Download-Center
In our Download Center you will find useful templates and checklists for a successful application.
Common tips include updating your CV, talking to a career advisor, shaping your online profiles in career networks and searching job portals for suitable positions. However, you may not have read the following advice yet. These tips can play a significant role in finding your first job as a university graduate – a job that could prove to be a stepping stone for your career.
At the moment, you may be doing what many other graduates do in your position – focusing your job search on roles which clearly reflect your degree course or previous work experience; because you think these are most relevant to you and your skills.
The truth is, you don’t need to be pigeon holed by your degree. For instance, just because you have a degree in psychology, that doesn’t mean you should apply only for psychology jobs. You could instead consider roles where elements of this degree could be useful, for instance human resources or teaching. In actual fact, you most likely have a wider range of hidden skills, which deem you suitable for roles you hadn’t considered before.
So, think about positive feedback you were given at school, university, in part time jobs, and even by your friends. Take online aptitude tests to help reveal your best qualities. Write down what you believe your key strengths to be, add these to your CV, and use these as key words when you search on job sites, as well as when you speak to your career advisor or recruiter.
Temporary employment is currently developing into a "new normality". It offers numerous advantages for university graduates:
In short, don’t consider only permanent roles. Open up your mind to temp work – as this can really kick start a graduate’s career. Temp roles can help equip you for the world of work, providing you with some valuable experience, skills and connections, all of which will set you apart from the competition.
Big brand names can look great on a CV, and many will offer brilliant entry level graduate positions. Don’t, however, dismiss smaller, lesser known companies when job searching.
Companies which are smaller in size are often less bureaucratic. Here, you can often act more independently than you can at larger companies and have more opportunities to develop within your position. By starting your career in a smaller business, you will also have more accessibility to senior management, giving you the opportunity to build some key relationships which may work in your favour later down the line.
In short, working for a smaller business can really give your career the boost it needs during its infancy. So, don’t just focus your graduate job search on big brands.
Of course, as a graduate job seeker, you will be spending a large portion of your day looking and applying for jobs, but there are also other things you should be doing to help you find the right graduate job fast:
Periods of unemployment can take their toll on anybody’s well-being, especially a recent graduate going through the transition of student to job seeker.
It is therefore important that you maintain a routine so you stay upbeat and motivated. Get up early and fill your days with productive activity such as job searching, upskilling and networking. Having said that, make sure you take regular breaks to do what you enjoy doing, from seeing friends, to pursuing hobbies and interests. Exercise is also a great way of relieving the stress of finding your first graduate job.
Lastly, don’t compare yourself to your peers, especially if they have already found work. In such situations, just have faith that you are doing the best you can, you simply haven’t found the right opportunity for you yet, but that’s no need to give up or lose hope.
Be sure to do your utmost by following the above advice. Before you know it, you will have found the perfect position to start your professional career.