What graduates should know before starting the job hunt
You have graduated university and it’s time to start the job search. You are not alone though. Along with you there are thousands of university students graduating this summer. So there is likely to be a number of candidates for every available job and this is where you need to make sure you prepare for what’s ahead. Unlike the headlines though it’s not all doom and gloom it just depends on the industry. You will see numbers like 39 graduates all applying for one job – this was reported last summer as an average with some industries seeing close to 200 whilst other jobs just had 5 or 6.
What sort of role would you be best suited to?
So you know that you are going to have competition but you also know your own strengths and skills. If you don’t it’s time to realise this and start making a list of what you can do, what you excel in, what your strengths and weaknesses are and what you don’t think you would be good at. Once you have compiled this list you can start the job search based on where you think your skills and strengths would be best suited.
Make a shortlist of potential jobs
Once you have searched the many job sites you can start to short list your favourite jobs. Start with what you think you could absolutely do, then what you would really like to do and then lastly list the ones that you would be happy to do but perhaps not the ones that really shout out. You never know – a nice job advertisement and job description won’t always reflect what the job will be like when you are in it day to day.
Get your CV and Social Media profiles up together
Gone are the days when a covering letter and a CV were your only introduction to a potential recruiter. Now there are Social Media sites that will give an employer an overview of you both professionally and personally (which might not be the best thing). Make sure your Linked in profile is both professional and up to date and ensure that your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter settings are such that your information can’t be accessed publicly. You don’t want a recruiter seeing the mess you got in to last weekend after an all day session “socialising”.
Make sure that your CV is knockout! There are websites like graduate job search platform 10minuteswith.com that offer help with this and will give you good help and advice on what your CV should contain and how to write a great CV. Your CV is the first window into your suitability to the role so make sure it does a great job of selling you and why you would be perfect for the role.
Do your research
Not only is the employer able to research you before they offer an interview, you are able to research them. In fact many recruiters will have expected you to have done your research. Google the company, look for their online presence – what’s their Social Media presence like? What can you glean from their Facebook updates? Who are their competitors and what can you see are the differences? Make sure you read their history and about us section on their website and look for testimonials and reviews to see what other people think of them. Reviews will give you a great idea of what sort of company they are perceived as and perhaps what they might be like to work for.
Category: Business and Politics
