Updated LU Career Zone: online springboard to the job market
Do you want to make sure you're well prepared for the job market, or maybe help your students on their way to a job? Leiden University Career Zone, the University website about the job market, has been updated and it now has more tests, better tools and its own job portal.
The old website also offered a lot of tests and information, but it was not suitable for use with tablets and mobiles, Dennis Fiorenza, career adviser at Career Services explains. Leiden University Career Zone is part of a broad programme in which students, both within their programme and outside, can get better prepared for the job market. This is something students really do need, as the 2017 National student survey has shown.
Know yourself
The site pays a lot of attention to the orientation phase and there are relevant tests and advice for each phase - know yourself, explore the job market, develop skills and find a job vacancy. ‘It's important that students become more aware of their own interests and strengths so that they can be more focused in their job hunting.' There are tests that help you identify your competences or the kind of role you take on in a group, and the career aptitude test points you in the direction of the kind of work that will suit you.
Useful for first-years
The new career site also gives advice to first-years. 'It's a waste of a lot of time if students only start to orient themselves to the job market in their past year. That's when they realise that they should have been working on their CV much earlier. Employers also expect graduates to have particular skills, like presentation techniques and international experience.'
What kinds of careers do our alumni have?
There are some do's and don'ts for job interviews, examples of good CVs and tips for assessments. For each programme the site indicates what kinds of jobs Leiden alumni have and what companies they work for. The information is very realistic because it is based on surveys and LinkedIn profiles of our alumni. The site also links to the Leiden University Mentor Network that contains almost a thousand alumni who are offering to act as mentor for students and recent graduates.
Dedicated job portal
LU Career Zone now also has a dedicated job portal where employers can post vacancies and job-seekers can filter the jobs on offer according to study programme and type of work. The website also points students to all kinds of workshops offered by the University, ranging from how to apply for a job to building a network.
One-stop-shop for teachers and study advisers
Fiorenza advises not only students and recent graduates to check out the website regularly, but also teachers, internship coordinators and study advisers. ‘LU Career Zone is the one-stop-shop with information about the job arket. The site is continuously being added to because the job market is always changing.'