Advice wanted on graduate roles

PupPup

Evening all,


I graduated in 2008 but have not yet (for various reasons) applied for any graduate roles. I have been in work of various kinds, but most of it is what I would call entry-level work, in so much as it required very little in the way of academic qualifications.


I am now feeling ready to venture away from my little home community and have found 10 graduate roles that I am interested in, all based in London (which seems to have a lot more of the kind of roles that I'm interested in).


Academically, I am qualified for all of these roles. I don't quite have relevant experience for all of them, but I do for about 3. I do feel that I would be able to learn the new skills quickly and that my lack of experience should not been seen as a major drawback (although I may be wrong on that, of course!).


Yet I find myself reluctant to forge ahead and hit the 'apply' button. I've spent hours blankly staring at my CV and wondering how to word decent covering letters. I just feel plain scared to apply.


Some of it is that I very often get my hopes up and convince myself I've got the job and am then gutted when I hear nothing back or get the generic 'thanks, but no thanks' email. And the rest is worrying that they'll think I'm a fraud and wonder why I've been sat in 'ordinary' jobs for the last 6 years instead of looking at graduate roles from the beginning.


Any advice anyone could offer would be greatly received.


Thanks in advance,


PupPup

bristol_pilot

Well you have probably blown it for graduate entry company schemes because most companies looking for recent graduates specify must have graduated within past 2 years. However no reason why you cannot apply for direct entry for roles requiring a degree and using the experience you have gained in the past 6 years.

PupPup

Thank you for your advice


The jobs I have earmarked to apply for do not say anything about you needing to be a recent graduate, just that they require graduates with minimum 2.ii or 2.i degree in any subject or in my subject, which was English and Creative Writing (well, they ask for English, so I assume I should be okay?).


I did figure it was too late to apply for some of the specific graduate schemes, although I did apply for 5 such schemes in the final months of uni and all but one rejected me due to lack of experience!


Thanks again for your help. I will have another look at my CV and maybe send it to my manager for some advice.


PupPup

El_Torro

Well, the market is flooded with recent and not so recent graduates applying for the few graduate jobs that are out there so if you're not used to rejection I reckon you soon will be. Not very helpful or friendly advice, I know...

On a more positive note, I would start thinking about what skills and experience the last six years have taught you, and how this makes you a more suitable candidate than someone who has recently graduated. The fact that you haven't had a graduate job til now might put some employers off so it's important that you spin it positively and try to differentiate yourself from all the other graduates out there.

PupPup

Hi, thanks for the advice I will make a list of the skills I've gained through my employment and outside interests since then.


I am very used to rejection, lol! When I first graduated I must have applied for at least 200 jobs (or so it felt!) before finally getting a Christmas temp job that got made permanent.


Hopefully my interest in learning new skills and adaptability across different sectors will be in my favour. I know a lot of people from my graduating class who basically said they wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than 30k, where I just went out and worked on any job I could as being employed seemed the better option, no matter how irrelevant the job seemed to my overall career goals.


Thanks again for the help


PupPup

IYKWIM

PupPup wrote: »

I know a lot of people from my graduating class who basically said they wouldn't get out of bed for anything less than 30k, where I just went out and worked on any job I could as being employed seemed the better option, no matter how irrelevant the job seemed to my overall career goals.

Not to disagree with you, a lot of this is subjective, but settling for any job can be quite detrimental to one's career. Holding 6 months for a job paying £25k is better than going straight into a dead end job on £15k.

Just apply you have nothing to lose. Who cares if they read your CV and laugh? You will never know or see them again.

amiehall

PupPup wrote: »

Thank you for your advice


The jobs I have earmarked to apply for do not say anything about you needing to be a recent graduate, just that they require graduates with minimum 2.ii or 2.i degree in any subject or in my subject, which was English and Creative Writing (well, they ask for English, so I assume I should be okay?).


I did figure it was too late to apply for some of the specific graduate schemes, although I did apply for 5 such schemes in the final months of uni and all but one rejected me due to lack of experience!


Thanks again for your help. I will have another look at my CV and maybe send it to my manager for some advice.


PupPup

I'm sorry but this will just plainly not be true... Basically no graduate scheme expects direct experience in the area. However, if you don't have a mixture of work experiences (bar work or anything...) and extra curricular stuff like sports or societies, then you would struggle to perform well at a competency interview.

I would say that many schemes would be open to a not so recent graduate but, as someone who took some years out before uni, I would say expect to be grilled on what you were doing and why. That was all anyone wanted to talk to me about...

IYKWIM

amiehall wrote: »

I'm sorry but this will just plainly not be true... Basically no graduate scheme expects direct experience in the area. However, if you don't have a mixture of work experiences (bar work or anything...) and extra curricular stuff like sports or societies, then you would struggle to perform well at a competency interview.

I would say that many schemes would be open to a not so recent graduate but, as someone who took some years out before uni, I would say expect to be grilled on what you were doing and why. That was all anyone wanted to talk to me about...

It is true. Many of the old school professions, banking, lawyering, accounting etc expect you to have internships in the field.

Sanne

IYKWIM wrote: »

Not to disagree with you, a lot of this is subjective, but settling for any job can be quite detrimental to one's career. Holding 6 months for a job paying £25k is better than going straight into a dead end job on £15k.
/QUOTE]

That's if you can support yourself during those six month (or have parents helping out).

I'd say just go for it - you've got nothing to lose!

Alternatively, are there any entry level roles you could apply for in your chosen field where you can work your way up rather than doing "unrelated" work?

Sharon87

I also graduated in 2008 so I remember the tough times of job hunting back then, getting any job was an achievement. It took me 8 months to get a permanent job after uni (in London, non graduate job) and another year to get into the field I wanted to get into.

What kind of field are you looking to get into and what kind of work have you been doing since 2008? If we know more details we may be able to give more tailored advice as oppose to just 'just go for it' or something.

GoldenShadow

I was going to ask more specifically what you're looking for too.

Some companies do want masses of experience. Just like some want very recent graduates. The NHS do not take recent grads only, and it doesn't matter if you don't have experience. I'm fresh out of uni and starting with them in Sept. The only experience I have is working part time in retail for three years and volunteering at a riding school for disabled people for the same amount of time. No internships etc. Another company offered me a grad scheme too, but I am not sure how recently you need to have graduated for them. Despite the lower grad starting salary compared to some, the NHS grad scheme has a very good reputation. Applications for that open in October.