Believe it of not it will soon be Autumn and summer will be a fond memory.
Which of the following have you done (or are doing) this summer?
- Had a holiday
- Done a summer job or internship.
- Volunteered
- Had a working holiday / travelled.
- Had a part time job
- Worked in a family business.
- Learned a language or other skill
- Had a stay-cation, couchsurfing and catching up on some sleep.
All of those are good in fact it helps to have a bit of a mix of activities.
The problem is you’ll forget really quickly what you did, and the next time you look at your CV you’ll be scratching your head.
If you have a diary / notepad on your phone or a retro paper version!!
Make a note of when important things happened.
- Start & end dates
- Times when something you did make a positive impact on a situation. It could have been training new staff, writing a report, communicating a new idea – think about the skills here have you used any?
- Did you overcome a difficulty or challenge?
- Take a quick note of the situation, your actions & the outcome.
- What have you learned about yourself? What motivates you and makes you interested and excited. Be aware of this to help you evaluate opportunities in future do they fit the pattern of what you enjoy?
- If you are a visual person take a photo to remind you.
When you have time add them to your master CV – the one you never hand out but were all the details live!
- You’ll need to tidy it up and be selective when it comes to really using it for a job but at least there is something to jog your memory.
- Don’t be too picky, many students disregard activities as unimportant because “it wasn’t paid” or “it was only a few weeks” “it was only a casual job”
- Get the highlights or even the struggles and lowlights down and you can think about the selling point later. Sometimes learning from a difficult situation can be the best outcome.
It’s one of those activities in hindsight you’ll wish you had done, but also probably never will!
University of Manchester Careers Blog 
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