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With traditional education focusing on theoretical knowledge, there is a lack of skill-focused learning which makes it difficult for students to enter the workplace. According to a research study, 44% of graduates are unsure and unable to decide on what they would like to pursue after graduation. Career exploration coupled with acquiring the skills required to transition into the real world is important to help students and recent graduates pursue full-time positions.
Meet Maryum…
Maryum Usmani is a recent graduate based in London, UK with a keen interest towards learning. Having completed traditional education, she felt like there was more she wanted to learn new skills and explore new pathways. This led her to the Qureos platform where she found unconventional methods to learn and apply the skills through a practical hands-on approach. As a focused and driven learner, she explored the various learning opportunities available through Qureos and took advantage of them according to her level of interest in the proficiencies.
As a student or recent graduate who is looking for opportunities, experience, and exposure, how to upskill through Qureos?
5 seamless ways to upskill and up-lead yourself!
#1 – Learn through Qureos Live Community Events
We currently have community events under the following categories: Sales & Marketing, Data Science, Content & Translation, Graphic Design, with many more being added every month. Apprentices receive extensive training to improve their knowledge, presentation and communication skills through live mentor-led conference calls, mentor feedback and peer interaction.
I joined the Qureos community specifically because I wanted to learn new skills
Under the guidance of proficiency-specific mentors, Maryum grabbed every opportunity to learn through the cohorts. She completed and graduated from the lead generation, content marketing, content writing and market research cohorts as one of the top scorers. We loved the urgency and drive Maryum showed along with her initiative to learn as much as she possibly could through the platform.
#2 – Learn from Industry Professionals
In-depth, self-paced, and tutor-led guides on a variety of essential topics and skills that are valuable in the business world. I especially like the fact that the activities are set at a higher standard of work, and you are constantly being pushed to refine your skills further, whether that is in analysis, presentation, or communicative style.
All boot camps, webinars, AMA sessions and learning opportunities are hosted and led by professionals who have many years of experience in the industry. Qureos mentors always go the extra mile and help nurture apprentices through extensive feedback, sharing reading material and suggestions for improvement. Having mentors with practical knowledge adds a lot of value to the apprentice’s learning experience.
With practical and relevant webinars or mentor sessions for topics like, ‘content marketing for business growth’, ‘website optimization for conversions in 2021’, ‘fundamentals of SEM’, etc, Maryum signed up for many webinars and utilized these opportunities to connect with industry professionals who could share insights and guidance.
#3 – Learn through Simulated Projects
Qureos cohorts and boot camps are a combination of two elements: Mentor sessions and simulated projects.
Through the mentor sessions, apprentices engage in cohort-based learning through live calls where topics are taught with practical applications and industry case studies. After the mentor sessions, apprentices have to apply everything they have learned to a simulated project for a real company. Based on the environment, industry and region, apprentices have to apply their learnings and create well-researched submissions. According to a recent Harvard study, active learning methods where students learn and apply the concepts to real scenarios are the most effective in helping them solidify their learning.
The deadlines have helped in setting realistic, manageable goals, and becoming more efficient. Working with Qureos helped me learn, research, and apply new business skills, such as working in Word, Excel, and utilising advanced features when presenting my work.
By working on simulated projects, we saw Maryum’s quality of work improve and how she was able to manage her time to meet the task deadlines. She learned to plan her work priorities and submit high-quality well-researched submissions for every simulated project within a cohort.
#4 – Learn through Mentorship
According to the CNBC/SurveyMonkey Workplace Happiness Survey, 91% of professionals with a mentor are ‘satisfied’ and ‘happy’ with their careers and work. Qureos mentors are passionate about giving back to the student community and understand that their role is to be dependable, authentic and engaging. They help nurture apprentices by reviewing the apprentice’s progress during the course of a cohort and providing effective feedback. Mentors look at both conceptual understanding along with practical application in real scenarios to help the apprentice improve the quality of their work.
Having a mentor at hand to message, interact, and learn from is also very valuable, and enriches the learning experience. Being able to take on small, mini-projects allow you to further consolidate your learning, as well as build a portfolio of work that can be helpful in obtaining future work. Qureos provides a wide range of exciting mentors for their one-on-one mentorship sessions.
Maryum worked closely with the mentors assigned to cohorts and projects to receive feedback and find ways to improve the overall quality of her work. She was very proactive in asking questions, inquiring about concepts, sharing her flow of thought for submissions and requesting extra reading material.
#5 – Learn through Paid Corporate Projects
According to NACE, 91% of employers prefer to hire employees with previous work experience and 65% prefer candidates with relevant experience within a similar industry or function. Corporate projects on the platform allow apprentices to work with our corporate partners from all over the world. Apprentices can apply the skills learned from cohorts, solidify the learning, earn compensation for every project and build their portfolio. A mentor is assigned and always available to apprentices when they work on paid projects to help them understand the description, map out a game plan, review the work, and offer ideas.
The set work was very similar to the exercises you complete in a cohort, my overall experience was very valuable, as it teaches you to focus on generally-valued skills, such as attention to detail, reading the brief very carefully, and quality over quantity.
As a content marketing & writing apprentice, Maryum worked extensively with a UK-based career solutions firm and helped increase their online visibility through content. By creating SEO-optimized content for the firm’s blogs, Maryum received a high rating for every piece of work she completed and has been growing as a content marketer.
What’s Next for Maryum?
As a super active member of the Qureos community, Maryum is driven to keep learning and growing through the platform. She plans to join some of the upcoming cohorts specifically on marketing analytics, SEO, presentation skills and data entry. She is passionate about undertaking more market research-related corporate projects and wants to partner with agencies that are looking for apprentices with a keen interest in research. While she is an excellent content marketer, she wants to pivot and tackle more technical subjects as part of her career goals for the future. In her free time, she enjoys gardening, running, and reading.
How Can Qureos Help You?
Qureos can help you connect with like-minded learners from all over the world, acquire practical hands-on skills through industry professional-led sessions and gain work experience by collaborating with corporates while building your portfolio.
Signing up as an apprentice on Qureos is a quick 2-minute process. If you’d like to learn more about all the buzz at Qureos, contact us or check out our socials!
