Jobhunting...in particular Graduate Schemes

trekka_2

Is it me or is it incredibly mind-blowingly depressing?

I've got 2 IT-based degrees (BEng and BSc), have experience of working in the USA for 2 years and have experience of volunteering in Peru yet nobody will give me a chance based on the fact that I have no relevant experience or aren't the best of the best of the best on the outcome of their assessment centres...phew that was a long sentence!

Ideally I wish to able to be part of a company with a good graduate scheme so I'm always developing and learning as I go. This is proving to be a big problem however

Any tips/advice?

clairehi

Have you looked at this site:

https://www.ktponline.org.uk

Oldernotwiser

You may need to consider relevant unpaid work as a way to break the vicious cycle of "no experience no job". The Prospects website is good for graduate recruitment, recruitment fairs and work placements

http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/p!eLaXi

Good luck.

Lakeuk

You could try contract to get the networking and get experience on the cv

https://www.jobserve.com


don't know anything on graduate recruitment, but you could try searching google for graduate + company, example I came up with:-

http://www.axa.co.uk/careers/graduates/itgp/index.html

peter999

trekka wrote: »

Is it me or is it incredibly mind-blowingly depressing?

I've got 2 IT-based degrees (BEng and BSc), have experience of working in the USA for 2 years and have experience of volunteering in Peru yet nobody will give me a chance based on the fact that I have no relevant experience or aren't the best of the best of the best on the outcome of their assessment centres...phew that was a long sentence!

Ideally I wish to able to be part of a company with a good graduate scheme so I'm always developing and learning as I go. This is proving to be a big problem however

Any tips/advice?

What are your friends/colleagues doing ??

What are your degrees in ??

Nowadays there are so many more students in higher education & tighter economy/labour market.

peter999

trekka_2

Thanks for the replies everybody.

My 2 degrees are BSc Computer Information Technology and BEng Computer Interactive Systems. I'm more focused towards the interactive side of computing and that's really where my passion lies, in particular human-computer interaction and user-centred design. I've been to various final selection events with the likes of Microsoft, DML Devonport, Chep, General Motors - to name a few and only failed those at the last hurdle so to speak... so I know how demoralising they can be when to put it bluntly the competition for those few graduate places is so severe. I'm quite proud in the fact that I got to the final stages of those however - it's just taking that further step that is the big problem

In response to Peter999 - the latest news I know of my colleagues from both Universities I went to have ended up as far diverse as joining the Police, the Royal Navy and even changing expertise totally to train to become teachers and even social workers as they too found it extremely difficult in the IT marketplace of today.

I would like to think that the fairly unique experience I have of volunteering within the Andes helping with local community initiatives would benefit me in the long run, as would being a supervisor (as part of the Camp America programme) that I did for two summers in the USA. Whether that experience will help me with my career remains to be seen.

Anyway, I'm waffling now

Once again, thanks for the replies - it's most appreciated. I'll try and keep you posted as to how I'm getting on in the future.

Lakeuk

This maybe something, just came up today, although expect lots of competition

http://www.bbc.co.uk/jobs/projectbbct/

User Interface Designers
We're looking for someone who can turn an idea into beautiful and usable digital content. You could be part of a dynamic team of standards-based designers turning out next-generation content for teenagers. You'll need to be able to turn out rapid prototypes, define information architecture, apply and refine design choices as well as work with programmers and writers to make it happen. Mastery of CSS and HTML would be a real bonus. Solid understanding of AJAX , javascript and emerging web technologies is a must.

SoozyJ22

It looks like you're going though all the big milkround companies, have you considered going for jobs at smaller companies? I work for a small IT company (about 70 employees in the UK) and we have a budget to take a few graduates each year. It's not at all the area that you're interested, but there should be similar companies in that area that you could find given some good research. We don't expect graduates to have any experience, but we do expect them to do well in a couple of aptitude test, and then we provide full training.

There are some good advantages to joining a smaller company. I joined as a graduate (with no relevant work experience and a non-IT degree) when we were owned by a larger company, but my area was so different to everything else my training was a lot different to others - which they were doing four 6 month stints in different departments all at a trainee level, I was unofficially promoted after 6 months and formally after a year and running teams of people a lot of years my senior. I'd never have got that in a large organisation.

If you were really set on working for one of the big companies, then getting some experience in a smaller company like that would still look really good if you built up some more experience and then changed jobs.

You're obviously good if you can get to the last stage of the selection processes, so a good small company should be glad to take you on.

Woby_Tide

Not ideal but also is it worth maybe looking at the more higher intake graduate jobs (i.e. programmers) within these larger companies. Once you are in the door and proving yourself(which should be no problem going from what you say) it should then be easier to move into the areas of work you aspire to as an employee rather than a recruit.


(like the housing market, you aspire to end up in a big house but start with a flat, it's always a temporary option but also a stepping sone to the future)