ncutraining – Page 2 – NCU Training

Pathways to work events

We have two events in the coming weeks that NCU will be attending and giving information out about our courses and answering any questions you might have. The events are held by Department of social protection under their pathways to work initiative , an employment, training and guidance scheme.

The first event will be on Tuesday the 27th of May in the Bracken court hotel, Balbriggan from 10:30am to 15:45pm

The second is being held on Thursday the 5th of June in the Ashbourne Community centre, Ashbourne Co. Meath from 10:00am to 4.00pm.

So if you are looking at one of our courses and are attending one of these events, we will be available to answer any questions. We look for ward to meeting you.

Get online week

Get online week is an annual digital empowerment campaign that promotes the use of digital technologies and learning digital skills. Having even basic digital skills will afford you a world of opportunity and the ability to become self sufficient in your learning. With so many great resources online, it is important to be aware of technologies that exist and how to access them.

“Every nine jobs out of ten today presumes digital skills of one standard or another” – Pat Rabbitte

At NCU Training, we know the importance of Digital skills. Over the past few years we have been offering free Digital skills training so people can get online and start using technology to their advantage. We are all about digital empowerment and we have helped over 2100 people get online and start gaining Digital skills in the past two years alone.

If you are interested in taking a free Digital skills course with us you can call 01-8479463 to book a place.

Some of the course topics include:

Google services (Search, Email, Maps, Drive, YouTube, translate etc..)
Banking online
Government services online (motor tax, personal tax, local services etc..)

If you are interested in finding out more about Get Online Week you will find all the details on their website here

More websites worth looking at:

Grand Coalition for Digital jobs

Our free Digital skills course

Vice-President Neelie Kroes says digital literacy and e-skills are the new literacy

Universal Job competencies

In my travels around the internet I came upon a very interesting list of six core competencies that Microsoft look for in prospective employees. These are general competencies that could really be applied to any prospective position. As a Jobseeker It is useful to get a little insight in to the competencies that companies look for when searching for new employees, and this can help you prepare better for interviews.

Competencies

Adaptability – Demonstrates curiosity and actively explores options. Responds efficiently to changing demands and circumstances. Functions effectively in ambiguous situations. Maintains a constructive attitude in times of stress.

Collaboration – Drives alignment and teamwork within a team, department, or across organizational boundaries. Combines resources and joins efforts to achieve company-wide goals.

Drive for Results – Tenaciously pursues positive outcomes by using effective approaches to solve problems. Delivers on commitments and seeks increasingly challenging work. Takes responsibility and holds others accountable for actions, decisions, and goals.

Influencing for Impact – Communicates and networks effectively. Successfully persuades and influences others.

Judgment – Effectively scopes problems. Builds and applies a job-relevant knowledge base. Makes decisions with conviction.

Customer Focus – Anticipates customer needs, and proactively meets and exceeds customer expectations. Recognizes the issues that customers want to resolve, and creates, or facilitates the creation of, products and services to address customer needs.

5 tips for safer food preparation at home.

As a food hygiene tutor I am passionate about creating awareness for safer food preparation both at home and in the workplace. With some simple do’s and don’ts you can avoid a trip to the hospital and learn how to create a safer environment for you to make your food.

Today my 5 tips are aimed toward using the microwave.

Microwaves

Over 90% of food poising cases occur at home, one of the contributing factors to this is improper use of the microwave. The heating of food in the microwave is a cause of major concern in Ireland.

1.Read

Read the instructions on the packet. This is the first and most important step. We need to know whether the food needs to be cooked completely or just reheated, whether it can be cooked in a microwave or needs a conventional oven, cooking time and wattage. (generally your wattage is displayed on your microwave, if not consult the manual.)

2.Heat

To make best use of the microwave and to heat the food properly and evenly, heat your food in short bursts. For instance if the packet says 4 mins, put in for 2.

3.Stir

Make sure to take the product out and stir it thouroughly.

4.Continue heating

Put the product back in for the rest of the time needed.

5.Let it stand

Once the product is thouroughly heated through, leave it stand for 1 minute before consuming.

NCU Training is now an ICPA bonded member

ICPA Bond

We are Delighted to announce that we are now bonded members of the ICPA. We are one of only seven bonded training centres in the country and are very proud to be included. We are however more exited about what the bond means for our students. Anyone wishing to come on a course with us can be safe in the knowledge that their fees are protected.

What it means for the learner.

In the past few years six private colleges have dramatically collapsed, abandoning thousands of students and leaving them with no prospect of recovering their fees – estimated to have run into millions and affecting Irish and international students.

It is difficult to explain and therefore hard to help students, particularly international students, understand that when they part with their money to take a course of study with a private college that has been officially registered and approved by the Irish government that the fees they paid are always at risk and that the Irish state takes no responsibility for these fees.

The ICPA Bond scheme addresses this situation in an extremely effective way and eliminates the dreadful consequences that can arise when a college suddenly fails. It is relevant for both international and Irish students.

The ICPA mutual Bond scheme is the first scheme of its kind to have been developed in any country in the developed world.

This fact was attested by the top accountancy firms who were invited in 2011 to tender for the development of a mutual Bond scheme and who could not identify a similar scheme in any other country.

Over 60 private colleges made enquiries about the ICPA scheme and below are the first tranche of approved colleges:

The Open College

Pulse College,

NCU Training,

The Learning Institute,

English Language Academy,

Martha McGinn Training,

Montessori Education Centre.

These colleges are now fully bonded when offering courses longer than 12 weeks duration awarded by the Qualifications Authority of Ireland (QQI) and are authorised to use the official ICPA Bonded logo:

Reference: www.icpa.ie

For more details about the Bond scheme or the ICPA please contact: Richard Whelan Harry Walsh Independent Chairman CEO Tel: 087 7411711 086 8034989

Some useful tips on using Twitter in your job hunt.

What is Twitter?

In short, Twitter is described as a microblogging platform, the micro part referring to the limited number of characters a ‘tweet’ is made of, 140 to be exact. The limited number of characters has been a major part of twitters success, in a classic less is more way. It’s difficult to turn a blind eye to twitters influence when you consider most every media today references the social media giant. By using the #hashtag companies and individuals can create trends, which can be global or specific depending on their relevance and reach. The use of #hashtags locally or even nationally can mean that we too can have a voice and get in on the conversation.

#jobfairy

One #hashtag that has become very useful in Ireland is #jobfairy, If a company or individual is advertising a position they can put the word out on twitter by tagging the tweet with the relevant #hashtag in this case its #jobfairy. To then view tweets with this #hashtag we use the search bar at the top of Twitter. The jobfairy hashtag has become very popular with many companies advertising positions using it. Because twitter is so instant it is very easy to be quick to act when a position becomes available.

I get it, but can it actually help me get a job.

At the end of the day, I can’t speak for anyone but myself. Another tool in your jobsearch can’t be a bad thing though. I find twitter to be a great place to connect with influential people in the industry you wish to work in. By being involved in their circles you can see who they connect with, what their tweets are about, what their interests are etc. It will give you a feel for the industry you want to work in and keep you clued in to what is going on.

Tweets about “#jobfairy”

Keith Byrne

Digital media manager at NCU Training

Making a great CV

A well made CV is your passport to a world of opportuinity. In this Series of blog posts, Geraldine White discusses what makes a great CV by giving pointers, tips and tutorials on CV building, cover letter writing, references and interviews.

Here are some tips to follow when writing your CV:

Professionally presented (well structured in chronological order, good grammer, spell checked.)
Simple (less is more.)
Clean, Clear and concise (easy to read.)
Be truthful (integrity is vital.)
Direct (get to key points quickly.)
Regularly update your CV with new achievements, experience etc.
Highlight clearly your strengths & values and how you can use these in the job.
Convince prospective employers you have the right skills, experience, behaviour, & attitude, they are looking for (Better the match – more likely you will be called for interview.)
Ideally 1 or 2 A4 (plain white) pages will impress & impact more than lots of detail spread over 3/4 pages.
Leave out irrelevant or negative information (sell yourself.)
Use headings/sub-headings, bullet points.
Remember First impressions count – a sloppy unprofessional CV will be interpreted as a reflection of the sender.

Geraldine White

CE officer at NCU LTD

Introduction to the NCU Blog

Greetings

Hello all and welcome to the new NCU blog. This blog will help us to share our content with you and will become our watercooler for news and information. We have a number of tutors on board developing original content from tutorials and tips and tricks to articles and informative resources. So watch this space and enjoy.

So what is a blog?

The word “blog” is short for “weblog”. Blogs became popular in the 90’s when web publishing tools where developed allowing the regular internet user to self publish content without any previous html experience. Much like a magazine with it’s various articles contained inside, a blog is an post driven webpage. A post on a blog is much like an article and can contain text, images, video and web applications. Unlike a magazine a blog post has the ability to be interactive as it’s housed on the internet.

Why is a blog important?

The arrival of more portable connected devices means that our hunger for information has increased, to feed this hunger we must stay up to date with current methods of delivering content. A blog is a perfect variable for any website looking to add regular new content. A regularly updated blog will help your website to get repeat traffic as you build subscribers as well as building trust with the more popular search engines.

Keith Byrne

Web Administrator at NCU training.