Section

First Job

Two people shaking hands in a bright office lobby, one carrying a folder, a glass wall behind them reflecting the daylight.

A first application is thin for a reason that is fixable. Not because nothing has happened, but because what happened tends to be described as a set of titles rather than as work, and a title tells a reader nothing about what you did or what came of it.

This section covers the three documents and conversations that decide a placement: the single page and the verb that starts each line on it, the short list of things every interviewer is trying to establish and the four real examples that answer them, and the reference request that is only as specific as the material you send with it. Each guide also says where its own advice stops working, because none of these documents wins anything on its own.

Filed under First Job Most recent first

A laptop on a desk showing a grid of small artwork thumbnails, a handwritten numbered list on a sheet of paper beside it, soft window light, close over the shoulder.

First Job September 12, 2026

A portfolio that argues: editing student work for applications

A portfolio for an application is a short argument, not an archive. What to leave out and the order that carries the point.

A printed invoice on a desk with a paperclip holding a delivery note behind it, a calculator and a pen beside, flat window light.

First Job September 12, 2026

Your first unpaid invoice: a calm routine for getting paid

A late payment is usually process, not malice. The evidence file, the reminder ladder and the point where chasing stops working.

A laptop open to a spreadsheet beside a thick printed reference manual with sticky flags, a mug and a notebook, plain desk light, seen from the side.

First Job September 12, 2026

The legacy language on the job spec: why VBA still shows up in interviews

Offices run on macros nobody maintains. A little VBA, learned in short sessions, carries a placement application further than expected.

A printed one page CV lying on a wooden desk next to a pen and a phone, a hand smoothing the paper flat, daylight from a window above.

First Job August 14, 2026

A first CV when the experience column is thin

Coursework, a summer job and a society treasurer role are enough material for one honest page. What matters is which verb starts each line.

Two people talking across a small meeting table, one taking notes on a pad, a glass of water between them, bright window light behind.

First Job June 25, 2026

Placement interviews: the questions that come back

The same handful of questions turns up in almost every placement interview. Preparing one example properly beats rehearsing five answers badly.

Two people talking in the doorway of a small academic office lined with bookshelves, one holding a folder, a paper timetable pinned to the door, warm corridor light.

First Job October 29, 2025

Asking a tutor for a reference

A reference is written from what the writer can actually remember. How to ask, who to ask, when to ask, and what to send so the letter says something.

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It all starts with what you wrote down in the lecture

The examples that make an interview answer concrete come from work that was recorded while it happened, which is the same habit that makes a set of notes worth reopening. The binder starts again at the first section.

Go to Note Taking