SUPPORTING NOTES

Q1. If preparation is key to success, what considerations should you take before applying for a job? Answers from students:

Related documents

1. CV/Resume

• Previous related jobs

• Education

• Awards and competitions

• Accomplishments

• Capability of software and languages

• Related skills *Note: Personalize your resume for every job application
  

2. Portfolio (tactically respond to company’s types of work and staff they wanted)

• Granted previous company approval for demonstration

• Featured work

• Types of work

• Demonstration of works *Note:

Format:

professional networking sites (e.g. LinkedIn), individual web page portfolios, video

and animation formats, blog and template sites, print-based design portfolio

Portfolio shall be clean and tidy, well organized and prepared. Size no larger than A4,

pages preferably within 20 pages and no more than 25 pages.

3. Application letter/cover letter

• Formal letter

• Leave your contact number and email

• Let the employers know your personality

• Personal stories related to the position or job

• Work experiences and what you learnt

• Preferable commencement of work (if you sent it before your graduation)

*Note:

- Check the salutation

- Check the company name

- Check the address

- Check the valediction (e.g. Mr. Wilson -> Yours sincerely // Dear Sir-> Yours

faithfully)

- Check layout: your own information (name, address, contact number all on

right hand side //

- Check your grammar & spellings

- Include the position name you are applying to the title of your letter

- Always keep the letter length in 1 A4 page

4. Transcripts

5. Certificates

6. Registration/licences

7. Letter of recommendation

• From related field

8. Reference letter

9. Proof of work

• Letter from previous work companies

• Letter from previous work companies

*Note:

- No. 4-9: Make sure you have applied the relevant documents before applying for a job, as they may take a few weeks to process and arrive

- Prepare the documents in soft and hard copies

10. Email to company

• Attachments (CV and portfolio) for email shall not be larger than 10Mbs in all cases)

• Full name (must)

• Proper email address

*Note:

- DO NOT just copy everything in your cover letter to the email

- Keep it short

Research on company background

1. Types of projects

• Residential

• Commercial

• Public

• Communal

• Theme Parks

2. Feature projects

• Clients & partners

• Date of completion

• Design involved

• Types of skills and software used

3. Development

• Founding date

• Milestones

• Direction of development (e.g. types of projects)

4. Key Staffs

• CEO

• Managing Director

• Project Director

• Design Director

• Star Designers

• Working colleagues that you know

4. Position you want to apply

• Responsibilities

• Requirements

Preparation for interview

1. Check the interview venue

• How to get there?

• How long it takes for you to get there?

• Any transportation alternatives?

2. Related documents in hard copy

1. Dress

• Proper

*Note:

- Please research on the company’s nature or preference before choosing what to wear

- Reflect your personality

2. Self-introduction in both Chinese and English (1-2 mins)

3. Preparation of all possible question about yourself & your experiences

4. Understanding about yourself

• Strength?

• Weaknesses?

• Specialty?

• Any Talent?

• What make you valuable to the company?

5. Practice for interview

• Facial expression

Smile or not smile, that’s the question (depends on your interviewer)

• Hands

Be aware of their positioning

• Body

Slightly lean forward to demonstrate your passion and proof you are

interested

6. Prepare questions you want to ask the company

7. Search some shared experience of job interview

8. Keep self on time

9. Ask for advice from people you know in the same field

10. Expectation

• Salary

• Insurance

• Working environment

• Teams

• Project types

• Career path Where you want to work (Private or Government)? What make you valuable to the company?

Preparation for employment test Include talent assessment tests, cognitive tests, personality tests, medical examinations, credit checks, and background checks

5”W”: WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHY

• Who: research about who you are going to work for; work on how you can approach them directly;

• What: what you are going to offer them.(your expectations); what they are expecting of you;

• Where: research the where about your job location;

• When: good time to potentially find that there’s availability for work is from December and February; do specific research of a company(do they have the space for you at present);

• Why: why is this company? Why the company right for you? Why are you the right employee for them.

The application

• All too frequently applications can be rejected without even a need to open the resume/CV or portfolio, especially when sent through email;

• The importance of writing a considered, formal and polite cover letter cannot be understated;

• The letter or application establishes a number of basic questions to an employer.

Basic check list:

• Is the applicant careful; have they checked their work?

• Is the applicant able to be trusted to write a letter on behalf of this company?

• Is the applicant able to do research and ensure that they are able to establish the correct information?

• Is the applicant able to simply and efficiently convey the necessary information without confusion or upset?

• Is the applicant really interested in the company or have they just written a standard email to many companies?

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Q2: You have finished your preparation in applying for jobs with a number of companies that appear suitable. In your groups, draft an application letter template, highlighting the sections where you would make changes for each different application if any.

Answers from students:

Please refer to Week Glossary &Templates.

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Q3: What questions you would want to ask a future employer in an interview? ( 10 minutes group discussion )

Answers from students:

The questions our classmates want to ask the interviewers can be divided into six parts:

1. training or education

2. career or promotion

3. salary

4. the requirements of the positions they want to apply

5. information about the people they might work with and the tradition

6. culture, atmosphere or operation system of the company among which the training or education and information about the company are mostly cared about by our classmate.

Training or Education

• Does this position offer continued training or education?

• Is there any training for new employees？ What training is available for new employees？

• How will new employees get trained? Will the company offer CPD programs?

• AM I GOING TO RECEIVE ANY FORMATION COURSE?

• After joining the company, is there any training workshop for employees?

• Will I have the opportunity to participate in different projects?

• Are there opportunities for professional development? If so, what do those look like?

• Do you offer any sort of help for your colleagues to become a professional member?

• What is your company’s training direction?

• What kind of quality they care about most? How do they prepare to train/lead a new employee for a certain period? (working mode/development direction/etc…)

• Is there any opportunity or support in professional development in your company? If yes, what are they?

Career/Promotion

• What is the typical career path for someone in this role?

• Will I get opportunities to work in different sections after the current assigned project?

• What is the promotion mechanism of your company?

• What is your company’s career plan?

• Will I be able to involve in coordination or specific projects?

• What is the biggest challenge you have faced during your career?

Position Requirements

• What is the biggest challenge of this position would face?

• WHAT WILL BE MY DIRECT RESPONSIBILITY IN RELATION TO THE SCALE OF PROJECTS?

• What is the key performance indicator for the landscape designers? (such as designer, project leader, project management?)

• The details of work in that position we are applying for. The expectation of working in that position

• Who I will work for and the type of projects?

• To better qualify for the position, what other skills should I acquire?

• What type of job I’ll be handling in future (paper and submission, design, technical coordination)? Will I be able to be involved in coordination? Involve in projects or only produce drawings

• What characteristics do you look for in employees in order to represent those values?

• What kind of projects I am going to work on?

• If there are any project teams, which team will I be assigned to and what is the specialty in this group?

• What role you expect me to play in your team/ company?

• What are the daily responsibilities of my position? How does it contribute to the company? What are the key performance indicators (KPIs) for the role? 

Salary/Welfare

• How much salary can I earn? Will the company cover several kinds of insurance?

Colleagues

• Can you talk a little bit about the people I will be working with?

• Generally how many colleagues will work as a team? Will they from different disciplines? 3.How do you balance the senior and junior employees in a team?

• How about the team scale and leaders?

• Am I a replacement of a former colleague? If so, I wonder why did he / she leave?

• Can you talk a little bit about the people I will be working with?

Company (tradition, culture, atmosphere, operation)

• Can you describe the culture of the company.?

• How long will a project in this company last in general?

• What is the working atmosphere like in this company?

• WHAT IS THE WORK-FLOW (SOFTWARE) THAT THE COMPANY IS USED TO?

• Is the company going to adjust to the recessing situation considering the impact of the virus? Or if the company is sticking to the ethos and values as demonstrated in the previous projects?

• What types of projects will be involved in the future?

• The greatest strength of the firm

• The ambitions for the future of the firm. What are the company’s values? What characteristics do you look for in employees in order to represent those values?

• What are some of the challenges you expect the person in this position to face?

• What is the future position/orientation/role of your company in terms of landscape design？ what are the details of my daily work in your company？

• How you assess the performance of employees in the professional field and the value of employees?

• The frame of the company？（department/design team/etc…）

• Would you mind mention more about your company in terms of the type of project that encounter with or any recent projects?