Beef up your CV!

Rumour has it... no jobs, universities have been oversubscribed by 30,000 places and life could look quite gloomy…

So how can we help? We've been talking and exploring, what do university and graduate employers look for… what do they respect, who will they give the time of day?

The bottom Line - this is what they look for...

• Soft skills Over-riding everything else this is their common theme... to even get a second glance you need to demonstrate commitment, initiative, teamwork, good organisation and the ability to communicate effectively.  Soft skills developed through a challenging experience such as volunteering abroad will make you more mature, more enthusiastic about life, effective contributors and real committers.

“…….. an experience that enables a young adult to immerse themselves in a different culture, to deal with challenges and return more confident and mature can only be beneficial.” Celia Brayfield - University Lecturer Brunel University

 “…….. it is essential that young adults entering the workplace understand the importance of ‘soft skills’, firstly in obtaining employment and subsequently succeeding in their chosen careers.” Charles Money-Kyrle, Managing Director

So how can we, at The Leap, help sharpen up these skills?

• Initiative & Organisation
  To start with you’ve researched, raised money and committed to volunteering abroad and secondly you're entering the developing world where even the small task of catching a tuk tuk is a day's work, let alone teaching an unruly class of African children.

• Team work
  Now this is what The Leap is renowned for – we do teamwork in a big way. Firstly we send teams of volunteers all over the world, many of whom have never met each other before and are from all walks of life. Our Leapers have to live and work with each other often in challenging and uncomfortable surroundings and one of the most important jobs for the team is to learn to work efficiently and look out for each other.

• Courage
  More often than not you’ll pitch up at Heathrow to meet your fellow team who you’ve only met once at our training course (and on facebook)….big deep breath moment! And some of our leapers have never ventured out to a developing country before - overcoming culture shock is not to be underestimated.

• Commitment
  Our Leapers commit to 6 or 10 weeks where they will be tackling different projects in contrasting environment. Some phases can be more physically and emotionally challenging than others but it’s sticking it out that counts and having the resolve to push through the pain barrier.

• Communication
  We take you off the tourist trail to meet tribes and experience cultures any normal tourist would never have the opportunity to meet. Many of the children have never seen a Western face before, let alone a camera or even a pair of trainers!

So if you are experiencing imposed free time - we can strongly recommend taking The Leap to make your time count.

Accreditation and References - Leap Certificate
We would be delighted to write a reference to this effect on your return, so that you have something formally outlining the skills and contribution you have made that you can present to a future employer. Please let us know if we can help.

At the end of your placement we will provide you with your own personal Leap Certificate, outligning the skills you have developed. Something you can present with pride, along with your CV, at job interviews.

So our message to you is GET LEAPING AND MAKE YOUR FREE TIME COUNT!

Milly