job hunting

If it's any consolation, i got my degree in 2010, and it took me until 5 months ago to get a permanent job, even with the years training working as a scientist in the NHS. Apparently what made me stand out was i offered cake and had a motorbike, so they reasoned i'd be mad enough to fit in.

The only thing i learnt was to ring up and ask for feedback, i kept getting told i didn't have enough experience, so in the end started pointing out i needed training, but at least they didn't have to correct ingrained habits.

A bit too late for the OP, but for anyone else studying who might be reading this:

I got my foot in the door* by going on a placement part way through my degree. After year 2, I worked for a year (although including the holidays on either end that I worked, it was nearer 18 months) with a company my university placed me with, before I went back to uni for a year to complete my degree. Two months before I graduated, I rang the old company up and asked if they were hiring. They took me on in an instant.

It's a nice low risk option for the hiring company; they get to see what you're like cheaply and if it doesn't work out, well, you're gone in a year anyway. If you're any good, a year will be more than enough to make yourself indispensable.

I was amazed how many of my peers didn't do this, despite the university pushing it. Their (short-termist) rationale was "I'll earn more money in that first year with the degree than on the placement without, so I'll start with more money." This is true, however:
A) Finding work with no relevant experience is vastly harder.
B) If you're good, you'll be able to negotiate a better starting salary post-degree, following a placement than you might be restricted to (due to pay scales, rules about annual % rises, etc.) if you were at the company both years.

*that lead to a successful career over 10 years with the same company.

[pegasus]

For what it's worth,

I am ruthless when it comes to job hunting!

1. Search the ads and pick the jobs you want.

2. Research the company, the role offered, and the person responsible for the interview.

3. Prepare a CV specific to the role in question ( spend some time on this, and check all grammar )

4. Visit the premises and just sit and watch until an opportunity to present yourself arises (make sure there is not a queue or reception is not on the phone), when you are ready walk in bold as brass and ask for a manager, supervisor, someone in charge, always offer a handshake, and present your CV be brief and straight to the point, "hello my name is xxx. I understand you have a vacancy for a xxxx, My CV shows that I can do the job, can I please have an interview".

5. Prepare a presentation folder outlining what you could do to benefit the company, eg. use diagrams and phrases which show positive actions. Sometimes the simplest things can provoke a reaction, and get you noticed. Make 2-3 copies of this 1 for you and 1 for each person in the interview, customise the front cover to show the names of the person(s) interviewing (This attention to detail & personalisation always gets noticed)

6. Practice your presentation format with a friend or family.

7. Remain relaxed in your interview, be prepared for every question and be open and honest.

8. You will probably be asked something along the lines of "why do you want this Job" or " why should we choose you"
This is the crucial point in the interview. if you have followed the above guidelines, then you have already hopefully stood out as someone who is a go-getter with a positive will do attitude, willing to go that little bit further to get the job done. At this point you need to have the balls to close the deal and secure the job.
Make a statement along these lines " I am sure that you have plenty of candidates applying for this position, what makes me different is my belief in my ability to achieve, but I can only prove this once I am actually doing the job in question, so here is my proposition and promise to you, I will work for you for 1 calender month, for no fee, If I prove myself then you can pay me for the month worked and we can negotiate a full time contract, if for any reason, i do not fill the brief, then I will leave, and you can continue your search, I know that this is an unorthodox approach, but also straight to the point. I understand that you will need to have a think about this, would it be okay if I call you tomorrow to discuss your decision?"

9. Call the interviewer the next day and remain positive, if the decision is yes, congrats!!!. If the decision is no, then ask for a reason and say thank you for the feedback, at this point I would also ask if there are any other positions available. and start the process again.

I have used this method previously and succesfully, however, I would only recommend it if you have total faith in your abilities.

Good luck and remember that nobody will hand you anything on a plate, you have to go and fight for it.

I did, and it worked for me.

P

I feel like I'm gonna be in the same boat as you, still currently studying but looking for jobs when I graduate in the summer. Had a few phone interviews and even a skype interview where they didn't turn their camera on so I was talking to a black screen for 45mins.

recently had the best bit of careers advice to date from an ex student on my course. She missed the opportunity to do a placement year as well stating this as one of the best ways to enhance a CV straight out of uni. she however knew what field she wanted to go into and so set about asking smaller companies to give 3-6 month placements. She got a couple and after 3 years of moving a lot between these she finally got her current job in the original role she hoped.

from all my applications feedback it seems they look for experience and skills, but its a viscous circle, you need experience to get jobs but the places to get experience want more experience blah blah... anyway, from this it seems to be that you've got to be fussy about what experiance you get, if possible make sure they are all related and building in a given field and hen hopefully something will come up

good luck though!

[Littlepeahead]

The point 2 from Pagasus about doing your research is crucial.

If you work in our media department, as I used to, you would be expected to write press releases so attention to detail was vital. The candidates who sent in CVs to me, no matter how strong, with the word 'Lord's' spelled incorrectly without the apostrophe would not get an interview. Or if they emailed me 'Dear Sir' or wrote Claire with an 'i' the CV went in the bin because if they can't even get the company name right or bother to find out who I am or how to spell my name then do I really think they will be happy ensuring that every fact in a press release is accurate?

I'm sure the same goes for many companies if you are going to be expected to write anything it needs to be accurate, and don't rely on spell check.

Dress smartly, no matter what the job. Make sure your fingernails are clean and preferably un-bitten. Polish your shoes. Iron your shirt. Have a shave. It seems obvious but I'm always amazed by candidates who turn up looking scruffy.

A few days before the interview do a few Google searches to see if the company have recently done anything newsworthy, good or bad. This worked for Lew Speight - I sent him a link to an interview on Radio 4 with the Curry's head honcho and by mentioning the sales figures and a few things that were talked about in the interview he sounded very well informed about the company and they mentioned this to him when they offered him the job. You can also ask a company for a copy of their annual report. It may contain a lot of dull facts and figures but you may also glean other info that will help you.

[Littlepeahead]

Oh and if you are serious about looking for pretty much any employment at the moment then we need stewards. You don't have to know anything about cricket, lots of our stewards end up working for MCC full time in other roles too.

http://www.lords.org/mcc/staff-vacan...ing-vacancies/

Got to be better than sitting at home bored all summer.

Originally Posted by Littlepeahead

If you work in our media department, as I used to, you would be expected to write press releases so attention to detail was vital. The candidates who sent in CVs to me, no matter how strong, with the word 'Lord's' spelled incorrectly without the apostrophe would not get an interview. Or if they emailed me 'Dear Sir' or wrote Claire with an 'i' the CV went in the bin because if they can't even get the company name right or bother to find out who I am or how to spell my name then do I really think they will be happy ensuring that every fact in a press release is accurate?

I really visibly do this:
When a candidate writes something along the lines of:
"Strong writen report writing skill's"
I immediately discount all the stuff they claim they're good at and just mentally envisage working with them as hours of painfully having to do the job of their spell checker and teaching English at a level a 12 year old should be comfortable with.

SPAG is not remotely important for many jobs. Even for those, get someone to check you CV; it shows you care, if nothing else. For jobs where it matters, the people hiring you are not 'gramar natzis' or whatever the internet has led you to believe. They may not even personally care much about SPAG, but they will almost inevitably not want to deal with the consequences of your poor SPAG.

Working with people for whom English is not their first language is a different matter entirely.

[dizzyblonde]

Pegasus. The man without a degree, who always gets his interview and a choice of jobs to turn down.....from ONE piece of paper, charm, and big balls.

He's a very confident bloke though. That comes across when I spy on him at work

[Littlepeahead]

I got my first job by 'bumping into' the same record company executive at lots of gigs and always being friendly and reminding him that when he needed an assistant he had my CV in his files somewhere. The day his PA resigned about 6 months later he called me first and asked if I'd like an interview before he advertised. He said he gave me the job because I had a lot of cheek and lots of charm and that's what was needed for the role. He also said he'd never even read my CV other than the phone number! Charm and confidence go a long way as long as you are happy to do the work to back it up.

[fizzwheel]

Market is tough, many people with on the job experience searching for to few jobs. Just having a degree wont make you stand out. TBH when I was interviewing I paid no attention what so ever to what degree the candidates had I scanned that bit, looked at what job history they had, and then I looked at what their hobbies section said.

When I did interview, I was looking for somebody that would fit with my team. I've had technically brilliant people in for interview, one guy I knew would rub the other people in my team up the wrong way so we didnt employ him.

Alot of it when you are interviewing ( or for me anyway ) was done on instinct and gut feel. Its all about how you come across in those first few minutes.

Some tips that I think helped me get jobs.

1. Knowing somebody that already worked where I was looking to move to.
2. I got a job based on a work experience placement whilst at college
3. The job I have now. I sent me CV in, I left it a couple of days and then phoned the person who I had sent it to ( here's where insider knowledge helps a little as it was easy to find out through a friend who I needed to talk to ) I introduced myself and asked if he had some time to talk, I then explained I had sent my CV in and that I wanted to check he had received it and asked if there was anymore information he wanted from me. We had a very brief chat at which point I thanked him for his time and we finished the call.

I got an interview a short time later, followed by a 2nd one and then a job offer.

Once I got settled, he told me I had got the job after the phone call where I rang him to check he had got my CV. He liked my approach and he liked people who made things happen by being pro-active.

Sometimes you had to get creative / be cheeky which if done in the right way, as per the many great tips in this thread. Will make you stand out.

Remember to some people all a degree means you know how to learn stuff from a book. IMHO I view it as nothing more than that.

Some of the best people I have worked with have no degree for anything other than a set of GCSE's. Its not the be all and end all...