Where to find jobs?

Oldernotwiser

steveandel wrote: »

1) The plan is for her to get as much temp work as possible before August (when we get married ) and be looking for more permanent jobs starting in August. :

I'm sorry that you see me as being unduly critical but the situation doesn't seem to be improving. We're now in May and you say she's going to start looking for permanent work in August! Don't you realise that the most organised of the 2007 graduates will have been in work for a couple of months by this point so she's missed out on this year's graduate recruitment as well. You said earlier that she couldn't look for jobs last December because she didn't know when she'd be moving; surely she could have moved immediately she got a job?

You say that you're looking for helpful hints, so here's one. Get on with it! Stop putting things off because of boyfriend's job, buying a house, getting married, burying the budgerigar etc. The longer a young graduate wastes between graduation and employment then the harder it will be for her to get a graduate position. At the very least she could have been doing further training, voluntary work or gaining new skills. You really can't put employment on the back burner while you perfect every other aspect of your life, particularly someone like your girlfriend who's still unclear in her career aims. I've meant these comments constructively and if you'd stop being so defensive you'd see that.

steveandel

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

I'm sorry that you see me as being unduly critical but the situation doesn't seem to be improving. We're now in May and you say she's going to start looking for permanent work in August! Don't you realise that the most organised of the 2007 graduates will have been in work for a couple of months by this point so she's missed out on this year's graduate recruitment as well. You said earlier that she couldn't look for jobs last December because she didn't know when she'd be moving; surely she could have moved immediately she got a job?

You say that you're looking for helpful hints, so here's one. Get on with it! Stop putting things off because of boyfriend's job, buying a house, getting married, burying the budgerigar etc. The longer a young graduate wastes between graduation and employment then the harder it will be for her to get a graduate position. At the very least she could have been doing further training, voluntary work or gaining new skills. You really can't put employment on the back burner while you perfect every other aspect of your life, particularly someone like your girlfriend who's still unclear in her career aims. I've meant these comments constructively and if you'd stop being so defensive you'd see that.

Actually you misunderstood what I wrote. I didn't mean she will start looking in August. I meant she'll temp for the moment as much as she can whilst looking for more permanent jobs (ideally which could have a start date in August )

3plus1

I don't understand why your OH didn't apply for any of the graduate schemes (except the HA one, you mentioned that). A few are starting in August this year, but most are starting around September, and she should have been applying for those jobs back in November/December. As it is, she's missed the boat for this year. The big 4 are still recruiting... but that's pretty much it. Have a look on Milkround.com for the dregs that are left.

Limiting herself to Leeds is going to cut down her work opportunities - and after spending a year abroad, honestly, you'd think she'd be used to living away from home and living to a budget to reflect the increased costs of that.

I've got plenty of temping experience in admin/office based roles - the fact that I'm a student is irrelevant - I get given assignments because of my typing speed, experience with certain programmes and switchboards, knowledge of rival companies... All that jazz. And when it comes to office work - yes, experience is more important than a degree. I know a lovely girl who graduated two years ago, who has a very good 2:1 in languages, but who can't use a computer to save her life. Doesn't know what a table is, or even the tab key. She just rests her hand on the space bar for 5 minutes every time she wants a gap in the document... It would take a damn sight longer than 2 days to train her up for an admin job, and I know she won't mind me saying that because it's true!

A 2:1 in Modern European Languages at the University of Durham is not a ticket to success on its own. And you can hardly accuse me of being some jealous moron who's never been to university and is just slating all degrees for the hell of it - I'm about to graduate in the very same degree as your OH from the very same university, so forgive my blunt honesty on this topic. Durham is just another university, and languages, albeit useful, are not actually required by very many companies, so at the end of the day, your OH is an arts graduate with no experience.

Might not even be fluent in any languages - I know of several people who are on course to gain a 2:1 who are just embarrassing when they try to speak in foreign languages. She could easily have picked English taught electives and got away with a 2:1 despite doing badly in any one core language module, as it's only a 1/6 of your mark in 2nd year and 4th year. I'm not saying your OH isn't fluent or anything - I'm saying that it's highly possible for a graduate of her degree to not be, and as such, I would forgive any employer for treating the degree with a pinch of salt.

My suggestion is to plan something constructive now for the upcoming year - temping work, voluntary work, maybe even a stint working abroad (especially if she did Erasmus and didn't work during her year abroad) and apply for each and every graduate scheme when they reopen in October 2007. Big companies really dig the "corporate social responsibility" thing, so she could get involved with a couple of charity marathons and that would give her some serious brownie points. (Plus transferable skills: handling money, organisation, time management, commitment to a task, etc.)

She's missed the boat for this year, but what she can do, is work very hard to make herself look employable by the big names, before the milkround kicks off again. Combining paid temping work with voluntary work and experience abroad is going to really do her some favours.

I only know of two people in the class of 2007 who have lined up a graduate job directly related to languages - the rest of us are branching out into other subjects, doing a postgraduate degree, or fleeing abroad to put off work for another year. The department has been pushing a company called Per Temps (https://www.pertemps.co.uk) this year, as they offer languages jobs - but the pay is about 10k lower than certain graduate schemes that we're all eligible to apply for. This is one of the main reasons why a lot of us have given up on using our languages in our careers...

As for things like your wedding and finding a house taking up time - there are several people graduating this year who have managed to plan a wedding and find a job. One of my close friends is in fact getting married soon, and managed to juggle co-ordinating the happy day with revising for her finals. And I have every confidence in her to get a 2:1.

I'd say more, but I fear I've already offended you.

My point is, you need a degree for a career. But you also need a lot more than just a degree - and a degree from the University of Durham is not anything special to write home about!

Oldernotwiser

3plus1 wrote: »

As for things like your wedding and finding a house taking up time - there are several people graduating this year who have managed to plan a wedding and find a job. One of my close friends is in fact getting married soon, and managed to juggle co-ordinating the happy day with revising for her finals. And I have every confidence in her to get a 2:1.

I have to add that these time management and multi tasking skills are just what employers of looking for. For goodness sake don't let her tell employers that she can't look for a house and work at the same time or manage to organise a wedding and do job applications simultaneously. She'll be making herself virtually unemployable!

steveandel

I think people have got the wrong end of the stick here slightly. I never meant to imply that a good degree in itself would ensure you a job, nor did I mean to devalue the extra skills which employers look for - I am fully aware of them myself having gone through the same process. I was just hoping for some advice really, which I have got, whether I agree with it all or not!

She has already planned to look for and apply to more graduate schemes this autumn so hopefully something will come up then.

As for looking for jobs outside of Leeds, my job is in Leeds and we have just bought a house so Leeds and the surrounding area and York are the only realy possible locations for a job for her. I'm sure she'll find something though.

newcook

before I started temping the only jobs I had had were in travel agencies which use their own in-house computer systems etc. I wanted to do admin work and I was willing to start from the bottom and be paid a low wage as I had no office experience. I was offered a position of office junior and within 3 months I had learnt all the microsoft packages as well as how to use a busy switchboard - these ongoing skills have set me up for life and (touch wood) I have never been out of work.

there are a lot of companies who are willing to train staff but will only pay min wage - if your daughter is asking the agencies for say £7-8+ per hour and she has had none or hardly any office experience then she is likely to wait a while for a job TBH as the people leaving school are willing to work for a lot less just so they can get the experience to help get better jobs in say 6 months time.

if she really wants some work experience she will need to be willing to work for min wage - degree or no degree!

Oldernotwiser

steveandel wrote: »

As for looking for jobs outside of Leeds, my job is in Leeds and we have just bought a house so Leeds and the surrounding area and York are the only realy possible locations for a job for her. I'm sure she'll find something though.

It's only an hour by train to Manchester from Leeds and less than that to Sheffield. There are many towns within commuting distance; you really can't be too picky!

To answer your initial post (where to find jobs): local papers, national papers, the internet, Jobcentres, agencies, friends and family, job fairs, speculative letters,university careers office. That should keep her busy!
Good luck!

3plus1

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

It's only an hour by train to Manchester from Leeds and less than that to Sheffield. There are many towns within commuting distance; you really can't be too picky!

To answer your initial post (where to find jobs): local papers, national papers, the internet, Jobcentres, agencies, friends and family, job fairs, speculative letters,university careers office. That should keep her busy!
Good luck!

I know it's not ideal, but when you consider how far people commute to work in London, it puts it into perspective really, doesn't it?

I think temp work for the moment (big names like Manpower, Adecco and Reeds are all good), combined with some volunteering (google a specific charity or try http://www.do-it.org.uk) would be a good stop gap. In my experience, the best place to find a graduate job really is milkround.com. They've had the most vacancies advertised compared to other sites.

The Careers Advisory Service at Durham is a bit rubbish, but it's full of really good brochures and books and things that she's free to consult and/or take away with her. If she's really lacking direction, she could make an appointment with an adviser. (She's got 5 years from her graduation date to make full use of the CAS.) I'd advise making a trip back to Durham around October time, to make full use of the resources there.

I think there are a few graduate job fairs still left - there's one in London on the 5th, for example: http://www.summergradfair.co.uk/

Oldernotwiser

Most university careers offices have reciprocal arrangements with others. She should be able to use the careers service at LeedsUniversity.
http://careerweb.leeds.ac.uk/graduates/index.asp
This careers fair should also be useful, on 7th June.
http://www.graduatesyorkshire.co.uk/recruitmentfair/