IN THIS, ISSUE 10 OF THE HORN:

Confirming the full launch, MD Sarah Stimson says: "Here at Unicorn Jobs we offer a range of training programmes for students and recent grads looking to hone their skills and gain real work experience. These programmes are why we think we have the best graduate careers website going. First, these Student Contributors have written the sector guides you see on the website, and who best to ask all the key questions about different job sectors than students and grads themselves? Second, these people have informed our news, opinion and Ask The Unicorn services - everything you read here has been chosen because we know, from first hand experience, that it's what student and grads want to know about."

Following this summer's Unicorn Jobs Student Contributor programmes there is a whole stack of brand new sector guides about to go live. The first of these, on careers in broadcasting, will be published next week, and then look out for guides on print media, the City, recruitment, the law, sport, book publishing, travel & tourism, diplomacy, fashion, the arts, psychology, politics, teaching, HR and the charitable sector to follow.

The full launch of the grad site coincides with the arrival of a brand new website from Unicorn Jobs - focusing on public relations careers at all levels, from grads to management. The PR site - www.unicornjobs.com/pr - will include regularly updated news and features on trends and best practice in PR and corporate communications, as well as tips and advice on how to manage and develop a career in the communications business.

Martyn Sloman, Learning And Development Advisor at the CIPD, recently told reporters: "There are two major skills which are becoming increasingly important for employees to possess. One, broadly, is IT skills. The second is influencing skills. These are softer skills, communication with others, negotiations, working laterally, etc."

Sloman acknowledged that for most people these skills won't be formally taught, but will be acquired through work experience. Though he did say that managers of those in graduate-level jobs should offer feedback in these areas to help grads become better skilled employees.

To that end MI5 is working with gay rights organisation Stonewall, which will add the employer to its graduate recruitment guide for the first time this year. Welcoming the moves to proactively recruit graduates from those parts of society currently under-represented in the agency, Stonewall's Director Ben Summerskill told pinknews.co.uk: "I am optimistic that in 10 to 15 years [MI5's] employment profile will look very much like modern Britain."

e-Skills UK is calling on schools to make IT courses at GCSE and A-Level more compelling because it is thought a lacklustre computing curriculum in schools is putting people off studying the subject at university.

e-Skills UK's Director Of Strategy, Margaret Sambell, said: "We believe that a radical review of the technology curriculum in schools is essential, bringing together the views of employers and academics to create an inspiring curriculum that is attractive to students, and is valued for progression to university and to employment."

All of this is, of course, great news for those of you already doing an IT degree, because it means your skills will be in demand when you graduate.

The survey of 1,200 office workers estimated that the average office employee will write 50,000 lists during their career, receive over 320,000 emails, and spend 300 hours longingly gazing at a workmate they fancy. With regards the latter activity, there seems to be a high chance the gazing will pay off - the survey reckons 40% of office staff will have an intimate romance with a colleage at some point.

Whether romance is ever behind a worker's decision to move companies I don't know, but the survey reckons most of us will have 13 job interviews during our lives, so don't expect to be making lists and checking emails at the the same desk for too long.

Commenting on the survey, Office Angels MD David Clubb told reporters: "Day-to-day working life may whizz by week after week, but it's fascinating to see how the average person's working life stacks up into Post-it note and email mountains. There are so many exciting prospects available in employment today that my advice would be to take the opportunity, wherever possible, to sample new career paths. Ask your employer about any job swap opportunities or different responsibilities you can undertake to keep your working life exciting. Variety is the key."

I went to a wedding last weekend, which involved a trip into the countryside, some camping in the rain, an awful lot of food in a big old house, and some very clever tactics on my part to avoid my drunken friends' insistence I dance to a covers band murdering Blondie. Not literally you understand. Well, literal avoidance, but no one killed Debbie Harry.

Anyway, none of this is relevant to you, but, as the third helping of cake arrived at our table, two things did occur to me that might be. I'm now reaching the grand old age where most of my contemporaries have been working for about 10 years in their chosen careers, having graduated at the latter end of the 90s - and here's what I noticed.

First, many of the people there are now doing very well indeed in a job which hadn't even occurred to them as a possible career route while at university. After graduating, with their degree and CV of extra-curricular activities in hand, they'd fallen into a job, and from that point their career had sort of made itself.

Second, at least four of the people I spoke to had decided in the last year or so that actually they fancied having a go at a totally different kind of job, and had taken action to switch careers. One had just completed a course to launch themselves into that new career, another was about to do so. In preparation they'd been putting some money aside each month from their previous job, so weren't facing quite the prospect of debt that a grad opting to do an MA might do. The other two had made a proactive effort to find work in a totally different sector, and were now embarking on their second careers.

So, what can you learn from all these early-thirtysomethings? First, don't panic if you're one of those people who has no idea what career you want. Keep your options open and your ear to the ground, and look for projects or work experience that will enhance your general skills, and you will probably find that your career finds you.

And when it comes to making those initial career decisions - remember it's not your one and only chance to decide what sector you work in. Sometimes grads worry that if they get it wrong at 21 that's it, ruined for life. But you'll have 40 years on the jobs market, and it's easier to switch career halfway through now than ever before.

To conclude, don't use these observations as an excuse to put off career decisions for 10 years. But, when you do start planning your life after graduation, don't panic. You don't need to know exactly what job you're going for, and it's not your only chance to find the right career.

publisher@unicornjobs.com

	I'm stuggling to get my CV down to two pages. What should I do?
	Well, first things first, well done for [a] having so much to say about yourself that you can fill more that two pages of A4 and [b] for recognising this is a problem. You will find that different people tell you different things about what makes the ideal CV, but the one thing everyone will agree on is that you should always aim to keep it within two sides of A4. As a graduate at the start of your career this really shouldn't be a problem, and if your CV is coming in at more than two pages then the chances are you have included some things that aren't really needed. As a guide, here's some things you can take out of your CV without making it any less effective... An elaborate title involving the words 'curriculum vitae'. You should make sure your name and address are clearly given at the top of your CV – but nothing more is required. People know what it is, you don't need to tell them it's a CV. A photo of yourself - unless you're applying to be a model this really isn't needed. Your date of birth, marital status and whether you have any children - employers cannot demand this information under age and sex discrimination laws, and a recruitment agency will remove any such information if they pass on your CV anyway. Long lists of every exam you ever passed at school. You should include details of what grades you got at GCSE (eg 5 As, 4 Bs, 2 Cs) and confirm the fact you passed English and Maths (assuming you did). It's worth mentioning if you have passed your driving test, but your 50m swimming certificate isn't so relevant. Long descriptions of every topic you studied as part of your degree. Unless it is directly relevant to the job you're applying for, recruiters generally just need to know what you studied where, and what level of degree you got. Long generic personal statements about the kind of person you are and the kind of career you seek. This information should be tailored towards the specific job you are applying for and is therefore probably better placed in your covering letter. Long lists of generic skills and characteristics – eg punctual, hard working, good team player. This will just look like a list you got out of a text book. It is better to identify the skills clearly required for the job you are applying for, and then demonstrate how you have developed and used those skills when you describe past work experience in your Work History section. A long list of references. Employers don't need to be told references are available – they know they are – and they only need that information if they actually offer you the job. Long lists of generic hobbies. Everyone likes cooking, listening to music and going to the cinema. Only list hobbies that demonstrate skills (eg playing in a college football team demonstrates teamwork skills) or show that you're an interesting person (eg a genuine passion for Japanese cinema suggests you're an interesting person to meet). If you have had lots of part-time jobs or have been involved in lots of societies, be selective, pick the ones that demonstrate specific skills and which are particularly relevant for the job you are applying for. Think about layout. Don't fix the problem of an excessively long CV by reducing all the text to a 7 point font. But sometimes people's CVs spill onto extra pages because they have a nifty design thing going on. Unless you're applying for a graphic design job, employers generally respond better to simple text-based CVs (keep the clip art to yourself). In case you're wondering, the things you should definitely keep in your CV include: Name, address, email address and phone number. Your main academic qualifications, so how many GCSEs you got at each grade (and confirmation you got English and Maths) plus subject and grade information for your A-Levels and degree. A list of relevant work experience – both paid and unpaid - including the dates you did the work, and a short description of what you did and what skills you developed and used. A list of extra-curricular activities and hobbies that demonstrate further skills. A list of any IT and language skills you have (make sure you list any languages you speak). Some other pointers - when you submit your CV on paper make sure you use good quality white paper (so it can be photocopied if necessary). If you send it electronically, send it as a Word file (rather than a PDF) with no complicated formatting (tables or columns etc) and in a standard font (eg Times or Arial). It is worth putting your contact details in the 'header' or 'footer' of your Word document, in case the pages are separated when they are printed out. Make sure you include your name in the file name (so fredblogscv.doc) and if you are using the very latest version of Word (which by default saves files in the 'docx' format) try and choose the option which lets you save your work in an earlier version of Word, because many employers still cannot open docx files. Hopefully once you've addressed all these points, your CV will easily fit on two sides of A4, and what's more you'll have a much better CV too. We know some very experienced professionals who have got their CV down to just one page, so you can surely manage two!

If you have a careers-related problem, Ask The Unicorn at info@unicornjobs.com

Would you recommend book publishing as a career?
Yes, but you're not going to get rich unless you're remarkable, like Paul Hamlyn or Allan Lane, the founder of Penguin, for instance. It's a job for people who like books. However it's much more business orientated now than it used to be; you just have to look at the results pages of the big publishers Penguin, Random House, Bloomsbury.

Is publishing more difficult to get into now than when you started?
No, I think it's easier now because there's more publishing. When I first started in 1960, the Bookseller [trade magazine] had half a page of job ads. It now has four or five. Also, now nearly every big publishing company has a website where jobs are advertised.

Is being a book-lover a prerequisite?
Obviously it helps, especially when you're in a lower-paid, lower-level job. But not everyone is a book fanatic. In fact there are a lot of people in publishing who do not like books much at all! It's more about selling for some people. Take a former chairman I worked with. It would be unfair to say he'd never read a book in his life, but he saw books as a commodity. And that is often true on the sales side.

Find out Marcus' tips for finding a publishing job, and read what he thinks about the emergence of the ebook and the impact it will have on printed books, by reading the full interview here.

	Marcus was interviewed by Alana Hebenton, one of our Student Contributors. Come and meet all our Contributors and read about them and their articles here.