Archive for the ‘University’ Category


Graduate jobs need not be excessively stressful to find if you know how to get started

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July 24th, 2011

Perhaps the two most well known and most effective ways of finding graduate jobs are to get a place on a graduate scheme, or to get an internship at a company you are interested in.  These are both very sensible ways of making the first step on your chosen career path, and which one you opt for will probably depend on the sector you are looking in.  Those seeking work in marketing, banking or accountancy are likely to follow a different route, for example, than graduates who are interested in publishing, the media or charity work.

There are certainly some jobs in which a graduate scheme will give you the best possible start to your career.  One of the main advantages of this kind of scheme is that you tend to be given experience in different areas of the business, so you will not only make contacts across the business, but you are likely to get a good sense of what area interests you most and is most appropriate to your skills.  In addition, as these schemes are fairly competitive to get onto, the graduates who do succeed in their applications tend to be invested in and treated with the respect that is worthy of their endeavours.  This means that they are often given challenging and interesting work from the outset, and start off with a significant amount of responsibility and often a decent salary.

This can be in contrast to the ‘intern’, who is often at risk of becoming the go-to person for making tea, photocopying, and filing jobs.  Unpaid internships involving fairly menial tasks can be an unappealing prospect, but realistically they are unavoidable if you are interested in working in certain sectors.  It is almost impossible to find paid employment in journalism, broadcasting, charity work or publishing, for example, unless you have done your time as an intern.  It should not be viewed as a necessary evil, though.  As an intern, you have the opportunity to find out about how the company works and what it is really like working there, while making the contacts you need if you do want a job there.  The important thing to remember if you are an intern is that it should be viewed as an extended interview.  You have a few weeks in which to impress a prospective employer with not only your skills and enthusiasm, but also with your personality, as fitting into a workplace can be just as important in securing a position as showing that you can do the job.

If you are looking for graduate jobs, then, it is vital to be aware of the best path to your ideal job.  Whether it is a graduate scheme or an internship that looks likely to fulfil your a career aspirations, it is sensible to start applying for them as soon as possible, as the first step to making sure you stand out from the crowd.

Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.careerplayer.com/

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I don’t want to do a graduate scheme – so how will I find a job that was right for me?

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October 5th, 2010

I spent most of my time at university socialising and working, devoting very little attention to graduate jobs.  It was only really in May of my final year that my thoughts turned seriously to what I was going to do after graduation.  I had studied History, which is one of the least vocational degrees, and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with it.  I could tell my family were a little concerned about what was to become of me.  My father had joined the graduate scheme of a big company as soon as he finished university, and I thought he rather felt that this would be a good choice for me.  I couldn’t seem to be able to muster any interest in the business world, and was really quite keen to get a job in the media sector.  All the advice I got about getting into media was to try to land internship jobs, and use those as a stepping stone.

If I was to do a succession of internship jobs, this was to mean one thing for sure – I wouldn’t be earning large amounts of money for a while.  But I thought that it was really important to spend some time looking for a job I would actually enjoy.  So I sent my CV off to a number of companies that looked interesting, asking whether I could come in and do some unpaid work for them.  My local newspaper got back to me and invited me in the following week, which was great.  I got on so well with the team there that I ended up getting really involved and staying for two months.  They really made me feel at home, and I wrote lots of articles for publication, including a front page spread.

I really liked the experience but the editor said he wouldn’t be able to give me a job there unless I took a journalism course, which I wasn’t too sure about.  I had just finished a Masters course and was keen to get involved with a job rather than do more studying.  So I wrote off to some more companies while I was there, and was fortunate enough to find a local newspaper which was recruiting a junior staff member, and was willing to pay me to train.  I was over the moon and have now been atthis paper for six months.

I don’t tend to look with jealousy at my friends who went down the graduate scheme route.  I know that with so many graduate jobs around, you have to think carefully before you settle for something, and for me, doing internship jobs was the best way to do this.

Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.careerplayer.com/

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