I graduated in business studies last year and started work for a recruitment company in London. I did really well in the job, but after 5 months I was made redundant. Since then, I’ve and been out of work. Now there is another year’s graduates looking for work. What can I do to improve my chances?
It’s a really tough time for graduates with so many employers in trouble, and many large companies withdrawing their graduate schemes. However, you have a real advantage over last year’s grads in that you have some real work experience, so make sure you maximise this.
Put a ‘key skills’ section on your CV so it’s the first thing recruiters see, and describe your skills using the words and phrases you see used in job ads. When you register on job search web sites, make sure you complete both the CV upload and all the individual boxes on your profile, cutting and pasting from your CV to fill boxes like ‘key skills’ and ‘experience’. Doing these things mean that recruiters will easily find you when they use word search to look for candidates for vacancies.
Consider doing some voluntary work. Not only will it give you a reason to get up and out of the house each day, but it’s good to be able to show, in interview, that you took the initiative and achieved something.
Stay in contact with the friends and classmates you graduated with. Not only can those of you who are still looking support each other, but some of your friends may be able to tell you about vacancies in their organisations, and (now that they’re working) give you a reference.
Above all, don’t give up. Make sure you are applying for at least five jobs a week, even if they aren’t in a field you’d want to stay in. Experience and motivation are the key – and transferable skills can come from the most unlikely jobs.
