Pranchal Narang interviews UCD Careers Network consultant Mark Cumisky to discuss tips, tricks and best practices for a successful career post-UCD
Coming to University for the first time can feel like stepping into a whole new world of possibilities. These choices and opportunities can lead to confusion at times. You might find yourself asking the big questions: What happens after college? What makes a good CV? How to ace an interview? This is where the UCD Careers Network comes in. Whether you have no plan, only a rough idea, or know exactly where you are going, the Careers Network can help you enhance your employability skills.
The University Observer sat down with Mark Cumisky, a Career and Skills Consultant at UCD Careers Network. Mark works closely with students from the college of Health and Agricultural Sciences, as well as UCD Global to support non-EEA students. He is part of a team that helps students build skills, find internships, explore career options, and take their first steps towards a career that aligns with their goals.
The Careers Network offers students both online and in-person support. Students can access Mycareer—UCD’s career management platform on www.ucd.ie/careers. Mark calls it “a really powerful tool” that “allows you to explore career sectors and explore your own strengths and weaknesses.” It helps students streamline their interests and focus on job options that are most suitable for them.
To make the most of the career consulting on campus, Mark encourages students to: “plug into the career service, come talk to a careers advisor, check out some of the stuff we have, some of it will be embedded in students' programs, you'll see careers advisors coming in to do modules, coming in to do sessions with first-year students as part of skills development programs and that's all great but you know think about it, engage with it but you know really engage with your time here at UCD, whether that's writing for the newspaper or whether that's getting involved in the volleyball club, doesn't really matter, get involved in something that you know sparks joy.”
At UCD, first years have access to workshops delivered by Careers Network as part of their coursework. This is to introduce first year students to LinkedIn best practices, resume building, networking, and interviewing. The Careers Network provides a series of short videos on these topics as well as one-on-one CV review appointments. You can book yourself in for this under the ‘Advice’ tab on the myCareer page.
Mark believes “the key to a good CV is that it lands with the person that's reading it. So the CV in many ways is not about the applicant, the CV is about how the applicant can add value to the person who's receiving it.” His advice is to “Always start with yourself. What have I done? Where have I come from? What are my strengths? What am I good with?” He recommends getting feedback from people you've worked with and also looking into the organisation’s core values to understand what they are looking for.
Mark also offers insight into why so many of us fail to get an interview, he encourages us to “[Think] from the other person's point of view.
Mistakes I see are where somebody creates one CV and then sends that CV out to a thousand different organisations, and [is] confused that nobody wants to talk to them. Nobody wants to talk to them because they've essentially sent out spam, and I don't respond to spam. I suspect you don't respond to spam
It is important for students to think ahead. Mark recommends attending the upcoming Careers Fair. He highlights how most company representatives at the fair are recent UCD graduates, eager to share their experiences and advice on how to make the most of their time at UCD.
“In about a month's time we'll have some careers fairs, might seem odd to suggest to first years to go to careers fairs but increasingly employers have opportunities for students earlier in their programme, a lot of students will be going out on internships so it's a great way to sort of meet and greet and get a sense for what's life after university,” he explains
Mark also recommends getting involved in campus activities. When asked what advice he would give to new UCD students, he shared:
“What I would say is to engage, to get involved, to do things, whether that's becoming a peer mentor next year or becoming a campus ambassador for us, whether that's getting involved in any of the clubs and societies, it's one of the things employers will look for afterwards because very often when people go to school they get regimented.
“They look for the people who did things and it doesn't have to be here at university, it could be for example with your GAA club at home, it could be with a local voluntary group or a church organisation or something like that but it's being involved, it's doing a little bit more.”
The UCD Advantage Award offered by the Careers Network, is another spectacular way to highlight your achievements and skills. The award is given in recognition of a student’s contribution to four pillars that are reflective of UCD’s values: personal and professional development, UCD and the wider community, cultural engagement and health & well-being. More information about the award can be requested by sending an email to skillsaward@ucd.ie.
If you are wondering when is the right time to book a session with the Careers Network: “We close down around Christmas, they turn off the lights for about two weeks at Christmas, they turn off the heating and they send us home but other than that Monday through Friday you can contact us all the way through.”