Australian Experiential Learning Centre

#jobinterview

Always when applying for a job you are asked to outline your experiences to meet the firms hiring criteria. But what if you don’t have any experience?

Nine times out of ten the hiring firm don’t understand or care about your capabilities unless you can prove you can do it. They therefore limit their hiring pool to those candidates with the best looking resume. No experience? Straight to the no pile for you!

In order to combat this perception you have to be able to demonstrate your suitability via other methods. Business Icon, Students In Free Enterprise or Internships for example are designed to take complete novices with no experience and give them a chance to learn ways to think outside the square as well as profile themselves as potential candidates.

The entrance criteria for Business Icon is just three things, analytical applied thought, ethics and creativity. No experience required. Interestingly enough, the best candidates mostly don’t have the highest university marks but all who come through demonstrate an appetite for challenge and a hunger for success. Attractive qualities for most organisations.

It does prove though that employers are often missing out on the best candidates simply because they hire against experience and not aptitude. Be aware of this and get smart. Go get yourself the experiences that are appropriate to your career development. If you are a young professional working your way up in the firm then volunteer or get on a youth board. Just do something relevant!

I am changing the name for this blog from “AELC Professionals” to “Experience This!”

In order to keep receiving updates to your RSS feed reader (if that is how you receive this blog), you will need to update the feed URL to:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/Experience-This

If you have any problems, come back to the site at www.aelc.edu.au and resubscribe.

Hope this isn’t too inconvenient, but I had to make this change to keep up with the hecticness and direction of where  AELC and I are going – so come with me and Experience This!

Tracey (Exhausted on the Sunshine Coast for QLD Business Icon)

First published on therubyconnection 12th April 2010

It was a sunny afternoon, not a cloud in the sky. The mood was light and the air hazy with the luscious smell of plane fuel. I was at Perth airport (again) lining up (again) to board the plane to Brisbane when something happened. Damn plane was delayed and all my delicious thoughts dissipated in a flurry.

Standing next to me, one in front and one behind was a good looking young man and a slightly older woman. Well of course we did the mandatory bitching about the airline industry before introducing ourselves. The young man, Sam,  was quite vocal in his disappointment as this meant he would miss his connecting bus to the Sunshine Coast on arrival.  I impetuously announced that I too was going to the Sunshine Coast and would he like a lift in my hire car. Well, this was obviously manna from heaven and he readily accepted my offer. I on the other hand having realised too late that I had offered a stranger a lift was slightly dismayed and maybe a little perturbed by my runaway mouth.

Whilst I was doing my time in the line (around 30 minutes) I starting chatting with the woman whose name by the way was Lorraine. Once at the counter and having checked in, Lorraine and I proceeded to the lounge for coffee and a chat as women do whilst the young man went off to find a shower. I confided my thoughts and we shared some musings as to the young man’s occupation. He had told us both he had been on tour and was returning home and that he had travelled from Margaret River to catch this plane. Our first thoughts were that he was a musician or a surfie. I felt intuitively that he was a decent enough young fellow (or maybe I was just convinced by the cute grin – whose to know!) and Lorraine assured me that she thought so too (again, maybe just the grin).

Anyway to cut a long story short we arrived in Brisbane and Sam and I left in my little hire car. As we were leaving the airport I casually asked him what he was doing in WA. He replied that he travelled all over the country as one half of a stage act. By this time I was very curious and I asked which one and he replied “Puppetry of the Penis”. Well, thank god it was dark because after swallowing enough spit to kill a cow, the skin on my face inflamed to the point of eruption. However with all the dignity of a rat on a sinking ship I said, “Oh, that must be interesting. Do you like it?”

Thankfully it seems Sam thought it was a wonderful opportunity and didn’t seem to notice the muted choking sound coming from my throat. He seemed pleased to chat on the vagaries of touring with such an unusual show, his exploits with girls and his ambitions in life. Sam turned out to be a delightful young man who thoroughly enjoyed his lot in life and was working in the only way he knew how, towards a career on the stage and in TV.

I wonder though, if he had told me what his occupation was in that line at the airport, if I would have responded in the same manner – and it got me thinking. How many times do we categorise people, shove them in a box and put them away just because we assume they are a certain sort of person from their choice of occupation?   This encounter of the 4^th and best kind has reminded  me, as life lessons always do, to look under the covers (although probably in this case that might be a little too revealing) and to not lose the spontaneous urge to help someone just because they need it.

As some of you may know, I write blog articles for Westpac, specifically for the Westpac Womens’ Market site ,www.therubyconnection.com.au. From time to time I will pull in something I wrote for therubyconnection for my readers here.

First published on therubyconnection 15th Sep 2009

My son called me a typical baby-boomer today! Me…. who prides myself on being able to handle technology with the aplomb of a Gen X….me…… who is the expert simpatico mentor of Gen Y.  And then what he said floored me… “If I worked the way you did it would kill me” he stated. “I need more balance, time to think and time to play”.  My son is a believer that work should stay at work and when you walk out the door, another life begins.

I think I have a very balanced life. I work with most of my family, mostly I get into the office at around 9am on days I don’t work at home, take 6 weeks holiday a year, babysit my grandchildren twice weekly and often take time out during the week to go shopping with my daughter. Even have time out with my hubby and friends. Sounds idyllic doesn’t it?

What I haven’t told you is the rest – I start my emails at 5am in the morning, clearing around 100 or so before 7am at which time I get ready for my first meeting of the day. I work very effectively at home so try to do that once or twice a week. Some times of the year I work 12 – 15 hour days especially around mid-year when I spend a large amount of time flying around Australia delivering programs. I work hard and long but reap rewards in other ways. Blast it… I am a typical baby-boomer!

Balanced – you bet. But not in the typical Gen Y finish work and go to play type of way. Balanced in MY way!

This morning I heard a speech by the brilliant 60 Minutes reporter Jeff McMullen. He was speaking on Leadership and in particular the failure of our political leaders to both engage their own parties in good and ethical decisions whilst at the same time engaging the public and the media.

Jeff maintained that truth in politics was vital for our well-being as individuals and delivering anything else was a fundamental mistake which could see us totally destroying ourselves and the earth on which we live.

Big words and ones that will have the sceptics huffing and the fans clapping. I actually believe that the ‘media’ are in charge and therefore the person who puts on the best show at any time will win. We are now running a popularity contest in Australia whilst the engine room of people we call politicians are homogenised to fit the psyche of the Australian public.

Kevin Rudd came into power on the back of television program ‘Sunrise’. In my view the next opposition leader past the polished ‘Turnbull’ will be another Sunrise veteran Joe Hockey.

The past war of words from the television will see the game played out in real life. The party people will look to the person with the highest popular profile because guess what? That is how they get into power and this is something for which WE are responsible!

Have either party got the guts to make ethical and good decisions for Australia? At the moment, I see a lot of talking but not a lot of doing! I also see a lot of prevaricating, avoidance tactics and mud-slinging from both parties.

Grow up boys, stop trying to ‘get down and jiggy’ with it on TV and get in there while you still have the chance to make the ‘right’ decisions! Our businesses and our lives are at stake.