Graduate employment ... getting started
For a start, in the new life in graduate employment, you get paid for what you do. But the downside of that is that, generally speaking, you will need to do it well and be seen to be doing it well.
For example, as a student you may have observed that it was possible for folk to sometimes attend morning lectures with a hangover from a late night the night before, or maybe untidily dressed or unshaven. They just needed to sit in the back and keep quiet? This sort of thing is not likely to stand them in good stead in their new lives in graduate employment ... and certainly not for the interviews for that will precede that graduate employment.
With the interviews seeming to be a particularly difficult hurdle for those who have had a somewhat "casual" attitude to student life, it would not seem to be a good idea to simply try to be cosmetically different, and put on a good show, for the day of the interview. The reason being that their performance at their graduate employment interviews will create expectations that, if appointed, they will always behave in the same ways.
For those that have been a "bit casual", this would be a very good time to be moving towards a complete "outlook change" (rather than thinking just a bout a cosmetic change for the sake of the interviews). In other words, to start trying to move away from what many consider to be the stereo-typical student outlook, and to be trying to adopt the more professional outlook appropriate to graduate employment.
For any particular individual, of course, how this is achieved will depend on where they are at the moment. But to give an idea, here are a couple of examples ...
For those who tend to stay up late at night even if it does leave them feeling "a bit less alert" the next morning ... for whatever reasons ...try to do whatever it takes to get used to sleeping at "normal" times.
For those who may have been used to dressing "casually" during their student years, consider buying a new set of clothes so that you will "look the part" at your graduate employment interviews. And having made the investment, start wearing them so that you will feel comfortable in them when the interviews start to happen.
When the time comes to be starting to apply for jobs, there are two main avenues:
Traditionally vacancies in graduate employment will be advertised in newspapers and trade specific magazines.
More recently the newspapers and magazines have seen growing competition in the graduate employment advertising market from the the new Internet jobs boards. These are specialised inter-active web-sites.
Either way, it would be good advice not to be spending too much time looking for a "perfect" job, since nowadays one's first job in graduate employment is highly unlikely to be one's last. Any particular first job much more likely to be a sort of stepping stone to the second job.
In addition, one could try the pro-active approach, writing exploratory letters employers rather than waiting for them to advertise vacancies. If you are tempted to do this, please make sure that you thoroughly research the employers before writing, making sure that they are actually "into" graduate employment and that they could possibly use someone with your skills and experience.
About the Author: John Bult runs an internet jobs site for people seeking graduate employment in the UK.
More articles by john@ukcareers.co.uk
Print Article | Download PDF | 20 views | Jun 06 2008
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