Securing your first entry-level graduate job after university can be a challenge. With thousands of other graduates on the market, it’s important for you to stand out from your competition and convince employers that you are the right person for the job.
Finding a graduate job is no easy task, so don’t be disheartened if you receive a few rejections along the way. To maximise your chances for success, we’ve got some valuable tips below.
Networking online and showcasing your skills and experience is an excellent way to get ahead. You should ensure that you have a completed LinkedIn profile that demonstrates your professionalism. Once your profile is looking great, you can start building a valuable network of connections.
Many recruiters also use LinkedIn to look for candidates, so having a strong personal brand on there may result in some opportunities coming to you.
When all of your graduate friends are looking for roles at the same time as you, it’s easy to fall into the trap of constantly comparing yourself to them. It’s important to remember that you have a unique combination of personality, skills and experience. What they are doing and what others want you to do may not necessarily be what’s right for you.
Weigh up what you have to offer and what you want from your career and then make your own decision about the types of roles and companies you will apply for.
Unfortunately, having a degree does not guarantee you a graduate job. Your first role after university may be completely unrelated to your degree and you may not find your dream job right away. There’s no problem with that.
There are plenty of jobs out there that will help you to build transferable skills that support your long-term career goals. Depending on the industries you are interested in, you may need to take an entry-level role where a degree isn’t a requirement, but you can still build up skills and experience there. It may also take you a bit of time to figure out what your dream job is.
Remember, university will already have helped you develop a lot of transferable skills, so even if you go down a completely different route, your degree will not have been a waste of time.
Although your time at university may be over, you’ve still got plenty to learn. Finding a trainee position with plenty of support and training is really important at the start of your career. You will need to start developing your expertise and building strong foundations upon which you can progress and accelerate your career development.
Having some good work experience will undoubtedly help you to stand out from other graduates. Completing work experience or an internship is a great opportunity for you to gain insight into an industry and workplace environment. For some employers, your work experience is even more important than your degree, so it is extremely valuable when applying for jobs. If you have an opportunity to complete some work experience, take it!
Bringing it all together
Starting your graduate job hunt can be daunting, but if you follow the tips above you will increase your chances of success. Finding a graduate job is rarely easy, but every graduate has to do it and there are plenty of fantastic opportunities out there for you.
If you’re looking for a graduate job within a commercial environment be sure to check out our current opportunities. We also recommend uploading your CV to JobsGraduate, where it will be visible to thousands of recruiters and employers.
