Your degree is not everything - other ways to add Value to yourself!

"Degrees are not everything, anyone can get a degree these days"

What defines someone in the job market is not simply getting good grades or a degree. What is seemingly evident in the job market these days is that; yes degrees are necessary for entry into a workplace due to the minimum knowledge requirements a workplace may require, however, how employers seem to differentiate between one candidate to another is not simply just grades and degrees, but the other values or attributes a candidate has to offer for the business.

Look at this article: EY: Firm says it will not longer consider degrees or A-level results when assessing employees

As such; we come to the see the existance of soft skills is very important in developing a candidates experience and nature, and this is important to note when getting a job!

• Why? In interviews you will normally be asked "How have you shown (professional attribute) in the past?" or Have you organised a project before, how did it go and what was the outcome?"

Questions, like above look into what else a candidate has done, to show themselves off to the interviewer/s so that they have a better understanding of the potential employee.

So what can you do to improve your own personal "portfolio" (work on those soft skills) while at Macquarie University?

• Join a Student Society or two, and be apart of their committee to gain skills whie working as a team
• Be a leader; become a Mentor, and lead by example
• Never say no to any opportunity that comes up! There's no harm in trying!
• Networking; develop relationships amongst friends, other students and even Academics! You never know who they know and how they can help you!

All the best!!