You should look for any kind of job experience from a young age. It's never too early to start building an impressive CV.

Building a CV and career has to start early. Traditional focus for aspirational young people meant passing matric well. Today, this is merely stage one. After that, ambitious youngsters need to look for smart ways to move to the top of the candidate list by making them more attractive than the competition.

Essentially, the challenge is to strengthen a CV’s non-academic segments with strong focus on work experience, self-reliance, leadership, personal balance and community involvement.

Work experience

Get a job before leaving school or university; any job, even a dead-end job. A dead-end job at the weekend livens up your career prospects. Apply for anything you can – washing dishes, waiting table, office admin, etc. Your eagerness to work and gather on-the-job experience sets you apart as a go-getter.

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Self-reliance

Do your own research. Identify industries that interest you. Don’t wait for others. You are the world’s greatest expert on who you are and this gives you unique insight into your own attitude and aptitude. After identifying areas of interest, use newspapers, magazines and the internet to gather information on industries, companies and trends.

Identify mentors who can pass on valuable experience; perhaps an uncle, older sibling or someone within your circle of acquaintances who has achieved career success. Having more than one and changing mentors at various stages of life is also beneficial. Mentor insights improve your confidence and instil the goal-setting habit.

Leadership

Take on responsible positions at school societies and engage in school activities. Being president of your school's debating society or any other extra-curricular team shows you make commitments, follow through and are able to work in a team. Some activities can prepare you for career roles as many if the soft skills learnt are instrumental in the workplace too.

Balance

Employers are not only interested in well-educated candidates, they also value balance. Those with a range of interests make good team members. Monomaniacs can burn out while balanced individuals carry on making a contribution. Broad involvement in school and varsity activities is a good indicator of being able to balance multiple responsibilities.

Community involvement

Voluntary work also indicates balance. Your academia and charity work show you have a head and a heart. Help clean up the environment, work in fund-raising projects or help disadvantaged pupils improve their maths. As long as you offer up your free time for a good cause, future employers will be impressed that, like them, you are engaged with social investment.

There has to be a pay-off for all this effort, right?

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Of course there is. Working for a pittance at the weekend, adopting mentors, embracing wider interests and helping others in what many may consider time-wasting, actually makes for a better CV. And it also makes you a better person. 

Compiled by Annelize van Rensburg. She is a Director at Talent Africa, a leading executive search and talent management company and an alliance of Korn Ferry, the world’s largest executive search business.

Company Info:

Talent Africa, an alliance of Korn Ferry, is a world-class company, based in Sandton, the business hub of South Africa. They offer integrated talent solutions to clients nationally and in sub-Saharan Africa. Talent Africa is proudly a level 2 BBBEE contributor with 40% of the shareholding belonging to wholly-owned BEE entities.