Student

Careers fairs, at university or otherwise, are an important resource for job seekers. They offer an excellent opportunity to introduce yourself to potential employers and market yourself in your chosen industry. Even if you don’t get graduate jobs offers as a direct result of the fair, they can be valuable in expanding your network, learning about the industry, gathering company information, honing interview skills, building up your confidence meeting potential employers…the list goes on.

To make the most of careers fairs and the connections you make you need to ensure your first impression makes a memorable impact.  It is important to remember that anyone you meet at the fair could be prospective employer, so you want to stand out in a positive way.

‘Experience' is an essential yet sometimes equally elusive part of the working world. Many graduates are repeatedly saddened and frustrated to find out that they can have the best academic record but without relevant experience in the field that they're interested in, they are often turned away from job after job. When most companies are asking for experience but no company will give you any then it can be an endless dark loophole. But it's not all doom and gloom. If no one will give you it then you have to go out and get it! Here are three simple ways that you can get that all-important experience for the job you want and nail the next interview.

Becoming a student landlord can be both a positive and a profitable venture, but only if you do it properly. When you're planning on renting to students, it pays to be prepared. If you're a landlord new to student lets, and you want to ensure that your newest endeavour is a success, here is some essential advice to help you on your journey, from tips on purchasing a suitable property to advice for finding your first tenants.

Do Your Research First

It's important to contemplate the complexity and hard work involved in managing a property business. Like any commercial endeavour, the general rules of running and marketing an enterprise apply. You will be required to invest time and capital in coming to understand your customers and then providing them with the products and services they desire at a viable price. Managing a profitable student letting business is a yellow brick road to riches: uncertain; fraught with dangers; and a lot harder to travel than it might first look. After hours, you'll need to familiarise yourself over and over with the ever mutable laws on tenancies and letting, and complete your accounts and tax returns. 

It's that time of year when open days are starting to crop up, and if you're interested in postgraduate study, such as an MBA course, it's a good idea to get a couple of them in your diary. Manchester Business School's postgraduate open day, for example, takes place on the 27th November and provides visitors with an opening to speak to staff and current students, giving them more information about the postgraduate courses on offer. It also means that prospective students can get a feel for the area that they'd be living and studying in.

So, if you plan to attend, what should you expect on the day? And, is there anything you can do to prepare? Take a look at this short guide to postgraduate open days...

What you can expect

Register - During your registration or welcome session, you should be given a schedule, so that you can be aware of where you need to be and at what time. It's helpful to plan out your day when you get this schedule. There will be a number of different talks and presentations, so make a note of the ones you're interested in and find out where they will be held.

Moving to Britain can mean that you'll be dealing with a lot of new things, and one of the most commonly encountered one is an entirely different currency. Wherever you're from in the world, the British pound will be new to you, and there are some useful things to know when using it.

Exchange Rates

The first and most immediately apparent difference you're likely to notice is that £1 is more valuable than just about any other single unit of currency in the world. This has the effect of making prices for things like groceries appear to be quite low in comparison, simply because the number will be lower, even if the value is actually the same.

In order to make sure that you know how much things actually cost, it's very important that you become familiar with the exchange rate between the pound and whichever currency you're most used to using. When you know this, you'll be able to shop smartly, and will be able to know when something is good value or not. It's a good idea to look at the actual exchange rate to get the best idea, not the prices that the bureau de change is offering.