NCI Blog

Forget pumpkins, scary ghouls and breaking dentures on a ring in a fruit cake. If you’re a runner, the last weekend in October can only mean Dublin City Marathon time. Hurrah for screaming calf pain, chaffing nether regions and blistered feet.

Placing NCI students in the right jobs is something our Careers & Opportunities team are very good at - so you could say they know a thing or two about the jobseeking process, and have a couple of expert tips and tricks up their sleeves. Here, we've called on their expertise to share these 5 top tips to help you prep like a pro, for your next interview.

The 15th annual edition of the Sunday Times Good University Guide is out; here's what the annual higher education publication had to say about National College of Ireland: "National College of Ireland (NCI) has one of the most effective pedagogic formulas in Irish higher education: with a 2% unemployment rate, the lowest in the country, its focus on business-related courses and training students for work is winning.

The weekend is the ideal time to unwind, put aside your laptop/tablet/phone and enjoy a little downtime. Sounds easy, right? Yet it’s becoming more difficult than ever for people to switch off – even as the evidence mounts about the vital importance of relaxation to the brain.

We love to hear a home-grown success story - especially one that started right here on campus! So we were delighted to hear that the Dublin-based billing software company, Brite:Bill, has recently been acquired by AmDocs in a deal estimated to be worth in the region of €60 to €70 million.

When anyone asks me how I knew Eoin Fennessy, I usually say that we were in college together. That answer is technically true, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. I first met Eoin in September 2003 among a group of students in my first-ever class when I started lecturing in National College of Ireland. Eoin was a brilliant student and deservedly won the special achievement award and the student of the year award at his graduation in 2004. I wouldn’t normally quote from a chant popularised by fans of Liverpool Football Club, being of a different allegiance myself. But there is a chant titled “We all dream of a team of Carraghers”, in tribute to Jamie Carragher. And in an Irish football context there is the chant of “A Team of Gary Breens”. Many times during my lecturing career in NCI, I wished I had a class full of Eoin Fennessys! “A Team of Fennos”!

College can be an exciting, challenging and sometimes terrifying time – but don't worry, we’re here to make the journey a little easier for you. We asked NCI’s staff and faculty to share their best words of wisdom and candid advice, for our new students. Whether you’re a part-time student juggling studies with a full-time job or an undergraduate who’s come straight from school, there should be some tips here to help you navigate your college years.

Let’s face it, there are only really three ways that you can get more done at work: work longer, work harder or work smarter. Our preference is for the latter, which requires being thoughtful about how you manage your energy, as well as how you manage your time. To help you save some of both, we’ve done the hard work for you: here’s our guide to the smartest ways to reach peak productivity and efficiency at work.