During this lecture, we had a guest talker from the Ulster Employability team . who talked to us about different available opportunities instead of taking a placement. I found this very valuable as it is important to see what doors are open for us. In this lecture, we also explored workplace etiquette which is important for interviews and placement. This goes from how you present yourself to how you shake someone’s hand.

Key Takeaways on Workplace Etiquette

good relationships reduce social friction and enhance professional success
Good business etiquette revolves around being considerate, respectful, and honest, grounded in common sense rather than rigid rules.
Address issues like loud coworkers or smelly lunches tactfully, maintaining respect and professionalism.
Standing or other gestures of respect in professional settings should consider rank, age, and context, rather than focusing solely on gender.
While manners guide courtesy, etiquette applies rules to specific situations, eg email decorum.
Etiquette helps redefine boundaries in a chaotic work environment, ensuring civility, personal dignity, and mental well-being.

In this lecture, we also had the chance to talk to the employability team about our CVs. They suggested a few alterations to mine, including removing some of the "I" statements, as employers will know you are talking about yourself. This adjustment improved the flow of my CV and made it easier to read. this was very valuable in getting a different perspective on the Cv as it might not be the design team looking at the CV so they may not consider the design they will consider the content.

Employability talk

we had a talk with Glenda from the employability team at Ulster this was very helpful as she discussed what we can do to prepare for placement. I liked her presentation as she gave us tasks to do throughout the task so it made it interesting and memorable. One of the tasks we were given was to analyse 2 different job posts where we had to find the skills. it was valuable to do this as Glenda had ux design post and it made us familiar with the type of way these were presented. She also discussed how it is vital to change your skills depending on the job post. Glenda also talked about the graduate attributes which are

thriving individual
engaged learner
collaborative professional
active citizen

This was useful to know as this allows candidates to stand out in interviews and on CVs. Gelena also talked about going global and studying the USA briefly instead of a placement, my sister did study the USA and it was amazing but I just don’t think I would be ready for that.