction, as you are putting the finishing touches on a particular job.

Why not post a reply on the forum for all to read. If you wish to read more details about a career as a tiler then go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/tiler.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Typical Career Progression

*The above table is to be used as a guide only

Career choice examples -

Music Producer: these roles include controlling recording sessions, coaching and guiding musicians, organizing and scheduling production budget and resources, and supervising the recording, mixing and mastering processes.
Recording Engineer: someone with experience and training in the recording of sound through mechanical (analog) or digital means.
Dialogue Editor: assembles, synchronizes, and edits all the dialogue in a film or television production.
Re-recording Mixer: works as part of a post-production sound team and works specifically with dialog, music and sound effects to create the final soundtrack for a production.
Studio Manager/Owner: represents the studio, books the recording times, negotiates prices for the studio and hires engineers.
Sound Effects Editor: a sound editor is a creative professional responsible for selecting and assembling sound recordings in preparation for the final sound mixing or mastering
Programmer: a programmer is a computer technician that combines a knowledge of electronics, computer programming and music to create software for digital instruments or recording equipment.
ProTools Operator: works with the professional recording system ProTools as either a trainer, recording engineer or product demonstrator.
Music Editor: provides a crucial link between a film and the soundtrack’s composer. They structure the soundtrack, ensuring that all the components work together.
Location Sound Engineer: Organizes audio equipment and personnel on a film or video production, while maintaining overall recording quality and keeping the audio in sync with picture.
Sound Designer: works on designing and recording all non-compositional sounds (i.e. foley) that are included in a film, sound recording or video game.
Mastering Engineer: takes audio that has been previously mixed and prepares it for distribution through a series of techniques that improves its tonal qualities.

Do you have any further comments for your peers to read. Go to the forum and let us know.

If you wish to read more about a career as a sound engineer go to 

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/sound-engineer 

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Position	Graduate	$40,000	1 Year	Year 12 Pass
1st Promotion	Audio & Video Technician $45,000 2+ years Diploma or Certificate course 2nd Promotion Broadcast Technician $51,000 3+ years Ongoing courses keeping up to date with technology advancement. 3rd Promotion Radio Operator $57,000 4+ years   4th Promotion Sound Engineering Technician $65,000 5+ years   Audio & Visual Technician	$45,000	2 Years	Diploma or certificate course
2nd Promotion	Broadcast technician	$51,000	3 Years	Ongoing courses keeping up to date with technology advancement.
3rd Promotion	Radio Operator	$57,000	4+ Years	As Above
4th Promotion	Sound Engineering Technician	$65,000	4+ Years	As Above

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So in making these career choices, why is it that so many of us become confused? You mapped it out in your head, maybe wrote down your career plan, or simply had an idea of where you wished to be by a certain stage in your career. We all have a fear of the unknown, but how can we fear something that we know nothing about?

You are making a career changing move for all the right reasons – to gain further experience, better employment opportunities, better remunerations at other companies, and so on. At Careernav, while we give career advice to many, we can tell you, do not fear the unknown, EMBRACE IT.

Visualise the place you wish to be in your career and go for it. Nothing can stop you, nor should it. Go out there and get what you dream about. Remembering at all times that “it takes time to be a success but time is all it takes” (Anon).

We wish you all the luck in your careers. Have any further thoughts? Why not post a reply in the forum for all your peers to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So here are five pieces of career advice you should adopt;

1. Start with a positive attitude. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. The review will cover both, so expect both. If you’re open minded and see the review as a great learning experience then you’re likely to get more from it.
2. Reflect on the previous review.  Have you put into place all the suggestions made? What worked, what didn’t, what outcomes were achieved and what did you ignore and why?
3. Complete your own review on yourself. Self awareness and evaluation demonstrates high learning capability, maturity and positive self esteem. So come prepared and demonstrate your thinking with your superior.
4. Ensure the review is interactive. Don’t forget to ask questions and discuss any other issues relevant to you.  Talk about the management style that you best respond to, the leadership style that motivates you, your expectations of your immediate manager, tell them what you would like to learn from them and outside courses. Continuous education is the future. Don’t accept a review that has no substance, no direction and no personal development objectives.
5. Good & bad reviews are given for a reason. You will know if you’ve done your job well or poorly. People instinctively know. Use it as a springboard to higher achievement. Take it all on board, treat it as a learning curve, enhance existing strengths and improve in those areas where suggestions have been made.
   Showing you can accept some positive and negative evaluation shows your maturity, that you fully understand we can never stop learning and information given to each of us in these reviews is valuable to our working  and personal life.

Why not post your thoughts in the forum for all your peers to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Engineers invent, create and build the world around us. As an engineer you use natural and man-made chemicals and materials to make the things we use every day. It is a huge and diverse career sector with a variety of employment opportunities. You design and build roads, buildings, cars, planes, tunnels, or dams. You can work on solving problems in the medical area by creating artificial limbs or heart valves. Even everyday products such as computers and sports equipment have had an engineer work on them at some stage in their design or manufacture.

Mineral Engineers work in mining and the petroleum industries. You would be getting the raw materials out of the ground and be converting them to a form that is used by industry. The resources boom in Australia has created huge opportunities for this sector.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

There is no formal career progression in Acupuncture but very good career growth potential for the field. Modern science has proven the effectiveness of many treatments that have been practiced in other countries for centuries, and as a result, more and more insurance companies are covering alternative treatments. You can build a career path with confidence.

Initially you work at clinics or in a small practice before you are likely to establish your own consulting practice and build from there. You can work in tandem with chiropractors or centres for Oriental medicine. You generally can expect to make $50,000 to start out with and double that after a few years' experience. Fees vary at different practices but the initial consultation usually costs $70 thereafter the consulting fee is $55. Seeing thirty patients a week would earn about $80,000 a year.

Commencing in an established clinic with other health professionals is a good way to begin,  as establishing and consolidating a viable practice takes several years. Some are engaged in academic and clinical research.
Post a reply or to read more go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/acupuncturist.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Your workload in any one shearing shed will vary depending on the size of the flock shorn and the number of staff available to complete the work. You are classing wool according to its various characteristics such as colour, length, strength, and quality. With your experience and knowledge you are able to advise growers on woolclassing strategies, as well as instructing and supervising workers employed during the shearing.

Best thing about this career
You get to travel from place to place, for work and get to see some amazing country sides. The ability to become well known in the towns from which you work constantly is always a bonus, especially in small country towns.

Worst thing about this career
Travel times may be extremely long, and the days possibly long, especially at the peak of the shearing season. You may not get to socialise with your closet of friends as often as you may like due to travel commitments. Being in a shearing shed environment requires working under varying environmental conditions.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/wool-classer

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

There are no standard promotional steps or set career path in interior design, as there are in many other occupational fields. Your first five years after entering the workforce is all about gaining experience, developing a strong portfolio, client base and supplier base. During this time, you will grow into your own unique style of designing, which may give you some idea as to which particular area of interior design best suits your abilities and passions.

In design, you have to make your own career in terms of success. You will need to have initiative, ambition, motivation, dedication, and an individual style. To better your chances of success, you need to continue your professional development; building up your portfolio with a variety of projects, utilising marketing and networking opportunities, and developing a strong reputation for yourself among clients. Overseas interior design is well developed particularly in the UK and Europe. A stint working internationally will do no harm to your resume.

As an interior designer, you can find employment in a range of areas. Popular markets include design studios, departments of large stores or businesses, manufacturing firms, or design firms.

Interior designers may teach in schools, universities or other educational institutions, while some are employed by magazines on home furnishings and interior design. You may decide to branch out and open your own business, or simply opt for self-employment, and work on a freelance or contract basis.

Other employers that can utilise your design experience and skills include shopping centre corporations, building industry suppliers, furniture manufacturers, exhibition design providers, and employers working on film, TV or stage set design. You could find a vocation representing suppliers of products such as fabrics, office partitions or furniture or form a working alliance with real estate agents. The sky’s the limit.

To read more about being an Interior Designer go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/interior-designer

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Your career options are numerous as you possess a standardised and transferable skill set that can be applied to any local or international market and almost any financial product or instrument.

You can work for banks, insurance companies, mutual and pension funds, securities firms, and other businesses, helping these companies or their clients make investment decisions. If you’re employed in commercial lending, you perform “balance sheet analysis”, where you examine audited financial statements and data in order to assess lending risks.

Your success is directly related to your proficiency in the use of spreadsheets, databases, PowerPoint presentations and other software applications. You need to put in long hours, develop interpersonal relationships with superiors, be available for all projects and develop communication and people skills by crafting written and oral presentations that impress senior management.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/financial-analyst

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. You must enjoy talking and meeting people, you will spend your entire day meeting people of different personality. It is nice if you can relate to everyone in order to understand their problems.
2. Be prepared to work occasional weekends. Optometrist work closely with retail for sale of glasses etc, so weekends can be the busiest time of the week.
3. Make time to do continued education. There are requirements for ongoing education in the form of seminars, conferences and workshops on order to stay registered.
4. Consider doing some work in rural areas. There is a lot of demand for Optometrists to work in rural areas, especially someone who is prepared to do it of a full time basis, rather than a locum who only calls in occasionally. Working in rural areas offers more patient loyalty, recognition within a community and a higher salary.
5. Consider doing occasional work with Charity organisations. There are plenty of opportunities to work within Australia and overseas to provide eyecare and glasses to those who cannot otherwise access the service.

We wish you all the luck in your career choice.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

2.    Depending on the area of web design and development you want to get into, depends on the training, or course you might do. And without knowing what exactly you’re going to do, you can’t know what course to do… A Catch 22.

So how to resolve this dilemma? Here’s my five tips:

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

What you do every day

Depending on your place of work and the variety of work performed, it is likely no two days will be the same. After disassembling the tool, machine or appliance for repair, you identify the problem and decide on the parts and materials needed for the job. If the problem is a wiring fault, you select and cut the faulty wires, or replace a whole wiring system, according to the wiring diagrams of the appliance, tool or machine. You may have to make, alter, or assemble some of the metal parts that need replacement. You reassemble the tool, appliance or instrument, ensuring that all electrical wires are correctly connected to a power supply, and test for proper working order, and safety. Examples of some of the tools you may repair will be used in industry and include air compressors, nail guns, drills, or grinders.

Personality that best fit this career

Successful Electrotechnology Assmeblers have a high aptitude for mechanics and electronics. You naturally enjoy tinkering with machines and tools, pulling them apart and reassembling them. You utilise your advanced understanding of mathematics and technical information to diagnose the problem. You will need to have normal colour vision (as the wires are different colours), along with good hand-eye coordination. You are able to work as a part of a team, performing precise and detailed work.

Best thing about this career 

You get to pull things apart and put them back together, while getting paid for it. You know your employment is relatively secure as working machinery and tools will always require servicing and repairing. You can further improve the demand and the price for your services by specialising and being one of only a few who can repair and service a particular machine. It is also a rewarding feeling helping people in their everyday activities to perform their best in their specific trades or businesses.

If you would like to read more about being an Electrotechnology Assembler go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/electrotechnology-assembler

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Unfortunately, the course is unable to fully equip and prepare you for the commercial reality of the fitness industry. The first year was a frightening, exciting, tough and rewarding one. I learnt so much practical skills from some great people. I have now been in the industry for more than five and a half years and enjoy all aspects of the lifestyle it allows.
 
So for those considering a career in the fitness industry, there are a five pieces of career advice :

1. Initially, put many more hours into the job than required so that you can observe people going about their daily training. It’s amazing how much you see and learn both good and bad by doing this.
2. Work hard on your communication skills. This industry demands that you can communicate competently.
3. Be very wary of doing it part time. It’s hard to learn all you need if you’re only around for 10-20 hours per week.
4. Only train people with exercises that you yourself know through either an intimate understanding, or that you do yourself on a weekly basis.
5. Have fun!!

The fitness industry is constantly evolving and in turn so must personal trainers. Open your mind to new training styles and techniques. You get out what you put in.

Good luck and most importantly, enjoy!!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Engineering can be simply thought of as applying mathematics and science to solve real-world problems. Like all professional careers it requires a great deal of hard work, discipline, and creativity. It is an extremely large field and most incoming engineering students do not have a solid idea of what area of engineering they want to do. You have four years of intense study in engineering schools. The marketplace is now favourably looking at double degrees such as combining engineering with law, computer technology or medical degree. Practicing engineers typically work in teams designing either a component of an overall product or the entire product itself. The abilities of communicating well and cooperating with others are essential tools for the engineer. Engineers with some experience are also prime candidates for managerial positions.

So to start what are the main types of engineering careers;

Aerospace Engineering

The people who find themselves in this field are typically mostly interested in working with aircraft, a sort of mechanical engineering specifically geared towards planes. This field really emphasizes the flow of fluids.

Biomedical Engineering

If you are more interested in the life sciences like biology than the more mathematically rigorous sciences like physics, then biomedical engineering may be your best fit. This field takes the principles of the other branches of engineering and applies them to the medical industry to create products such as patient monitoring equipment, medical imagers, prosthetics, surgical tools, and artificial organs.

Bioengineering

This is very similar to biomedical engineering. The primary difference is that biomedical engineering is specifically geared towards the medical industry, whereas bioengineering is not necessarily bounded by medicine, although it may include medicine.

Chemical Engineering

If you love chemistry and also want to go into engineering, then this is the type of engineering for you. It is purely the synthesis of chemistry and engineering, and some of the typical industrial products designed by chemical engineers include pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Civil Engineering

This is the type of engineering that most non-engineers think of when they hear the term "engineering." Civil engineers design to fulfil civic needs ranging from building bridges to laying out roadways to timing traffic lights or to even the construction of buildings and park facilities.

Computer Engineering

Computer engineering is very similar to electrical engineering. The only major difference is that it focuses on designing the electronics involved in making the hardware of computers, like the latest Pentium chip, for example. This field requires a lot of knowledge in computer programming.

Electrical Engineering

If you found yourself taking apart and then putting back together radios or other such electronic devices when you were a kid, then electrical engineering may be the one for you. It is a very broad field from designing the electronics in your CD player or cell phone, working on telecommunications problems to dealing with electrical power issues and electromagnetics, or processing signals that can be either audio or visual. This is an extremely mathematically oriented branch of engineering.

Industrial Engineering

Industrial engineers work to solve problems that ultimately involve the analysis and improvement of performance in how things are done and can be measured. You concentrate on designing processes and strategies and can be employed in a variety of settings including large utility companies, financial institutions, consulting groups, manufacturing enterprises, the government, and hospitals.

Materials Engineering

This is the type of engineering that specifies to other engineers what type of material should be used for a certain product and why. Materials engineers are also often employed to test and fabricate materials for a given purpose.

Mechanical Engineering

Deals with either the motion or stability of mechanical systems. Subjects of interest here are the motion of objects due to external forces, the transportation of heat and other thermal properties, flow of fluids, and the amount of stress an object can handle without breaking. Typical applications include designing cars, engines, turbines, and using computer aided design (CAD) tools. Those who enter this field tend to more hands-on types of people.

Textiles & Fibre Engineering

Textiles engineering is a mixture of mechanical and chemical engineering, but specifically geared toward the textile industry. Textile engineers work to design equipment that will automate the production of fibre, fabric, and other textile products

So which one is for me?
It really depends on your interests. If your into moving parts go mechanical, planes then aerospace is the go, building outdoor projects then go civil. Think lighting layouts, power distribution systems, details for mounting transformers, fire alarm system voltage calculations... stuff like that, then it’s electrical, gadgets & gismos then go computer. In Australia, the resources sector is booming. A petroleum engineer, mining engineer or geotechnical engineer are all in demand.

Check out Part 2 in the series.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

This is the second blog about career advice for budding engineers.
Supply and demand inequality is a key factor. So to the sector growth your interested in. The there are the push for environment friendly technologies, changing telecommunications and computers for electronics engineering, not to forget infrastructure programs need civil engineers. Petroleum engineering is a good choice, since global supplies of petroleum are declining.

If you want a job with good salary, chances are that you will work in a multidisciplinary and international environment. So, be prepared for that: learn about foreign cultures and maybe another language.

All engineers earn good money but arguably electrical engineers make the most money. Some people say civil and yes, they make a good amount too but if that's what you want to do, I suggest you start getting to know contract law and tort law like the back of your hand.

Civil Engineering offers a wide field of job opportunities from buildings, roads, bridges, irrigation, dams, water supply, flood controls all with good salary packages. With progress comes construction and the need for a civil engineer. It’s the one with the highest job security.

Petroleum engineers live in remote regions, oil fields have little to no civilization surrounding, so it also depends on where you live and where you are willing to go - if you want to work right near the oil fields where there is little to no civilization that’s the compromise you make for earning the bug bucks.
Aerospace and mechanical engineers make things that move rather than a building or road that just sits there.
Currently, mining engineers are making serious money, however this comes with being in isolation, long hours, time away from family, spending time in the mines and arguably less opportunity for the kids the grow and develop,  so it's definitely not free money.

Mechanical engineers enjoy gadgets and gizmos and the physics of things moving. Others enjoy electrical circuits or environmental etc. Only you can really decide what is most enjoyable.

Salary depends on experience, skill, location and strength of industry demand. Graduates are in demand being paid handsomely from $50k to $80k in their first year out. So if it is the salary that you are looking for, here are five of the highest paid

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So what’s the bottom line on a career in engineering and what career advice can we offer?
What it comes down to is:

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Time management was never my strong suit, but adapting into most of the actions I perform on a daily basis as a habit has not only improved my performance, but I am able to maintain my motivation even when things are not travelling at 1000 miles per hour – and this is key. Being able to squeeze every ounce out of downtime, even if it’s 15 or 20 minutes here and there. This is the difference between being busy and being successfully busy.

One technique that I have utilised comes directly from Steven R Covey and his book First Things First. It details 4 quadrants of effective time management and then assigning a specific task or goal into one of the quadrants to be managed;

• Important, Urgent (Necessity) - Manage these tasks in the best of your ability.

• Important Not urgent (Quality and Personal Leadership) - These are the items you want to spend most of your time on.

• Not Important, Urgent (Deception) - These tasks appear to be important but in reality are not. Be careful here.

• Not Important, Not Urgent (Waste) - Avoid these tasks as much as possible

Sounds very simple right? It is – however applying it and internalizing it is the difficult part. Make this a habit, accept the responsibility to control your success and start doing.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

We have all grown up playing one kind of sport or another. Some of you will take your sports to the highest possible level, so understandably there are careers out there that support these sportspeople to remain injury free and healthy.

We have tracked down 5 popular careers that would complement any person with a sporting background and want the career that links them into sports each day, so read on and see if these careers are just what you are looking for –

1. Dietitian – Dieticians are qualified to provide expert nutrition and dietary advice to individuals and groups. You know about food, health and help people sort through the maze of nutrition information.  With this knowledge you are able to advise on the best possible diet to maximize performance with the correct foods and liquids.
   To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/dietitian
2. Personal Trainer – As a personal trainer, you are not simply a fitness instructor, but help to manage, assess and train people within gymnasiums, clubs, sporting centres, or peoples homes. As you work with a variety of different people with different fitness levels, you need to have an appreciation of your clients objectives and their desired outcomes. In doing so, you need to manage and tailor a program that best suits the clients, for their desired outcome, regardless of fitness level.
   To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/personal-trainer
3. Acupuncturist – Acupuncture works by the insertion of fine, sterile needles into specific sites (acupuncture points) along the body’s meridians (channels) to clear energy blockages and encourage the normal flow of life energy called qi (pronounced chee) through the individual. You will treat a wide range of health problems that includes muscle or joint disorders, stress related problems, as well as general health problems.
   To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/acupuncturist
4. Beauty Therapist – Beauty therapist give advice to clients to improve their skin care and body condition. You perform a variety of professional skin and body treatments within a salon, offer treatment planning and recommend products for home care use. Treatments performed include facial treatments, skin diagnosis, body massage and treatments, manicures and pedicures, waxing and tinting.
   To read about this career in full go to  www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/beauty-therapist
5. Event Manager – An event manager plans, organises, directs and manages events of all different dimensions and scale. Events can be business related, fund raising, family, sporting or social. You could be responsible for the overall management of tournaments, conventions, conferences, concerts, or weddings. You are responsible for the production of events, from the initial planning, through to completion, solving problems along the way.
   To read about this career in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/event-manager

While these are just a few of the careers available to those with sporting background or have an interest in a sport related career, please keep in mind there are many others that we have not listed. We wish you all the luck in your search for the perfect career.

Why not post a reply on the forum, letting us know your thoughts.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

As a nurse, you assess and care for patients, providing a medical plan for preventative, rehabilitative or curative purposes. You may work in a range of environments, including hospitals, nursing homes, specialist units, community facilities and patients’ homes. Nurses administer medications, redress wounds, and help prepare patients for surgery. You focus on the needs of your patients, rather than their illnesses or conditions, and you are the main point of contact for patients as part of a multidisciplinary health care team.

Your daily tasks as a nurse are wide and varied. Nurses work on a rotating roster, working both nights and days, generally in eight hour shifts. During these shifts you have to maintain patient care, monitor medication dosages, treat wounds, perform routine observations (patient pulse, blood pressure, and temperature), adjust medical equipment where necessary, and prepare patients for operations.

You must continually update the records of patients’ conditions, and brief specialists when they arrive on the ward. Other common tasks include setting up drips and blood transfusions, offering support during tests and evaluations, organising staff and workloads, monitoring and ordering medical supplies and equipment, and constantly being prepared for an emergency.

As a nurse, you will need to have an interest in people and natural ability in health care. Your job will require you to have patience, tact, a high tolerance, and a gentle, caring nature. You will have to be able to cope in emergency situations, acting with initiative and speed. If you are a non-conformist, then the strict care and safety procedures are not likely to appeal.

It is important for you to have strong communication skills, as patients often need someone to talk to. They will need your support to take their mind off their problems, to make them feel calm and less alone. The ability to trust your own judgements is important, as is the ability to work both independently and as part of a larger, multidisciplinary team.

Nursing is an inspiring and satisfying job, when you are able to help patients prevent or recover from a medical condition or situation. Their improvement into a state of wellbeing is very rewarding, and often they view you as an important part of their recovery. As a nurse, you get to meet many different people from many different backgrounds and cultures.

To read this profile in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/nurse

Got any comments? Why not post a reply on the forum for all your peers to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Most commonly, actuaries work for life insurance companies, general insurance companies, health insurance companies, banks, the government, consulting firms, or ratings organisations.

Australian skills are highly regarded and there are opportunities to apply these skills overseas, perhaps assisting in the design of financial systems in developing countries. Actuaries have also been involved in more diverse activities such as applying their modelling and predictive skills to estimate future prices for gas and electricity and develop suitable bases for carbon trading.

Regardless of which area you choose to work as an actuary, your daily work will involve skills such as financial mathematics, knowledge of business, statistical analysis, probability assessment, building computer models and complex problem solving.

Actuaries must possess very strong analytical, project management and problem solving skills. You should be passionate about and exceptionally good at mathematics, statistics and probability. You will need good business sense, with an aptitude for finance, accounting and economics. Your job will require you to have strong computing skills, with the ability to use word processing programs, spreadsheets, statistical analysis programs, and database manipulation.

The best actuaries also have good oral and written communication skills, not only to interact with colleagues and clients effectively during data analysis , but also to write reports, summarise findings, and present the key issues to your senior management. You will also need self-motivation, creativity, discipline, and the ability to work with others. Actuaries enjoy learning and solving complicated problems.

Actuaries provide vital information for companies that make financial decisions and future planning. Without the complex work of actuaries, these companies – which form a very important backbone in our society – would find it impossible to predict the future trends and make informed business decisions. Your work is fascinating and challenging, and the conclusions you reach will often give you a great sense of job satisfaction. The position of an actuary is highly sought after, and very much respected in the business and government community.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Start Position	Junior Writer/Art Director	$40-50,000	None or work experience	Degree
1st Promotion	Writer/Art Director	$60-90,00	2 - 4 Years	Degree
2nd Promotion	Senior Writer/Art Director	$100-140,000	4 - 8 Years	Degree
3rd Promotion	Creative Group Head/Creative Director	$150-300,000	10 + Years	Degree

*The above table is to be used as a guide only

Finding a partner to work with when you’re starting out is often difficult but it is preferable to applying for individual roles.  It’s easier for a Creative Director to appoint teams.

If a team works well, they often move together throughout their careers. For many, the ultimate goal is to become a Creative Director, but such opportunities are rare. There are many very successful, very senior creatives who simply enjoy doing what they do, without the potential headaches that go with the responsibility of management.

If you wish to read this career in full go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/advertising-creative

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

We have compiled a list of 10 hot jobs that we think are fast growing and can give you that job satisfaction we all desire and hunt down.

Read on and see what you think...

• Nursing - As a nurse, you assess and care for patients, providing a medical plan for preventative, rehabilitative or curative purposes. You may work in a range of environments, including hospitals, nursing homes, specialist units, community facilities and patients’ homes. Nursing is an inspiring and satisfying job, when you are able to help patients prevent or recover from a medical condition or situation. As a nurse, you get to meet many different people from many different backgrounds and cultures. Remunerations will vary depending on the location of your work, the size of the hospital or practice you work in, and your experience.

To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/nurse 

• IT Systems Engineer - An IT Systems Engineer focuses on providing technical support, consulting and expertise to businesses. As an IT Systems Engineer, you are expected to keep up with the latest and greatest technologies; have a keen interest in discovering new advances; and to always be up for a challenge. The IT System Engineer tends to come in two different flavours, which can normally be changed during your career. The first, and more traditional, is the internal IT departmental role, and the second is an outsourced role, working for an IT firm, supporting clients & customers of the firm.

To read this career profile in full detail go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/it-systems-engineer

• Engineering - Engineers invent, create and build the world around us. As an engineer you use natural and man-made chemicals and materials to make the things we use every day. It is a huge and diverse career sector with a variety of employment opportunities. You design and build roads, buildings, cars, planes, tunnels, or dams. You can work on solving problems in the medical area by creating artificial limbs or heart valves. Even everyday products such as computers and sports equipment have had an engineer work on them at some stage in their design or manufacture.

Remunerations for graduate engineers may start around $60,000 per year through to well over $100,000 with many years experience dependent on the position held, the size of the company and location.
Keep in mind there are many types of engineering careers. To read any of these in full detail go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles and choose your area of interest.

• Logistic Manager - Logistics is the efficient flow and storage of goods and services from the manufacturer to the consumer. Logistics is a part of the supply chain process which plans, implements and controls the movement of goods. You co-ordinate transportation, shipping and receiving, as well as storage and despatch and import/export operations. Whilst logistics has a high focus on customer satisfaction it is more likely a business to business operation rather than a business to retail. There is a higher focus on cost verses demand. You also need to consider the external influence of demand, and the operational network components, i.e. demographics internally.

Logistics is also about managing the demand, forecasting demand. A logistics manager works within the supply chain process and manages a large degree of it operationally. Apart from transport and shipping, you also consider IT solutions, process and systems, materials handling and warehousing and storage solutions, the supply network.

To read more about logistics in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/logistic-manager

• Financial advisor - As a financial planner, you devise and implement financial plans to ensure your clients make the best use of their savings, income and investments. Financial planners advise individuals, retirees and business owners on all areas of finance. These include risk management, pension plans, retirement, superannuation, cash flow management, education, investment strategies, insurance, business planning, real estate and tax.

Financial planners may work within financial planning businesses, or may be employed by insurance companies and financial institutions, such as banks or investment companies. You may also work as a self-employed consultant, aligned to a global company and using their suite of products, on either a non-exclusive or an exclusive basis.

Remuneration amounts in your first 2 years may range from $30,000 - $50,000 per year. The more experience you gain and the higher the position you hold your remuneration will of course increase.

To read this career profile in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/financial-planner

• Urban & Regional Planner - Urban and regional planners specialise in the development and re-development of existing towns, cities and rural areas. You plan for the future growth of regions, urban areas, industrial and commercial estates, recreation areas and open space. This involves recommending locations for houses, businesses, roads, schools, transportation, zoning, and other infrastructure.

You also assess how economic, legal, cultural, and physical factors affect land use and analyse their impact. You may design long term strategies to deal with growth and change, taking into account the needs of the future population. On very large projects, urban and regional planners assist in the development of suburbs, towns, industrial estates and the infrastructure to support them such as transportation, water, energy, telecommunications and other essential services.

To read this career profile in full detail go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/urban-regional-planner

• Web Designer - Web designers generally work on the layout and visual appearance of websites and online marketing material. You may work solely on the graphic design elements or across usability design, user experience design and even moving into the technical backend coding languages. A web designer can work across many fields within the realm of ‘web design’ depending on their skill, experience and interests.

The best part of graphic and website design is the varied styles of work you get to work on during an average week. Each website is different and has to reflect the brand of the company or person it is representing. If you work in a good size agency with other designers you can learn a great deal in a short amount or time, bounce ideas around and really see your creativity come to life on the web.

To read this career profile in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/web-designer

• Dietitian - Dietitians are qualified to provide expert nutrition and dietary advice to individuals and groups. You know about food and health and help people sort through the maze of nutrition information. You also have clinical training to modify diets to treat medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, gastro-intestinal diseases, food allergies and intolerances, and overweight and obesity.

You work in a wide range of fields: patient care in hospitals and nursing homes; community nutrition and public health; consultancy and private practice; food service and management; the food and medical nutrition industries; public relations, marketing and communications; government; and research and teaching. The diverse range of job opportunities and working conditions for dietitians will enable you to develop a wide variety of interests and skills and use them in many different situations.

To read this career profile in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/dietitian

• Personal Trainer - As a personal trainer, you are not simply a fitness instructor, but help to manage, assess and train people within gymnasiums, clubs, sporting centres and in other recreational areas such as the beach, swimming pools or sports ovals.

You will teach and train across a variety of aerobic and anaerobic topics taking into account each client’s particular requirements. Your approach may range from preparation and management of fitness programs, general health and well being, to addressing specific objectives with rehabilitation programs, weight loss, body-building, cardiovascular gain and body flexibility.

As a personal trainer you may be able to specialise in areas that interest you more. Some of these areas include swimming, personal training, aerobics, weights or group fitness. You can choose to be fitness instructor for private fitness companies, to work in organisations such as the armed forces, large corporates or to work for yourself.

To read this profile in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/personal-trainer

• Teacher - School teachers work in Government, Catholic and independent schools and are responsible for the education of students from the time they begin school, aged four or five, to when they graduate in Year 12. Each day as a primary/infant school teacher you will teach children about many different subjects. Secondary school teachers teach one or more subjects within the curriculum. You also prepare exams, supervise sport and provide one to one tuition student advice and support.

You can specialise in subjects such as drama, music, physical education (PE), performing arts or teaching students with special needs. The career path of teacher-librarian is also available.

Remunerations may range from $52,000 for a graduate through to $90,000 + for a well experienced principal.

To read this career profile in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/school-teacher

We hope you enjoyed reading our top 10 careers for 2010. Do you have any other careers in mind that you think are fast growing just like these? Why not post a reply in the forum and let us know your thoughts.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Typical Career Progression

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Start Position	Trainee Drafter	$15,000 - $25,000	Nil	Certificate IV
1st Promotion	Junior Drafter	$20,000 - $30,000	2 Years	Certificate IV
2nd Promotion	Drafter	$30,000 - $40,000	5 Years	Certificate IV or Diploma
3rd Promotion	Senior Drafter	$40,000 - $65,000	8 Years	Certificate IV or Diploma
4th Promotion	Building Designer	$55,000 - $70,000	10 Years	Certificate IV or Diploma or Adv. Diploma or Degree
5th Promotion	Managing Building Designer	$65,000 - $100,000	10 + Years	Certificate IV or Diploma or Adv. Diploma or Degree

*The above table is to be used as a guide only    

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You are responsible for the production of events, from the initial planning, through to completion solving problems along the way.

As an event manager, some key decisions you make are; determining the cost and necessary labour resources; organising facilities and insurance; coordinating venue management, including caterers, contractors, and equipment hire; monitoring the production schedule, and liaising with marketing and staff.

Event management can be an intense job and you will need strong organisational and management skills, as well as the ability to cope well under pressure, be able to get others to willingly work for you and meet deadlines.

Event managers are responsible for the outcome of an event. You are in a position of responsibility, and fulfil an important managerial role, without which the event would not be organised. Although it is hard work, you are rewarded with a sense of satisfaction when all of the bits and pieces you’ve organised come together to form a successful, smooth running event. The job is diverse, with a range of events to manage and different aspects to consider for each specific situation.

With all of the things to organise, and various events to manage, you’ll never get bored!

The job of an event manager is broad and varied. No two events are the same, and so your daily work is diverse and continually interesting. Progression within the industry will come with experience, and senior roles can be achieved depending on the number and size of events you have successful managed.

You may choose to shift your career from an event management company, to working on specialist events in hotels, leisure centres, or with marketing departments. If you are experienced and have a strong network of clients, then you may venture into freelancing or consultancy.

To read this career profile in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/event-manager

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The job of a librarian is to select, develop, organize, and maintain a library collection. If you work in a library that serves the community or a school, the collection is likely to consist mainly of books, newspapers, DVD’s, and videos. A collection can, however, also include journals, maps, films, sound recordings, CD ROMS, e-books, and data bases. A library may also have a bank of computers with internet access for general use. As a librarian you provide advisory and reference services for students, teachers and the general public. You will work regular hours, although some community librarians work shifts that may include weekends and evenings. You can work in a small team with a library assistant and a library technician.

Typical Career Progression

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Start Position	Library Assistant	$39 - $49,000	0 - 6 Years	Year 12 Pass
1st Promotion	Library Technician Grade 1	$50 - $59,000	4 Years	Degree
2nd Promotion	Library Technician Grade 2	$65 - $74,000	4 Years	Degree
3rd Promotion	Librarian Grade 1	$50 - $65,000	4 Years	Degree
4th Promotion	Librarian Grade 2	$68 - $77,000	4 Years	Degree
5th Promotion	Librarian Grade 3	$81 - $90,000	4 Years	Degree
6th Promotion	Librarian Grade 4	$93 - $102,000	4 Years	Post Graduate
7th Promotion	Librarian Grade 5	$105 - $115,000	4 Years	Post Graduate

*These salary bands are the 2009 awards set by the Crown Employees (Public Sector – Salaries 2008) Awards in NSW.

Librarians work in public libraries, archives, schools, technical colleges, and tertiary institutions. Some may also work for government departments, museums, in research and consulting organisations, hospitals, or industrial/business firms, all of which have libraries specializing in particular fields.

Becoming an information manager will see you filling the gap between the sources of information and those who are in need of the information. As a librarian you will often have assistants to help you in day to day running of the library.

Traditional concepts of libraries is changing from that of a place where to access paper records or books to one that now also houses electronic resources that include the internet, digital library, and remote access to a wide range of information services. Librarians, often referred to information professionals, will combine their traditional duties and tasks that involves quickly changing technology.

To read this career profile in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/librarian

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You are still able to travel with many of these careers as they are skills that you can use just about anywhere. Remunerations will vary but you could make serious amounts of money, if you are willing to work at it, just like any other career.

So read on and see if these are of interest to you or somebody you know.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Counselling is a significant part of the role so career practitioners need to be skilled communicators and interested listeners. They must be able to hear what’s being said and convey this to the client. They must have the ability to ask the right questions and be able to put clients at ease by being friendly and approachable.

It’s never boring because each new client presents new challenges. There are many aspects to the job and it is constantly stimulating because there’s always more to learn. Career counselling generally a rewarding and positive experience for both the client and the practitioner.

Pay scales are difficult to pinpoint. Earnings depend on the work setting, the credentials of the practitioner and the location. Private career practitioners may charge anything from $35 to $120 an hour working in a community setting to $500 if working with executives. Those working for a company or educational institution may earn from $45,000 up to $85,000 per annum, depending on their experience and size of the organisation.

To read about this career in full go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/career-practitioner

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

As Editor you will work with the Director and in some cases the Producer in the edit suite to gather a sense of mood, pace and style for the production. You evaluate the scenes and inform the Director about what needs to be re-shot or re-recorded for vision or sound purposes.

To be a successful Editor you must be highly organised, dedicated, have extraordinary attention to detail, and possess creativity and flair. You must be able to remain calm under pressure and to work to deadlines. You also need to be willing to work long and irregular hours.

The most rewarding aspects about being an Editor are being able to work within a creative team and having the ability to practice and enhance your skills on a daily basis. It is so gratifying to be satisfied with the final outcome of a project.
Film and television editors work for film companies, television stations and video production houses. They may also work on a freelance basis. The major markets There are many production companies varying in size throughout Australia. They usually specialise in television commercials, documentaries, short films and animations.

To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/film-tv-editor

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

• Appreciation of shape, dimension, image, colour and texture
• Expressing creativity by design
• Communication of visual interpretation during consultation

Skills will vary from cut & shape the hair, blow wave, dress hair including volume and form, colour to enhance the style and curl from temporary to permanent.

Total image requires personal consultation and consideration of facial shapes and features. A good hairdresser will bit by bit, piece by piece achieve the building block to create the pattern of hair style artistry.

Personal requirements that best fit this career are good communication and listening skills, physical fitness - to stand for up to 12 hours, (9am-9pm) on your feet. Irregular eating patterns often caused by hairdressers eating on the run and skipping meals, which can cause problems if abused in later years. Working under pressure with appointment after appointment becomes a way of life.

Staff presentation should reflect the style of the salon. Salons that specialize in colour work, would expect their staff to lead by example. High fashion salons staff would wear the trends they were promoting both in hair and fashion.

To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/hairdresser

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Mobile Intensive Care Ambulance Paramedic (MICA)

Clinical Instructor (CI)

Team Manager/Station Officer

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. Decide weather you think your main interest would be as a weather forecaster or as a research meteorologist. Both require a good understanding of atmospheric physics but the nature of the work is quite different. Weather forecasters are service providers - they work to tight deadlines and sometimes under significant pressure when there is severe weather around, undertake a significant amount of interaction with users (especially the media), and must be resilient when the occasional forecast goes wrong. Research meteorologists enjoy physics and maths, are able to deeply explore scientific problems, and have good communication skills so that they can discuss and write-up their results.
2. Physics and maths are the cornerstone subjects to do at uni. Useful supplementary subjects would be physical chemistry and environmental science. Meteorology subjects are relevant and useful, but not essential. 
3. Be prepared for a life-time of learning. People ask why we can put a man on the moon, yet we can't always get tomorrow's forecast correct. This is because it is (much) easier to put a man on the moon. The atmosphere is a harsh teacher - it is great fun solving its riddles and predicting what it will do, but be prepared to get it wrong occasionally. 
4. Be observant. Get in the habit of watching the sky and learning the signs. Relate what you see to what the forecast says. Observe cloud types, notice what the wind is doing, Sit by the beach or on top of a mountain and watch. 
5. Keep abreast of technology. Meteorology is highly technology-dependent, relying as it does on supercomputers, satellite and radars. Data visualisation workstations, advanced communications technologies and so on.
    
   Good luck and hope this helps.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

If you listen to your parents, then the earlier you start planning your career the better. While your parents mean well, they can be at times a little pushy on the subject of ‘careers’. I am sure you will hear many times ‘what do you want to do when you leave school? not just from your parents, but from friends and other family members also.

If you are one of the rare ones that knew from an early age exactly what career you wanted, then congratulations. But for the majority of us, we have no clue where to look or what path to take in the search for the correct career for ourselves.

This is why the earlier you start to think about a career the better. Many of you will begin to think about this around the age of 16 or 17, as you need to choose those elective subjects for school that of course will allow you to possibly enter university, or to begin a trade career.

So how do you find the right career and plan for it? Read on and apply some of these tips and you may just find that it really isn’t that hard to plan after all.

1. Design a career plan to work from. These can be extremely helpful and take you through the process of deciding the career that best fits you. There is an amazing ‘7 step career plan’ you can read about on the Careernav website. Have a read and use this tool.
2. Research as much as possible about the careers that interest you. Look at the education requirements, where the career can take you, how much you will be earning once qualified, all that sort of information. Look at any career sites you can find, such as careernav.com.au.
3. Check out the industry trends for the line of work you are researching. Is it a career that has high growth and a high demand? Is this career going to be fairly stable, in any economic climate? What areas are offered for employment in this industry and can you specialise? 
4. Talk to as many people as you can find about your chosen profession. From the university professors to people employed in the companies themselves. Their knowledge of the career itself is valuable. Listen to it and take notes on how they came to be in the position they are today, and how long it took them to get the desired position.
5. Lastly, speak with your parents. While they may not fully understand your choice for a particular career, they will always support you. After all, they were your age once and they too were just as confused as you are right now.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Demand for optometrists is expected to grow in response to the vision care needs of a growing and aging population, extensive use of computers, increased likelihood of cataracts, glaucoma, diabetes, and hypertension. Strong demand means there are plenty of career opportunities. Laser surgery can correct some vision problems and reduce the demand for eyewear.

Why not post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/optometrist

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You may choose to specialise in certain types of plaster installation such as decorative plastering or solid plastering often called outside rendering. Once qualified you can begin your own plastering business, contracting to different builders for work. There are also other opportunities within the building trade that you are able to follow, such as becoming a supervisor, estimator, construction manager or sales representative for businesses that supply building products. 

A large number of plasterers are self-employed and are contracted to do work for building or plaster companies. Demand within the building trade will determine the amount of work available to plasterers. Qualifications are preferable, though not always necessary, to gain employment within plastering.

Plastering is a male-dominated industry that requires a high standard of physical fitness. You will be required to travel to the different jobs you will be contracted to do. You will work in buildings with no heating or cooling. At times you will work long hours or even weekends to ensure jobs are finished on time.

Typical Career Progression

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Start Position	1st Year Apprentice	$20,000	1 Year	Year 10 Minimum
1st Promotion	2nd Year Apprentice	$25,000	2 Years	Training via registered training organisation for the duration of the apprenticeship
2nd Promotion	3rd Year Apprentice	$28,000	3 Years
3rd Promotion	4th Year Apprentice	$34,000	4 Years
4th Promotion	Qualified	$60,000 ++	5 + Years	More business than technical skills

*The above table is to be used as a guide only.

To read about this career in full detail go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/plasterer

Why not post a reply in the forum for all your peers to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So you have embarked on a university course for the career of your dreams! While it is true that the thought of studying for yet another four or five years is daunting, the end result is the career you have worked towards during those years. 

While there seems to be a never ending list of degrees out there, there is also a very large list of companies that run cadet programs. But be warned, competition for places is extremely high, so apply as soon as you know applications are open.

Cadet programs put you in a win – win situation that will benefit you in the long run. It looks good on the resume and gives you the experience of working in a particular field. While cadet programs are normally an unpaid position, it can end in paid employment once you graduate.

So here are five most important insights to why a cadet program is the way to go whilst in university.

1. The company will expose you to a number of different functions within the business.
2. It gives you the opportunity to learn about the business. It’s almost a try before you buy scenario.
3. Looks great on the resume. Remember experience is everything. This is what employers will always look for in job applicants and the more you have the better.
4. Typically organisations that run cadet programs have reputations with the trainers that are in the system and they run excellent programs.
5. At this stage it is far more important to chase the experience rather than money.

We wish you all the luck in finding the right program for yourself and hope that these insights have helped.

Do you have any other insights you would like to let your peers know? Why not post them in the forum for everyone to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

For those who love taking a photo, you are not alone. Sure there are ways to make money from this career, but just what types of photography are popular and give you the work on a regular basis?

While some are happy to work for small or large businesses, others are happier freelancing or setting up their own business. Whatever the choice you make there are different fields that are available to work and specialise in.

Here are some examples of different types of photography available to you;

1. Photo journalist – You will typically work for companies that deal with newspapers, magazines or books. There is also the chance to be able to freelance to these companies. They will expect you to take photos of news events, current issues, or general articles. This can be quite interesting as you are not taking the same types of photos each day.
2. Studio Photography – Working in a studio you will be taking photos of people day in and day out. This is the most traditional form of photography career. We have from time to time all been to a photographer for the traditional family portrait! Your people skills for this line of photography will need to be exceptional.
3. Event Photography – You take photos of special events from weddings through to sporting events. While weddings will not happen on weekly basis, sporting events such as football, equestrian, tennis, or basketball are often run weekly or seasonally. For this your preparations are the key to have a shoot run smoothly. You will take into account the weather, the type of light you have, where the sun is sitting, and the length of time required for the particular shoot you are on. 
4. Food Photographer – Take photos of food for magazines or books, menus or other settings. You will place the food in a range of different settings, either indoors or outdoors using lighting where necessary.
5. Paparazzi – Probably the hardest line of photography anywhere in the world. You need to get that one shot of stars and celebrities that nobody else to make a serious amount of money. You also need to follow these people each day, know where to find such people, and be willing to travel most of the time. The work will not be consistent so you may have to use other more traditional forms of photography to earn an income in down times where you are finding it a little hard in getting that one great photo.

While these are just a few examples of photography careers, it gives a small outline of the variations within the career itself. If you wish to read in full detail about becoming a photographer go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/photographer.

We wish you all the luck in your career. Have any further areas that would be of interest to work in? Why not post a comment in the forum for all your peers to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You’ve got to love analytical thinkers.

Engineers, surveyors, computer programmer, mathematician, accountants, auditors, analysts, in fact any individual in finance, engineering or science or aviation or the medical profession.

They build stuff, research and analyse data backwards, forwards and sideways, until a mistake is found and corrected and only then will they then sign off on the project. They repeat findings to ensure the first result wasn’t a fluke or misleading. They apply their logical thinking, problem solving brain and base their finding on facts not opinions. Opinions are just that – where’s the proof they ask.

In fact it’ is great for the rest of us, the analytical thinker is so precise, even pedantic, with such attention to detail their almost painful; as they laboriously ensure the process is followed to the minute detail. But as I sit in a plane ready to take off, I take comfort the career of a budding licence maintenance engineer, has crawled all over the plane to find anything that is not safe. Or as the sedation of the anaesthetist gradually prevents me from counting backwards from one hundred, I am more than little pleased they keep me alive when I ‘m in a comatose state.

Everywhere you look the analytical is at work – building roads, buildings, mechanical objects, the cars we drive, the computer we spend too much time in from of, the iron ore we dig from the grounds, the scientific breakthrough we read about or the corporate balance sheet that investors rely upon on the stock exchange. Their footprint on society is every without peer.

And thank god they are who they are. We live in a safer, more innovative, better constructed world.

The small downside can be reporting to one. The fact they are usually task orientated rather than people oriented means they can be excused for being cold and perhaps a little reserved –not the gung ho leader you would charge into the unknown with. They can also be a tab boring, some with even a personality bypass, but if you are an analytical yourself you’ll relate well, provided you don’t make mistakes or leave errors in your calculations.

So to all you established analytical thinkers and career emerging analytical, thanks for everything and just remember, there is a mistake in there somewhere – go find it.

Why not share your experiences with us.........

Oh and by the way this blog was written by a creative thinker, who seems to think that creative thinkers are the be all and end all of life!!!!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Office jobs suit many people. They’re not physically strenuous, not too hard to cope with after a late night or when you’ve got a cold, and they come with a routine. You start at 9am, settle into your work station and leave after 5pm. You are in the same space everyday, so you accustom yourself to concentrating on work in that zone. This makes work easy to leave it behind when you go home, since all reminders remain in the office.

Although this sounds great, working in an office is not for everyone. Being in once place all day, five days a week, can prompt a feeling of confinement, and can cause workers to feel stir-crazy, restless, irritable, or bored. If you find that you’re twitching your legs by the end of a double period at school or a long lecture, then it’s quite possible that an office or other sitting job is not going to suit you. You don’t want to end up fidgeting, losing concentration, getting bored, feeling muscularly restless, or even getting aggressive due to pent up energy. It’s not fun when your job starts to drive you crazy.

Office work can also affect your health. Studies have shown that sedentary jobs attract a higher risk of diabetes and obesity. Also due to the lack of movement, desk work can be detrimental to your heart health and can result in serious wear on your joints, as well as causing back problems. Since being physically inactive for extended periods of time takes its toll on your body’s health, it’s important to incorporate a level of movement into your daily life. So while you’re still considering your future, the environment of your career and its mental and physical impacts are also factors to include.

So what if you think you will get restless in an office? Or if you don’t want to encourage obesity or back problems? Well, sedentary isn’t the only way to go – there are plenty of other job types out there, including active, standing, outdoors, and travelling. These jobs vary from para-professions and trades to tertiary qualified professions. The below sections give an overview of each job type, so that you can get a good idea of what might suit you personally.

Active jobs
Description: Any job that keeps you moving. This may include periods of sitting or standing, but overall, you will be active throughout each work day.
Examples: Chef, Dancer, Event Manager, Fire-Fighter, Nurse, Medical Specialist, Personal Trainer, Primary and Secondary School Teacher, Teacher’s Aide, Tradesman, Painter and Decorator, Production Manager, Set Designer, Waiter, and Winemaker.

Pros: Active jobs give you the opportunity to move around, use your muscles, and keep the blood pumping. Activity also helps the time to pass quicker than sitting at a desk for eight hours a day.

Cons: If you’re tired or unwell, active jobs do not help recovery. You’ll need to have consistent energy levels to cope with the demands of the job.

Pros: You’re working as Mother Nature intended: outside, exposed to the elements, breathing in the fresh air and exercising your body. Working outside keeps you healthy and fit, and is certainly never dull.

Cons: The weather doesn’t remain at a nice and moderate 25˚C all year round. You’ll have to carry out your tasks in pouring rain, freezing cold, and scorching heat. Nature doesn’t seem so beautiful when you catch the flu from a bitter day on site.

Pros: You’re not itching to get out of your chair all the time. There is freedom to move and nothing beats sitting down at the end of the day, contrasting office work, in which after sitting all day, the fun is taken out of relaxing in your personal time.

Cons: You get sore legs and feet, and standing for extended periods of time can make you more likely to develop varicose veins (although ditto with sitting down). The floor you stand on can be too hard, causing back pain and bad posture, while fighting against gravity all day can be exhausting, even if you don’t move around much.

Pros: Each day is different. You don’t have time to get used to one environment, before you move onto the next. If you do have a workplace to return to, then at least you’re not there often enough to begrudge it for holding you hostage between 9am and 5pm!

Cons: You can feel a bit displaced, constantly moving with no real base. It’s nice to have a place to call your own, set up, and store things. It can be stressful to have to travel all the time – you don’t know what environment or culture to expect next.

Instead, just try to eliminate the negative elements of continuous sitting and confinement. Go for a walk on your lunch break to get fresh air, be in a new environment, and stretch your legs. Stand up and do ten minutes of stretching on your morning and afternoon tea breaks. Instead of emailing someone in your office, stand up and deliver the message in person. Combining these small activities can prevent you from getting restless or irritable, and can help you focus on and appreciate on the career you’ve built for yourself.

What are your thoughts? Why not leave us a comment for all your peers to read
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

The job: You will be expected to take orders, bring food and drinks to customers' tables and clean the table afterwards. You must also be able to generate a decent rapport with other staff members, cooks and bartenders.

The perks: Waiters and waitresses get the tips they deserve where 10-15% is common. Most restaurants also offer wait staff at least one free meal a day.

The "in": There are plenty of work for the part-timer who wants the flexibility and variety of a server job. Stop by your favourite restaurant and ask if they are hiring.

The bottom line: Gratuities can add up to hourly wages of $10-15/hour boosting your income substantially. The free meals are also a money saver; $5 in free food for four nights a week adds up to over $1,000 per year.

The job: You will be expected to prepare drink orders, mix beverages, and take customers' money. You will probably also have to keep an eye on your stock of drink items, clean the bar and call for taxis.

The perks: Bartenders can receive some amazing tips with a good bartender expecting to make over a hundred dollars in one busy evening (such as a Friday or Saturday night). He or she may also get free meals.

The "in": Stop by your local pub or eatery that serves alcohol and find out if there are any bartending jobs open. You can also ask your friends who are servers at local restaurants to keep their ears open for any opportunities. Finally, if there are any tourist hot spots or casinos nearby, try to snag a position there; the buyers are usually more generous.

The bottom line: The bigger the tip the bigger take-home pay, so keep the drinks flowing to top up your hourly wage to $40/hour or more.

The job: You will generally work with preschool age kids and infants. Expect to change nappies, give bottles, deal with parents, and clean toys.

The perks: If you work half time for a gym you’re likely to be eligible for free membership. And if you have a child of your own, you may also get onsite child care as part of your employment.

The "in": You might find these jobs advertised in the paper or you could just ask at your local health club or gym.

The bottom line: Health club memberships can be expensive; by working as a part-time baby sitter for a gym, you could save over $1,000 a year. Plus, if you have an infant or youngster, you'll save additional money in child care costs.

The job: If you work at a movie theatre you’ll find yourself cleaning up aisles after patrons leave, handling tickets and money, or running the concession stand.

The perks: You get to view new releases for free plus some gratis food items, such as popcorn, nachos, and drinks or confectionary.

The "in": These part-time gigs are highly coveted by people who love to "stay up" on entertainers and movies. Therefore, your best bet is to walk right into the theatre and ask to see a manager for an application.
The bottom line: Movies are expensive. If you tend to go to at least one show each weekend, a job as a movie theatre attendant could be worth over $500 a year in tickets alone.

Career advice – these are valuable jobs that help you get to where you want to go. They teach you about life, not the theory but the hard core practicalities that build character. A must for everyone.

What are your thoughts on this? Why not post a reply in the forum for all to read.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

It’s not just a lack of educated engineers and finance professionals but both white and blue collar positions organisations continuously strive to employ. 

Here is the Top 10 you may want your career to follow – demand will always be greater than supply.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Employees who are more concerned with their material success, status and power are more likely to be dissatisfied with their lives and less committed to their organisation and career. When is enough, enough?

So the issue of company perks raises its head as companies are now offering perks to attract and retain talent, be competitive in the market, promote morale and provide promotional opportunities. So what are the best perks?

Here is Careernav’s Top 10 company perks for the under 30’s and some others you can think about suggesting to the big boss.

In a talent short world with companies actively competing for the same talent, company loyalty and staff retention quickly translate to additional profits. Minimise the opportunity cost of staff leaving by introducing meaningful perks may drive overall efficiency to new levels and put a smile on the face of your employee.

And if you are the employee, copy this blog and post it on the noticeboard, email it to your boss and make sure you copy the Chairman. Even a Rolls Royce doesn’t perform without the right drivers behind the wheel.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Let’s face it – education does not come cheap. The cost of text books seems to be always increasing and the higher your education the more they seem to charge you. Sad when you think these books are only used for one year, but the good news is that you are able to reduce the cost of such items.

So just how can you reduce the cost of your education related costs? Read on and see how easy it can be...

1. Buy second hand text books. Many schools, universities or colleges may hold a second hand book sale yearly. You could also have the chance of selling your unwanted text books in these sales. With many text books being around the $70 - $100 mark, it is a great way to save. Also check places on the internet such as ebay. Many students place their unwanted books here. There are also discount book sites such as www.universitybookshop.com.au or www.textbooksnstuff.com.au
2. Student ID. Using your student ID card at places such as the university book shop can give you discounts on the cost of text books required. It is not always text books you can get a discount on. During researching this information we came across www.isiccard.com.au which has many businesses that offer discounts to students with a student card. Check them out.
3. Apply for a scholarship. Scholarships do not always cover those who are obtaining the highest grades. They can also cover such things as books or students from low socio-economic backgrounds. There are of course many different scholarships available to apply for. Have a look at http://australia.gov.au/topics/education-and-training/scholarships. This site gives a huge amount of information in relation to scholarships in Australia.
4. Online Education. Online courses are great for those that are not able to attend university or for those wishing to further their studies. You will have to be highly motivated to do this though. It is not always easy to just sit at home in front of the computer and do a lesson. The upside is that you can work it around your other day to day commitments. Have a look at www.open.edu.au. They have courses available in Arts, Business, Education, Health, IT, Law and Science. Well worth a look.
5. Make sure you pass! Do the hard yards and study, study, study! If you find that you have not passed then it is highly likely you will be slugged for a second time with course fees. Definitely not what you need as it will see your costs rise and will of course take you much longer to repay. Check out www.goingtouni.gov.au/Main/Quickfind/PayingForYourStudiesHELPLoans/Default.htm for all the information you need.

We would all agree that reducing the cost of education is high on the agenda. After you take out your general living expenses, there is not much left. So the more you can save the better it will be.

We wish you all the luck in your course and hope that has given you some ideas on saving those hard earned dollars.

Why not post a reply in the forum and give us your money saving tips for all your peers to read...
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

We have all sent an email. In the business world it seems email is the way of fast communication. We can book appointments, inform colleagues of upcoming events or just about anything you can think of. As it is so easy to use, it can also be very easily abused.

You will need to be careful of making mistakes with this form of communication as if mistakes are made they cannot be undone and this could cost you your career, regardless of your position.

Here are the top 5 tips to avoid making such mistakes that will keep you looking like a true professional.

1. Check your inbox on a regular basis. When emails have not been checked for some time, you increase the chance of deleting the more important emails as you try to read all of them in a short space of time. You may be miss those that are of a high priority, and need an immediate answer. It could lead to a loss of business or even your position within the company.
2. Seperate your business and personal emails. This will remove the confusion of exactly who you are sending emails to and ensure you are not sending personal information to a business colleague or worse, your boss. Always check just who you are sending an email to before hitting the send button. The incorrect person receiving the wrong email is just a click away, and one that cannot be undone.
3. Keep it professional. Emails have removed the face to face contact or even phone contact that used to be the norm. The content you put in your email can easily be taken as an insult, regardless of your intention. Be sure to be polite and professional, choosing your words carefully, just as you would if you were face to face or on the phone with them.
4. Take your time. There is nothing worse than hitting that send button and remembering you forgot to attach an all important document. It means you have to resend it and this will look unprofessional for not just you but for the company you work for. Not to mention annoying for the recipient of your email. They have to open it twice!
5. Keep it confidential. Never include personal information on your emails. Many companies can and do look at the content of your emails that have been sent. A great rule of thumb is to keep your personal life just that and never bring it into the office.

The bottom line is that while email is a great way of communicating in business, we must keep in mind the damage it can do if used incorrectly. Just remember that these mistakes can always be avoided when you take the time to double check exactly what you are sending other people, whether in a professional capacity or personally.

Have you made any bad email choices?

Why not post us a reply below and let us know.

Good luck and remember to be professional at all times.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Below is a brief description of just a handful of maths related careers that you might just find to be right up your alley.

• Accounting - As an accountant, you use your training and expertise to prepare financial documents and business accounts. You are responsible for compliance with relevant taxation and corporate law, as well as providing and analysing financial information which will enable clients to identify financial irregularities, review past performance and to plan for the future. The financial information you will deal with includes profit statements, balance sheets, cashflow statements and sensitivity analysis.
• Auditor - Your role as an auditor is to provide an external, independent assessment of an organisation’s finances and accounting systems. You must ensure internal procedures are being used; internal controls are in place, identify irregularities and alert management to areas that are working and those that need attention.
• Actuary - The job of an actuary involves analysing data, whether it be mathematical, statistical, demographic, financial or economic, so as to predict and calculate long-term risks regarding financial decisions and planning. Major economic and management decisions in both the public and private sector reply on the insights and interpretation of complex analysis.  In addition to analysis, actuaries must communicate complex concepts to a wide range of audiences with differing levels of technical understanding.
• Financial Analyst - A financial analyst, often referred to as a securities analyst, equity analyst, or investment analyst is a person who analyses financial information. Researching macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions, along with company fundamentals, are part of the job. You also communicate business, sector and industry recommendations, write reports on companies, and give your opinion of the company's investment potential with a rating, such as "buy," "sell," or "hold” to brokers, traders or clients.
• Mathematician - Using mathematics to solve problems, make predictions in economics such as the cost of natural disasters associated with insurance risk, in science for predictions related to the weather, oceans and soil erosion, and in business to determine financial market growth and financial risk and to analyse market research or clinical trials results. Mathematics underpins technology: such as the computer modelling and computer programs used in industrial design.

While this is only five examples of a maths related career, there are numerous others out there. We suggest having a look at the careernav website for full details on these and other careers. The profiles will show examples of what you do each day, the education requirements of the career, possible remuneration amounts, plus much more.

We wish you all the luck in your search for a maths related career.

Why not give us your feedback on this career choice in the forum.
 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So keep dreaming of what exactly you are looking for in a career, research the requirements of the job (eg: qualifications needed, experience etc) and apply for positions.

Below is a list of some careers that are available in areas of interest to you;

We also suggest you have a look at www.careernav.com.au and go to the students tab. In there you will find the 7 step career plan. An amazing tool to help you take out the confusion of careers. Whatever career you choose, keep in mind that it is your choice to where you work.

Be happy with your choice and don’t let anything get in the way of your dreams. Dream as big as you can and chase the dream.

We wish you all the luck in your pursuit of the perfect career for YOU.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Many people misunderstand the importance of professional development and how it is an excellent tool in advancing your career. I can hear you asking the question why it is so important? Well one reason is that the fact that you are learning a new skill or technique that gives you the ability to place yourself in a position of greater responsibility or leadership within the workplace.

Probably the easiest way to gain some professional development is to read books. There are many different books available, whether it be for a specific area or just ways to improve yourself. Book shops have shelves full of them! And best of all, many of them are fairly easy to read.

Another option is to attend a short course or even go back to university to further your degree. The down side to this option will be the time it takes to gain further knowledge. But you will have a certificate at the end to show off!

Your employers will look on this favourably as it shows you have the drive to succeed, regardless of the time it takes you. Many courses will be run outside of business hours, so be prepared to give up a little of your time.

From meeting the right people in your industry, to attending a course, or simply reading a book here and there, professional development does really help you in your career pursuits. Just remember it is going to take time and energy to gain the success you are searching for, and to put into action what you have learnt.

Have any other thoughts on professional development? Why not post your comments below. We look forward to hearing them all.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Perhaps the occupation that best fits this statement is a Quantity Surveyor. The confusion stems from this career has absolutely nothing to do with surveying. They do not traipse through paddocks and look through theodolites nor work in isolation like surveyors do. Rather quantity surveyors are responsible for ensuring building developers get value for money through the monitoring of project costs from start to finish.

You prepare cost estimates and cost plans, audit projects and manage construction costs, and administer construction contracts. It’s a project management role across residential homes, industrial sites and commercial infrastructure development. They deal in large budgets and have the capability of saving millions on a project. Consequently they are well paid and possess a skill that is highly mobile on a global basis.

So if you’re relationship and interpersonal skills are exceptional , you have the need to be intellectually challenged and manage projects then a quantity surveyor may well be for you. It’s a bit like engineering requiring exceptional analytical thinking, but don’t let the word surveyor confuse you.  Expect to wear a hard hat rather than gumboots!

If you wish to read more about the career of a quantity survey then please go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/quantity-surveyor.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Once all the bread is cooked you will unload the ovens and put the breads aside to cool. If pastries and cakes are cooked you will have to glaze and ice them where necessary. When you have the required experience you may order the supplies needed from suppliers and wholesalers. At times you may be required to serve customers.

Being a baker you will get the opportunity to meet a variety of different people on a daily basis. If you are working in a small bakery you will have a steady flow of customers, some of whom will become regular clients that you see on a daily basis.

Unfortunately bakers begin their work day at a very early hour, usually around 3.00 am. You will probably have to work weekends and public holidays, as these are some of the times that would be the busiest for the bakery. Your social life may have to come second to your career at times due to your early start times.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Below are a few points on what this group is really like and it may just help you to understand them better.
They are indeed a spirited group with such characterisitics such as;

So try and understand them, accommodate them and make their days and time interesting. You will then see that this generation, although different, can work and achieve great things on any level. Work against them and it is to your own detriment.

Do you have any thoughts about Gen Y’s and how to deal with them? Why not post a reply below and let us know.
Good luck!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Career progression in the Bureau of Meteorology is shown in the table below. Those who reach the most senior levels of management or very senior research positions can achieve considerably greater pay rates than listed.

	Position	Remuneration	Experience	Education
Start Position	Graduate APS - Trainee (Meteorologist)	$44,500	Nil	Bachelor of Science
1st Promotion	Professional Officer Grade 1 (PO1)	$49,200 - $62,900	10 Months	Bachelor of Science + Graduate Diploma Meteorology
2nd Promotion	Professional Officer Grade 2 (PO2)	$64,000 - $72,200	3 - 4 Years	Bachelor of Science + Graduate Diploma Meteorology
3rd Promotion	Executive Level 1 (Senior Meteorologist)	$80,600 - $87,000	8 Years	Bachelor of Science + Graduate Diploma Meteorology
4th Promotion	Executive Level 2 (Supervising Meteorologist)	$93,000 - $105,000	15 Years	Bachelor of Science + Graduate Diploma Meteorology
5th Promotion	Executive Level 2 (Manager of Section)	$109,900 - $115,000	20 + Years	Bachelor of Science + Graduate Diploma Meteorology

Meteorologists working shift work, which can occur up to the level of Senior Meteorologist, receive “penalty pay” bonuses, based on the time of day and week that you work. These bonuses typically add about 30% to your take home pay.

If you are interested in meteorology, you can enter the field as a forecasting meteorologist, and find a career in one of the forecasting offices around the country. Or you can continue your studies to a Masters or a PhD level, and become a research meteorologist. It is possible to change from forecasting to research, but to reach the more senior levels will require a doctorate and a high level of research output over very many years. 

You may become a climatologist, studying the climate and its variability. You make forecasts of seasonal conditions and assessments of climate variability and climate change, both within Australia and internationally.

If you would like to read a more detailed view of this career description please go to www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/meteorologist

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

As a marine biologist your research possibilities are endless, and the range of this occupation may very well hold your interest for the span of your career. However, you do have the option to specialise in various fields. You may like to move into the areas of fish reproduction, aquaculture or toxicology.

Toxicology is the scientific study of poisons, and you may be employed to monitor the effects of drilling on marine life due to offshore petroleum drilling. You also have the opportunity to become a freshwater biologist, where you would do similar work, but studying the plant and animal life in rivers, lakes and ponds.

The employment opportunities for marine biologists are usually dependent on federal and state government funding allocations. This is an occupation with very few employment vacancies, so the competition for positions is very tough. You may wish to use your studies in marine biology to move into aquaculture, which is expected to have strong employment opportunities in the future.

If you would like to read a more detailed view of this career description please go to

www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/marine-biologist

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You work closely with equipment engineers and ship or boat builders to ensure that the craft functions efficiently and that its overall system is sound. You could be designing a variety of craft including naval craft, passenger and cargo ships, submarines, tugs, boats, yachts, high-speed ferries and catamarans.

A standard working day as a naval architect will depend on your specialisation. You may prepare initial designs after gaining an understanding of the craft’s objectives by communicating with your client. The design process involves considering the craft’s function, appearance and safety. You will use complex mathematical equations and physical models to guarantee a sufficient technical design that meets safety rules and standards. You must estimate the construction costs of the vessel, as well as the lifetime running costs.

The best aspect of being a naval architect is the ability to incorporate your technical and engineering knowledge with your imagination. You can use your intelligence to design functional, safe and visually appropriate vessels, and watch your ideas take form as your designs are developed through the stages. Despite the pressure of meeting a deadline, nothing beats the pride and satisfaction of seeing your work built or constructed just as you imagined it.

There are big dollars and big budgets in this occupation and with this comes the stress and pressure to create functional, aesthetically pleasing and precise designs, accounting for every minute detail of a vessel including safety rules and regulations. A design flaw can waste a large amount of money on reconstruction.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/naval-architect

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

When starting a set design, following detailed discussions with the director, you would firstly draw up sketches, plans working drawings and make scale models. Once you & the director are in agreement, the set design and properties are costed, generally under the supervision of a Production Manager and, following approval, will move onto the construction phase.

The best designers will have many skills at their disposal including freehand drawing, drafting, and model making, together with strong managerial abilities. Your ability to combine both your practical and artistic skills is extremely important. A designer is a team leader, helping others to realise the design, each time under a unique set of circumstances.

You have the opportunity to realise all those wonderful images in your mind. You will get to meet many different people in very different surroundings and work collaboratively with the performers on the productions you are working on. Every production is different, so variety really is the spice in a designer’s life.

Post a reply for your peers to read or for a more detailed view go to
www.careernav.com.au/career-finder/profiles/set-designer

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

So what tips can we give you in getting your first job? Read on and hopefully these tips will help to ease the nerves!
Firstly have a look in your local papers or on the internet for part time positions available for teens. You may wish to look at places such as McDonalds, KFC, or Hungry Jacks as these types of workplaces are always looking for young people willing to work, have a high staff turnover and give you the options of working hours across 7 days per week. Keep in mind that some of these places will only accept applications over the internet, on their sites, so check them out.

Next you need to write a simple resume. Careernav have a blog on how to write a resume. Go to www.careernav.com.au/real-life/tips-and-tricks/career-advice-tips-on-writing-a-resume, and give it a go yourself. If you happen to need help ask your parents to assist you. Having a resume shows prospective employers you are putting an effort into getting a job and it will tell the employer all the things they need to know about you. 

When you are asked to attend an interview there are some very important things to remember and do to give the correct impression. Wearing those torn jeans, t-shirt, skate shoes and having the mohawk hairdo may not give the impression that you are serious in your search for work. Dress to impress. Wear something that is casual, neat, tidy and keep the hairstyling to a minimum.

When attending the interview make sure that you sit up straight and answer any questions asked clearly. Look at the person interviewing you, not the floor, maintain eye contact and try not to begin your answer with the word ‘um’. Think before you get there about what you may be asked and what you will answer to that. You may want to ask a parent to ask you some questions before you get there to practice your answers.

For example the interviewer may ask “Why are you looking for a job?” to which you could answer “I would like to have some independence of my own. I would also like to be able to save enough money to buy my first car”. You may even be asked “What are your future goals once you leave school?” If you already have an idea of what you wish to do career wise once you leave school, great, tell them. This shows that you are willing to put in the hard work to get you there. Never answer with “I don’t have a clue”.

Probably the most important thing to remember will be to prepare for a “no” answer. It would be great if you land your first job on the first interview, but in the real world this rarely happens. Don’t let this get to you and keep searching. Before you know it, you will land a job.

Remember to keep in mind that you will, at times be required to work weekends or nights. Make sure you know exactly how many hours you can work around your studies and extra curricular activities. Let the employer know well in advance if you are unable to attend work and have a valid reason such as you are unwell. If you work on a roster system let the employer know of future dates you are unable to work for such reasons as you are going on holiday. Do not call work and say you cannot work because you have a party to go to. This is NOT a reason not to work. The social life can wait a couple of hours and be planned for when you do not have a shift.

We wish you all the luck in your search for your first job and remember ‘have confidence in yourself’ to get what you want.

We love feedback. Please leave us your comment about this blog so others can read it too.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

Fortunately there are some sure fire ways for you to make the work load just a little easier.

Below are some tips to help you make homework easier;

• Ask for help – Admit it, no matter how hard you concentrate, some classes will be harder to follow and remember the information being taught than others. You go home in the hope that while you sleep all that information will somehow make sense in the morning. WRONG. Ask for help as much as you can. No one is expected to understand everything, and everyone has a different learning style. Teachers are there to help you and there is nothing embarrassing about asking for help. If there is not enough time in class to discuss the problem then organise for a time out of class to do so.
  If you find you are really struggling with the class then a tutor may be the answer. Tutors work with you one on one, helping review and further explain things taught in the classroom.
• Create a homework plan – This is probably the most important part of all. Make sure you understand the work set or the assignment and ensure you know exactly when the work is due. Write the due date down in your school diary. If you have any extra time in class or you have a free period that will allow you to do some extra work, then take full advantage of it. This will decrease the amount of time you need to spend doing it at home. 
  As many students will have anywhere from 1 – 3 hours of homework to do each night it is a good idea to schedule your time correctly – especially for those who are involved with sport or have a part time job.
  Draw up a plan and stick to it.
• Where do I work? – The area you work in needs to be free from any noise or distractions if possible. Laying on your bed with the music going as loud as possible in the background just won’t work anymore. You need space to be able to spread your books out that is well lit.
• Put your work into order – Begin with the hardest work first. We all love to start off with the easier work first, but you will find that your energy and focus is stronger in the beginning, so use all this mental power on the challenging aspects of some subjects.
  If you happen to get stuck on a particular question or area try and figure it out. Just don’t spend too much time on any one single question as you may well find that nothing else gets done for the rest of the night.
• Remember to take a break – Depending on how long you intend on doing your homework it is a good idea to take a break here and there. You will become less productive if you sit for too long without relaxing or stretching. Try and have a 10 – 15 minute break around every hour, or when you are able to stop (especially if you are in the middle of a complex question. Finish this first then have a break).
  Remember – ALWAYS check your work and don’t rush it just to finish it. You don’t want to hand in your homework with mistakes in it.

The earlier in your schooling you learn how to set up a homework plan the better. It will become second nature and by the time you are in higher years at school you will have the edge on everyone who does not know how to set their time correctly.

Got any further tips for doing homework? Why not post a reply for your peers to reply to below.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

We have put together a range of tips to try and help you through these times with less stress.

Hopefully these tips have helped you for that next test or exam. Do you have any other tips that you use? Why not post us a reply below.

We have another blog for you to read that may also help you. Go to www.careernav.com.au/real-life/tips-and-tricks/career-advice-the-lowdown-on-homework

Good luck!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

You may have read our previous two blogs – The Lowdown on Homework and Tips for Taking a test or Exam. In this third blog we will cover some tips for you on how to take notes correctly.

Learn how to take notes properly and it can help you in all areas of your schooling, from high school all the way through to higher education and courses you may do for your career.

Below are some tips for you on how to take notes.

1. Organisation is the key – Buy yourself an exercise book or have a folder divided into your subject categories. This way all your notes are in one place and easy to find. The more you write notes the more you will remember. Think of all the time saved when you go to review your notes at exam time or when you have a test.
2. Only use key facts – For those classes where your teacher or lecturer writes notes, then you are lucky. Copy them. If not then go with the most important points of information from each class. Ensure you have those important dates, formulas, and facts from each class written down.
3. Understand what you have written – Some of you will want to copy the work you have done each day into your book, just make sure you can read it! Write as neatly as possible so you know what has been written, just in case you don’t look at these notes for a week or two.
4. Easy does it – There is no need to write absolutely everything your teacher says. For one, you won’t be able to! Listen first then write the important information as you hear it.
5. Ask for help – Never be afraid to ask for help if you do not understand something in class. Sometimes your teacher can go a little fast, and chances are that you are not the only one struggling to understand the information. If you are not comfortable asking in class then wait until the class has finished or speak to your teacher after the class has finished. You can even organise to speak with your teacher over your lunch break. Many teachers are more than happy to help out as long as they can see you are willing to do the work.
6. Study with friends – If you find it hard to go over your notes on your own, why not team up with a friend who has the same classes as you and compare the notes you both have. You may be surprised to notice that both your notes are very different from each other. You may even pick up extra information that you missed out on.
7. Find fun ways to take notes – With so many ways to take notes, why not find a way that is fun! If you have to read a book for English, why not use sticky notes on all the pages that have relevant information you need to remember. On the sticky notes you have a small amount of information to jog your memory. The real information may be highlighted in bright yellow in the book itself.

Finding a way that suits you on how to take notes is best. We can all give advice on ‘how to’, but in the end these are your notes and we are all so different that our style of note taking will be different for everyone. The truth is, the more you take notes the more you learn and the more you will develop your own strategies for note taking.

What do you do to take notes? We would love to hear any ideas you have. Why not post a reply below.

Good luck.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

1. Singing lessons - Taking lessons one-on-one with a singing instructor can help you to gain confidence with your own voice. Not only are you working on things like projection and enunciation, but you’re adjusting to performing in front of someone. An end of year concert can really help to heighten your tolerance of public performances.
2. Theatre Group -  If you join a small community theatre group, which only does small-scale performances, then this is a good place to start. You’re working on remembering lines, voice projection, and performing to an audience. It can also help to assume the role of someone else, so you can hide your nerves behind the mask of your character. If you then assume a character for your public speaking, this can help you be confident in front of an audience.
3. Practice your speech in front of family and friends - If you get truly nervous, then before your oral presentation or speech, organise an hour where you get your family and a few friends together to listen to you. In this instance, you know they are all going to be very supportive, and it gives you a good trial run. You might even realise that your speech is pretty damn good, and gain confidence from that.
4. Don’t look directly at your audience - As a public speaker, meeting someone’s eye from the audience is often your undoing. You could be going reasonably well, but then you realise anew that everyone is watching you. Their stares can often feel expectant and critical, even if they’re listening happily. Instead, make sure you look just above everyone’s heads, so it looks like you’re acknowledging your audience, but you don’t meet any gazes to put you off.
5. Concentrate on what you’re saying - This can make it easier to block out the audience. If you’ve rehearsed, then you’ll know your speech pretty well. In order to give yourself a focus other than the people watching you, concentrate on your words. Don’t recite your speech — explain it. Allow yourself to become emotionally involved, so that instead of just saying the words on your paper while freaking out about the audience, you’re too distracted by what you’re saying to care about the audience.

Good luck with those oral presentations, drama and theatre solos, and practical language exams. You can do it. Just practice over and over again until it is second nature…then ignore the examiners as best you can!

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

There are many and varied written on this particular topic, mostly theoretical and with multiple classifications. So to keep it simple, in my view there are 5 types of thinkers. These are Creative Thinkers, Analytical Thinkers, Intuitive Thinkers, Visionary Thinkers and Logical Thinkers. You can break it down into further sub classifications as most of us fit into the above 5 types.

Let’s look at the characteristics of each of the 5 types of thinkers and you can decide which one best describes yourself.

In a group situation if you want to see conflict arise, then group all like minded thinkers together. Within the group dynamic the romance of creative thinking is tempered by the logical and analytical thinking.  Because it feels right will cut no ice with analytical thinkers and becoming bogged down with mundane details will quickly disengage any visionary thinker.

Understanding how you think is an important step in your career selection. Too often society pigeon holes stereo types into one of these five groups of thinkers. Sure engineers tend to display more analytical thinking and project managers or quantity surveyors are often classified as logical thinkers, but I know plenty of visionary, creative and intuitive thinkers in these fields of endeavour. Equally people involved in the arts, literature, advertising and design can be stereotyped as creative thinkers, but again it is not a prerequisite to be a creative thinker in these industries.

Your career should be based upon a variety of criteria and to this end, check out the 7 Step Career Plan in the Careernav website.

All the careernav occupation profiles commence with the view as to which type of thinker the career is ideally suited to. Check and compare the various occupations and see whether you agree with our assessment. 

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

We all learn in different ways, but for many one of these learning styles will stand out from the others. Research has show that students may perform better if study habits are changed to fit personal learning styles.

Read the 5 different types of learning styles and see which one applies to you.

These study tips may just help you – categorize your information, sit in the front of the class avoiding distractions, take things in a step by step manner, and ask for clear guidelines on the work set.

Try using these study tips to help you – Copy exactly what the teacher writes on the board, take notes all the time, and highlight any important relevant information in your books with coloured highlighters.

You may benefit from – joining in group discussions, using words to remember facts, watch videos of the topic you are studying, or tape your notes after you write them.

• Kinesthetic or Tactile – You learn through experience whilst doing things. You are a natural at sports and enjoy role playing activities. While studying you will have loud music playing and take many breaks as you are not able to still for long periods.

These study tips may just help you – Try to study in short blocks, get a group together to study with, use flash cards or memory games to remember vital information.

It doesn’t matter what type of learning style you have, but it does matter how you study. Learn from these examples and see if they help you, maybe even increase the marks you get on that next assignment.

The way you learn of course plays no part in the career you are choosing to follow. Check out the 7 Step Career Plan in the Careernav website to see what type of career may just suit you.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.

I have learnt 2 things about people and job searching;

1. People have too narrow view of the careers they can be involved in. They don’t spend enough time researching.

2. When people find something they might be interested in, people generally don’t explore it enough.

3. Having a degree only grants you entry to the job-hunt game. It doesn’t give you a job.

Here’s what you need;

-          Self-Confidence is immensely important. This is knowing exactly who you are and being ok with that, regardless of the circumstances you came from. Spend time really discovering what you are about – people’s perception and the way they respond to you changes to those that are self-confident. People do not spend enough time really discovering who they actually are and accepting that. One of the worst things people do is try and guess what the interviewer is looking for and play to that. This will never work.

-          Passion and enthusiasm. The second thing is passion and enthusiasm for the career you are looking to build. If you know exactly what type of job you want to do, because you have researched it, talked with people, had some experience, you will be able to talk and interview effortlessly. It just comes as second nature.  Are you applying for a job or looking to get into a career simply because someone else wanted you to or thought it would guarantee a successful life? A lack of passion will kill any job hope I can’t stress this enough.

-          Self-Presentation – This is a whole lot of small things that add up to a big deal. Dressing appropriately is a given. Ensuring your shirt is ironed is important, if you have to wear a tie it is done up correctly, you must have clean shoes, your hair is kept tidy, that you know how to shake hands firmly, that you smell nice that there is no BO – all these sound really simple, but you would be surprised what I have seen.

-          Practice - Practice makes perfect, you have to know your resume inside out maintain eye contact when you talk, talk confidently without mumbling. There comes a confidence when you know your resume and have practiced it.

-          Know Yourself – your strengths your weaknesses how to overcome them, what type of environment or management you respond best to. Again its all about the delivery and perception. Going for an accountancy role but not that fond of detail?....you might want to keep searching.

You Have 2 Minutes

The Most important part of landing a job is creating relationship and impression. You have 2 minutes. The interviewer will have made up his mind within the first 2 minutes. This question usually involves – tell me about yourself. You must use this time to show why they need to hire you. Your environment and hobbies matter a lot here – since it can create something they can relate to.

BRANCH OUT If all you do is study and play games, you are going to have a harder time communicating and relating to your interviewer especially when there are multiple rounds and a few people are in more than 1 interview. Your environment is important because it defines you, how you think, and what you talk about. Broadening your relationships and getting involved in Australian culture will help a lot. Exploring different relationships will broaden you as a person. A person needs hobbies they can talk about enthusiastically to create connections.

At the end of the day doing all the above will never guarantee you a job – but will put the odds in your favour. Persistence is key. You must be able to take rejection and keep going, put out effort after effort of doing all the things above and keep going – eventually as always you will find something. This is the only thing I know 100% It’s a marathon – not a sprint.

Careernav is for students & parents. We provide practical careers advice & a life skills pathway for your personal growth and career choice. Career development courses with student work experience programs are also offered.