If you have a question, send it to careerhelp@kent.ac.uk and we will do our best to answer within three working days.
Answers to the following questions can be found in the online version of this email athttp://www.kent.ac.uk/ces/files/newsletters.html – open the latest vacancy email and scroll down to questions.

> Do you have any advice for getting teaching work experience in Canterbury?

Canterbury has a huge student population, so there’s a lot of competition for teaching experience here. Consider schools near where you live (your old school is often easiest) or slightly outside Canterbury: Herne Bay, Whitstable, Faversham, Ashford. Ring or visit schools rather than emailing them as they don’t always reply to emails and make a case for yourself – what would be the benefit to the school to give you experience.
See http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/siteach.htm#exp

> I have to give a 15 minute presentation on “Why I am the right person for an IT company’s graduate programme”

Don’t have too many PowerPoint slides: for a 15 minute session 10 would be  the absolute maximum and probably less, don’t have too much text on each  slide – no more than about 40 words. Pictures – especially diagrams and charts are good but don’t get carried  away with flashy transition effects – this may distract attention form the  content. Something like this might work
1 minute introduction – what you are going to tell them
2 minutes on the challenges facing the company in the current market – economic  downturn, competitors, growth areas
4 minutes on “What skills the organisation requires in graduate recruits” – see http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/computersci.htm – skills tab
6 minutes on evidence showing that you have these skills
1 minute conclusion – summary
1 minute asking for and answering any questions
See our Presentation Skills page for further tips http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/presentationskills.htm

> Do you have any advice on getting into the publishing industry? I have roughly two years office experience in addition to my degree and I am eager to relocate. Any tips?

First see our publishing page
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/publishing.htmhttp://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/publishing.htm
London is the main centre for publishing, but Cambridge, Oxford and Basingstoke are other centres.
Firstly you would need to do lots of research on publishing. Editorial is the most competitive job in publishing so I’d suggest you also look at marketing, production, sales etc.
Then learn Quark, In Design and Photoshop as they are the publishing industry programs you need to master. You can download trial versions for free – see hhttp://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/computing-skills.htm
Work in a bookshop or library is a typical starting point and then you need to get some work experience with a publisher. Seehttp://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/CJ.htm
For publishing, you would need a media style CV
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/cv/mediacv.htm
For lots more tips see our how to get into the media section at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesmedia.htm

> Could you please let me know if it is possible to register with more than one recruitment consultancy?

You can apply to as many recruitment agencies as you wish. They are not allowed to charge you and in fact I would strongly recommend you register with quite a few as some will be helpful and others not so.See http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/recruit.htm

> I am applying for environmental jobs and would like to be informed about the various specialist vacancy sources. 

You’ll find details of all the main environmental job sources at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/environment.htm

>I am very keen to pursue a career in PR, I would like some tips on how to get in.

For advertising, events management and PR see our pages at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/PR.htm
http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/eventsman.htm and www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesadv.htm

>I will shortly have a competency based interview. Please could you point me to some examples of competency based interview questions

You’ll find lots of tips on competency-based interview at http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/compet/skillquest.htm and how to answercompetency questions on application forms.
You’ll also find a mini-database of real answers there.