Are you preparing to enter the job world and start a career, but encounter career lingo that confuses you? You are likely to come across a myriad of jargon throughout your career path. Understanding the career language helps to boost your confidence and be able to negotiate and communicate in a better way with your coworkers and seniors.
Having a sense of common career vocabulary can help you explore interesting career opportunities. If you are looking for career advice for students, you have come to the right place. We have collated a list of commonly used career-linked terms that you need to be familiar with to enhance your career game!
Apprenticeship
An apprenticeship is an amalgamation of paid on-the-job training and related classroom experience. Earning and learning both happen at the same time. Most of the training is done while working for an employer in exchange for a placement opportunity once you achieve a certain level or have reached a set number of hours. An industry expert guides an apprentice and helps them learn from the industry in the real world. A wide range of industries like healthcare, IT, and construction, offer apprenticeships to help develop essential soft skills that can add great value to your resume. Experienced professionals will typically suggest apprenticeships as sound career advice for students.
Career expo
A career expo, or recruitment fair, is a campus event where companies set up booths to recruit students for internships or jobs. You can walk around the expo to discover what each different company has to offer and then apply to the most suited jobs. These expos also give you the chance to introduce yourself to potential employers and build relationships with them. Career fairs provide avenues for networking, which is crucial for a successful career.
Certified
In today’s competitive job market, certifications help to provide an extra edge to a resume. When you get certified in your field, it enables you to verify your legitimacy and competence to perform a job. One can only be certified after clearing appropriate assessments administered by a recognized third-party credentialing institution. Your certification serves as a declaration that you have been trained to meet specific criteria for your role.
Follow-up
Follow-up can have different meanings depending on if you are applying for a job, or already in a job. On your job application, following up is the act of calling, emailing, or taking updates from your potential employer. It is a reminder to the employer about your job application and encourages them to review it. Following up with an employer is a crucial part of job hunting. Many organizations also receive a lot of job applications, so there might be a possibility that your application gets lost. Once you are in a job, follow-up can refer to taking updates from your team about a task or project.
Gravy
Who doesn’t like financial rewards and other compensation? Well, that is what “gravy” refers to in a corporate job. It includes the other remuneration that an employee gets apart from a paycheck, such as benefits like health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, prescription drug coverage, vacation days, holiday time, sick days, financial aid for tuition, and retirement plans. Different types of jobs offer distinct benefits plans. Full-time jobs typically offer different benefits packages than part-time jobs.
Informational interview
Networking is imperative when you move forward in your career. Informational interviews serve the same purpose. It is a chance to learn more about the responsibilities, growth, and opportunities of a role to gain insight into an industry. An informational interview is conducted by a candidate before the actual interview to get first-hand information about a job or company. It helps you to determine whether a given career is a good fit for you and how you should prepare for it.
Internship
Most of you are familiar with this one for sure. An internship is a short period of work that an organization offers to gain work experience. It is usually for a limited period of time to gain entry-level exposure. Internships are undertaken to learn about a particular industry, make new connections, and develop both hard and soft skills to enhance your career opportunities.
Missive
No, this isn’t a reference to a missile that will launch your career at the word “Go!” Rather, it is another term for a cover letter – a document sent along with a resume that provides additional information about your relevant skills and experiences for the job you are applying for. A missive, or cover letter, gives a brief synopsis of a resume and creates the first impression. In a cover letter, you can describe how your work experience matches the job responsibilities, your desire to work at a company, and how your skills will prove useful to the organization.
Offer letter
This one’s a no-brainer. An offer letter is an official document sent by the employer to the employee when they are selected for the job. It includes the terms and conditions of the organization along with the job description and benefits. It also acts as proof that all the terms and conditions have been agreed upon by both parties.
Transferable skills
Transferable skills, also known as soft skills, are interpersonal skills and personality traits such as communication skills, teamwork, dependability, adaptability, flexibility, and leadership. Soft skills are required across various industries and sectors. Transferable skills develop from childhood and keep improving as we grow in life.
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While some of these terms might be confusing initially, slowly and steadily you will get a hold of them. Different stages of a career might be challenging, but at least you now know how to say what you’re doing as you’re doing it with the proper career lingo. With this cool career lingo giving you confidence, you can boldly find your ideal career from an interesting careers list. If you want expert career advice for students, reach out to us at LaunchMyCareer. Book a 1-on-1 session today!
