Job hunting as a Graduate

The_doomed

Graduated in June and not found a career yet. Any suggestions for best way to find something?

At present Im running search agents on monster.co.uk and s1jobs.com (scotland) on a daily basis & im applying for various grad jobs (ie with Sept 2008 starts)

Ive experience in sales, retail, IT, pro sport. Looking for general management, sales or IT career.

Anyone able to help?

EDIT: Im in Edinburgh but willing to relocate

Voyager2002

I think you are looking at too many things, and so must come over as not sufficiently committed to any one of them. Try narrowing your focus a little. And general management is only for the very brightest with stunning CVs: a good way in is the Unilever graduate programme, but it is as competitive as 'fast track' in the Civil Service.

The_doomed

I know what you mean but when talking to anyone I can tune my script accordingly. Trainee IT Management / General management is my core focus

m277

Have you tried looking at graduate recruitment websites such as Milkround and doctorjob? Have you submitted applications/CVs to the various firms within the fields you're looking at? Are these applications getting you interviews?

Your first stop should really be the careers service provided by your last uni. You will be entitled to use their services for a number of years after you've graduated. Ask them to check over your CVs and applications. They should also be able to point you in the right direction and have info on most of the companies you can apply to. Most graduate positions don't specify a degree but they might for IT.

Most companies advertising grad jobs will have people available to answer questions. Contact them, see what kind of person they want and what they look for. Ask for advice on what to read up on etc.

[Deleted User]

There's loads of graduate fairs on at the moment, might be worth a look

pinkshoes

Lost of companies run management graduate schemes, so try looking on www.milkround.co.uk as a starting point for jobs starting either September or January 2008. In the mean time, I'd take any job you can!

IT jobs mean you're also competing against those who are self taught with no degree. An IT assistant pays around £15k in a large company, although this varies alot.

I would concentrate on getting on to a graduate scheme,and making sure your CV is going to stand out above everyone else.

HannaB

Graduate scheme places tend to go like hot cakes. It's very competative and there's always someone with a "First" with slightly more experience than you, expecially in IT (sorry to put a dampener on things, maybe it's just because I'm living in the south east).

I used reed.co.uk to find my current job, they advertise both agency and direct employer jobs. They even have a "grad" section. My first job out of Uni though I found in my local paper. It wasn't a grad scheme, but having a degree put my foot in the door.

Be warned about sites that advertised "Graduate jobs" or "Pay off your student debts!!", unless you're willing to cold call sell and work entirely for commisson.

scooterpig

If you're in Edinburgh then the bulk of the graduate scheme jobs are in financial services. However, to be honest, it's too late for 2007, and probably for some 2008 grad scheme places as well.

As someone who's been through a very prestigious graduate scheme, in Edinburgh, I can give a few pointers. Firstly, very, very few graduate scheme places are filled with people fresh out of uni. Most get a year or two's experience with a big organisation before joining a graduate scheme. I spent 18 months as a general operational assistant in a bank before joining a graduate scheme with another financial institution. This company took nearly 30 graduates across their various schemes. NOT ONE was straight out of uni - we all had anything up to 5 years experience. From friends in other organisations, I know this was also the case of their schemes. It was also true of the graduate schemes in the bank in which I worked initially (interestingly, they also never took internal graduate scheme candidates).

Secondly, please don't view a graduate scheme as a holy grail. Even a good scheme will get you doing some really rubbish jobs, and on some schemes salaries are pegged so you could actually be better off doing the same job not via a graduate scheme.

Thirdly, be careful about getting pigeonholed - going down a graduate scheme route can make it much harder to switch direction in your industry. There can be an expectation that they've invested a lot in training you, therefore they expect you to stick to particular role for x length of time. Not always a good thing.

Fourthly, it's absolutely vital to ensure your scheme is properly managed throughout. I went through a period where I had no manager, mentor or formal role for many months. Functioning effectively in an industry where you're inexperienced can be really tough when you've no support.

Fifthly, consider from day one where you want to be at the end of the graduate scheme, and ensure that there's still room to grow beyond that. I finished my scheme to join a role in a team in which I'd performed well during the scheme. It was a done deal: HR had clocked I'd done well there and next thing I was joining that team with no real input into whether it was what I wanted. But the team had changed beyond all recognition in the period in between and instead of being small, creative and innovative it had become hugely bureaucratic and cumbersome. Everyone's roles had become so tightly defined it was impossible to grow. Which is why, after stying another couple of years, I opted to leave.

In terms of your current situation, I would sharpen up your CV and post it on S1jobs and the like, and encourage the recruiters to contact you. It's also worth getting appointments with the various recruitment consultancies; get your face known, and also get a feel for which consultancies represent which employers, and whether the jobs they have are worth having! It's also worth keeping in touch with these guys periodically - you never know when you'll need them in the future!

There are plenty of jobs in Edinburgh, but the recruitment process is not fast, so you will need to be patient. It can easily take several months from pitching your CV to getting started.

Good luck!

ka7e

Don't overlook the (quite well-structured) career opportunities in places like the NHS, Local Government and civilian Police posts.

tiamaria

My son finds himself in a similar position. He graduated in June with a 2:1 Mathematics with computing degree. He has tried banks, accountancy, data/fraud analyst posts & other financial institutions and has put his CV online. To date he has only had 1 interview but has lost count of the jobs he has applied for. Unfortunately the lack of practical experience has meant he has been unsuccessful.

I always encouraged him to go to Uni but I'm not so sure now that I gave him the right advice

I will show him this link as there are some useful suggestions he may have missed. However, at the moment he is rather disillusioned & will be starting work at the local burger bar tomorrow:o :sad:

Jazzyjeff_2

tiamaria wrote: »

My son finds himself in a similar position. He graduated in June with a 2:1 Mathematics with computing degree. He has tried banks, accountancy, data/fraud analyst posts & other financial institutions and has put his CV online. To date he has only had 1 interview but has lost count of the jobs he has applied for. Unfortunately the lack of practical experience has meant he has been unsuccessful.

I always encouraged him to go to Uni but I'm not so sure now that I gave him the right advice

I will show him this link as there are some useful suggestions he may have missed. However, at the moment he is rather disillusioned & will be starting work at the local burger bar tomorrow:o :sad:

He needs to get some temporary office work to boost his practical experience, working in a burger bar won't do that much for him at this point in his career. If he gets some office experience in finance then he will be in a much better position to apply to better jobs. Has he sent his CV to companies / registered with agencies / looked on the internet? You have to put the effort in if you want a job after uni.