World Cup Special: Brazil

When the World Cup comes around, the team that usually head the betting odds are Brazil. Having won the tournament a record five times and being the only team to win on every continent it’s been staged on, Brazil are always amongst the favourites and with their flamboyant style of samba football are the team everyone loves to watch.

Now Brazil is starting to make an impact in line with status as a footballing superpower in the jobs market. With one of the world’s fastest growing economies and already with the largest economy in South America, many major companies are expanding into Brazil bringing with them a number of opportunities for graduate employment. Microsoft are one firm who have expanded in to Brazil and have a range of employment opportunities, from sales roles to software development and consultancy, as well as graduate schemes.

However, despite Brazil’s increasing economic stature, large areas of the population are still impoverished. Some 26% of the population of Brazil leave below the poverty line. If working in Brazil isn’t appealing to you, you could try taking up a volunteering opportunity. Latitude is one organisation that provide you with opportunities to work on community projects, like in an orphanage or with street children or environmental projects in the rainforests. At around £1,800 it may not be cheap, but it’s a great way to help people less fortunate, experience another culture and looks good on your CV. A list of other volunteering organisations can be found on the Graduate Prospects website if the schemes Latitude offer don’t appeal to you.

For graduates, Brazil really is Kaka to a graduates Luis Fabiano – always creating opportunities!

Zara Chaudhry, PA to the Head of Service/ Administrator

Read Full Post »

World Cup Special: Portugal

The Portuguese captain Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the world’s highest paid footballer, earning £11m a season at Real Madrid. Unfortunately, Ronaldo’s earning power isn’t reflective of the average Portuguese. Portugal’s economy is one of the worst in the Eurozone. Along with Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain, it is considered to be most at risk of defaulting on it’s debts. With unemployment levels reaching 10% and the government making savage economic cuts, finding work in Portugal is a difficult process.

That’s not to say Portugal is a fruitless destination for graduates. While long term employment may be tricky, it does provide opportunities for ventures which can boost your CV and help you stand out to employers.

Volunteering is a great way to experience another culture and learn new skills to put on your CV. The Canadian Alliance for Development offer a range of short term opportunities for volunteering projects for 18-30 year olds throughout the summer, giving you the opportunity to gain insight into the rural Portuguese landscape and way of life while at the same time give something back to the community.  Please note that these schemes aren’t free and there will be costs involved.

Another way to make yourself stand out is to learn a language. With businesses becoming increasingly multinational, language skills are much sought after by employers. CESA are an organisation offering courses designed to give you the chance to learn Portuguese by immersing yourself into Portuguese culture. The length of the courses vary and are located in either Lisbon or Faro.  Again, these schemes aren’t free and there will be costs involved.

The organisations mentioned above are examples of many that offer opportunities that will help you to increase your employability and learn about Portuguese culture. Others and further information on volunteering or travelling abroad can be found on our Careers Tagged website

Robin Stone – Client Service Officer

Read Full Post »

World Cup Special: It’s Paraguay’s turn!

Adverts for job vacancies based in Paraguay seem to be a rare thing or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that job adverts in English appear to be a rare thing. This isn’t really a surprise when you consider that the official languages of Paraguay are Spanish and Guaraní. I would imagine that anyone skilled in either of these languages would be able to find a great deal more information online than I could. However, here are a handful of websites that might be useful when job hunting in Paraguay:

International JobOnline

Job of Mine

Acciontrabajo Paraguay

Computrabajo Paraguay

Although tracking down job vacancies was difficult, information on voluntary projects is much easier to find so if you are interested in volunteering abroad or perhaps starting a career in development then Paraguay offers a range of opportunities.

Internships with Fundación Paraguaya.

This social enterprise works on innovative plans to reduce poverty and unemployment. They run three key programs focussing on microcredit, education for entrepreneurship and a Self-Sustainable Organic Farm School.

http://www.fundacionparaguaya.org.py/

Internships with Para La Tierra

These internships are aimed specifically at current biology students and recently qualified young scientists looking for some field work experience to help them gain employment after university.

http://www.paralatierra.org/

Other organisations with projects based in Paraguay include:

The Peace Corps (for US citizens) – http://www.peacecorps.gov/

Save the Children – http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/

Kiva (microfinance enterprise) – http://www.kiva.org/fellows/

Paraguay Facts

The Paraguay national football team has reached the second round of the World

Cup three times (1986, 1998 and 2002) but has never progressed any further.

…..and for those of you who could do with a break from the football…did you know that Paraguay is the world’s third largest exporter of soybeans.

Read Full Post »

Volunteer Opportunities for Shanghai Expo 2010

If you are a UCL student interested in a volunteering experience in China, working at the UK pavilion in the upcoming World Expo could be the opportunity you’ve been looking for.

2010 is the year of the World Expo taking place in Shanghai, China, from 1 May to 31 October. A World Expo is an opportunity for participating countries to showcase their achievements in areas such as culture, technology and industrial development, and the Shanghai Expo will be the biggest ever, with nearly 200 countries participating and over 70 million visitors.

The UK is one of the leading participant countries and has developed a stunning UK Pavilion, designed by British designer Thomas Heatherwick, to create a lasting impression with the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Pavilion. The UK has also developed a range of activities for the Expo to enhance cultural, educational and business collaboration and exchange between China and the UK.

The UK Pavilion has now opened up opportunities for volunteers to work at the Pavilion, engaging with Chinese and international visitors. This is an excellent opportunity for all students with an interest in China and we would be grateful if you could pass on the relevant information to all of your students and encourage them to apply.

More information about the volunteer opportunities, along with application details, can be found on the UK’s official website for the Shanghai Expo:

where you can also learn more about the UK Pavilion and the UK’s programme of activity.

The initial deadline for applications is 31 January 2010, but applications will continue to be accepted until the end of February 2010 for people applying from overseas.

All applications and any queries about the volunteer opportunities should be addressed directly to the recruitment company, DTZ, at mailto:hr.pma.sh@dtz.sh.cn

Read Full Post »