Working on your CV and applications during the vacation? Ensure you capture all that you’ve learned while studying here!
You will have picked up a rich range of skills while studying in the Cambridge system and engaging in extracurricular activities during your time here. You can use this to your advantage in your CV and applications, to demonstrate that you have what employers are looking for.
Here are some examples of skills you may pick up, and how you can evidence them:
Ambition and drive
Getting into Cambridge is a significant achievement in itself. If you’ve come from a non-university home, non-Cambridge school, a country outside the UK or are a mature student, you may want to share this as you describe your determined nature more broadly. If you’ve improved your Tripos results year-on-year or upped your performance in extracurricular activities, these are also examples of how you’re committed to excel at whatever you put your mind to. Making a difference on a society committee or in a university-based sports tournament are strong examples of your drive in practice, while volunteering for a local charity or tutoring students over the summer may demonstrate your ambition to develop skills outside the University.
Commercial awareness
You may pick up commercial awareness while working in financial roles in your extracurricular pursuits, or even simply by following the stock exchange in your spare time. Any shop, sales or service experience you hone during your vacation work, as well as involvement in company sponsorship, will help demonstrate your commercial knowledge to an employer. Think, too, about any examples of times you’ve added value personally – improving an existing situation, service or profitability – and reference this specifically in your application if appropriate.
Adaptability
You may have juggled a range of subjects in your Tripos, and adapted your study approach across research, translation, textual analysis, critical evaluation, and more. This is worth spelling out in your application – especially if your work experience and extracurricular activity has been minimal so far. Or, in your daily life, you may have demonstrated adaptability by studying abroad, taking on a range of extracurricular activities, or even in the big transition from living at home to being in Cambridge. You may even briefly touch on a personal example of ways in which you’ve adapted to better your performance.
Verbal communication
Don’t underestimate the value of skills picked up while listening in lectures, and both talking and listening in supervisions and classes. You may have honed these skills while making presentations or speeches within your academic work or extracurricular activities, too. Perhaps you have been on a society committee, or been a JCR or departmental rep? These are examples of roles which will put your oral communication skills into practice. You may also draw on any teaching, selling or campaigning experience you have had while at Cambridge or during summer, including dealing with students, customers, clients or stakeholders, and delegating any tasks within a team.
Written communication
There are many ways in which you can demonstrate your written communication skills in your job applications – both by talking about specific examples, and literally evidencing your capability in the way your application is written! Samples of your written communication output you may draw on in your CV may include exceptional essays, reports or dissertations composed during your studies; any student journalism you’ve been involved with; and publicity or editorial work from your extracurricular projects. Perhaps you have produced a report during your vacation work? Or penned a blog or column for your college’s communications and development magazines? Where appropriate, you may want to provide weblinks to especially strong pieces of work in your CV or application itself.
And more…
Think about how your studies and activities at Cambridge have boosted your…
Teamwork
Independence and confidence
Leadership skills
Persuasiveness and negotiation
Problem solving
Creativity
^ These are all highly valuable aptitudes – no matter what role you’re going for – so don’t be afraid to shout about them!
To learn more about key employability skills you can develop at Cambridge and for advice on choosing a career, head to our website: www.careers.cam.ac.uk