The job market is currently a nightmare. With the pandemic worsening graduate prospects even more, it is important to strengthen your own application as much as you can. The constant rejection for role after role is very demotivating, especially after spending hours on psychometric tests and perfecting your CV, but it is important to think how you can be a more attractive candidate. I want to highlight a few different initiatives over the next few weeks that King's offer and you may not be aware of. These may be to improve employment prospects but also just tips on looking after wellbeing when you face seemingly endless rejections.
This week the focus is on a paid position at King's called the ‘Money Mentors’!
Money Mentors: Money Mentor is the less-advertised cousin of the student ambassador role. You essentially are paid the London Living Wage to tell students how to spend their money.
They don’t just leave you in the deep end: you are fully trained to learn the ins-and-outs of student finances, and particularly about King's bursaries and the like. Plus the training is all paid! I was a MM for all three years of my degree and I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Aside from the fact you are paid and it's super flexible around your studies, you gain so many great skills within the role. Can you imagine some random person in a grey hoodie coming up to you and saying ‘Can we talk about budgeting?’ Sounds terrible, but I had to learn how to make this more engaging so we can have honest and productive conversations trying to convince people not to walk away from me! This meant I really developed my communications skills, and this is very conveniently highlighted on my CV.
Teamwork was also another skill I really improved through this role. The MM team is such an amazing mix of people and provides you with the opportunity to interact with people from different faculties that you would not have otherwise met. We all work together to host amazing interactive workshops, produce social media content and just speak to students. I really would not have been confident in approaching strangers during election season if it wasn’t for the MM training and job which meant that I was able to pick up conversations with possible voters with ease.
Applications are currently open for this wonderful role, please click here for more info.