Graduate’s Guide To Staying Ahead During The Christmas Holiday
The holiday season is here and whilst many are taking time out for some well-earned rest and family time, as a graduate it is important to stay on track.
With less structure to your day it can be easy to forget about applying for jobs or keeping up to date with current affairs and industry news.
Make sure you use your free time effectively in a way that will ultimately benefit you.
In this blog we outline our top five tips to make sure you stay on the ball during the festive season:
- Plan
At the beginning of the holidays, write up a detailed plan of what you want to achieve by the end of the Christmas period.
This could be done by creating a list of all the tasks you want to get done. To be specific you could even number them in order of priority.
If you’re more visually stimulated, why not put your creative mind to use and pull together a moodboard. This could be on your laptop or on a physical pin board with cut outs of images or goals you want to achieve.
By having everything written down in one place, you can visually gage how much you need to get done each day. It will even help to increase your motivation and drive.
Decide when you work best and set this time aside weekly then add in tasks each day.
Having a little bit of structure will help to increase productivity and you will feel like you are utilising your time wisely.
- Read The News
One of the easiest ways to keep up to date with what’s going on is to dedicate one hour a day to reading or listening to the news.
This could be ordering yourself a Sunday paper, listening to a news podcast or watching current affairs on TV.
This could be while you eat your breakfast, on a walk or while you travel.
Staying up to date with current events and news will be extremely beneficial for any interviews or conversations.
Make sure you read our Advice From The Experts Blog to see what our CEO and Senior Account Executive recommend to read if you’re interested in the social media industry.
- Revamp Your CV
Take this time to look at your CV and refine it.
Add some new pieces of information in and take irrelevant stuff out.
You could also make use of platforms such as Canva to redesign and structure your CV to help make it stand out.
Use your imagination and be as creative as you can.
For example, you could create a CV tailored to a specific brand by designing your document in the style of one of their products. Such as a protein bar for MyProtein or a dress for ASOS.
Or you could even do a countdown for Christmas with the reasons they should hire you!
Always have a master copy of your CV and then tailor it to a specific role or job.
Make sure you look at the key skills or requirements that the role requires and use those words and phrases in your document to make it relevant.
Also, restructure your CV so that the most important and relevant information is at the start.
- Apply For Short Courses Or Internships
Completing short courses is a great way to learn new skills.
There are tons of free courses available online.
For example we recommend anything on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram or Pinterest.
Short internships are also great for time off during the holiday.
They allow you to gain valuable real life experience within the industry.
We also offer short internships here at Social Republic- get in touch if you are interested.
- Spend Time Your Family
Make sure you let yourself have some time off to relax, recover and be merry!
Holidays are the perfect time to take some time for yourself and reset.
Spend quality time with your family and friends (if you can) and celebrate together.
Go for walks, socially distanced meals or go Christmas shopping together.
If you can’t see them in person use Zoom or facetime to spend time together virtually!
Make the most of your time off before the new year comes about!
Do you have any tips to help stay ahead of the competition during the Christmas period?