As promised, here are a few tips I have discovered along the way, to hopefully make your job hunt a lot more successful and less stressful...Good luck!
1) Picking the right job for you!
Knowing what careers are best suited to you and in some cases even exist is an important place to start when searching out potential jobs. To aid in this process I really recommend using the Prospects website (https://www.prospects.ac.uk)
Here you will find detailed descriptions of 1000's of potential jobs, giving you a realistic idea of what a particular job may entail and the commitment necessary. Alongside this, Prospects also offer a quick quiz to highlight the careers best suited to you. This is particularly helpful if you are like me and have very little idea of what you want to do!!! The results may even surprise you...
By finding an area of interest before searching the sea of "Graduate Jobs" you will feel far less overwhelmed and be more proactive in your search, which brings me to the next stage.
2) Finding job sites...
Obviously you can very easily google graduate jobs and have a tonne of potential sites and positions pop up. However some recruitment sites are not recognised by big employers or go against their "No Recruiters" policy. Therefore knowing the best sites to use can be tricky and a time consuming, so hopefully I can save you some of the hassle.
3) Finally, be direct!
Despite trawling recruitment sites for vacancies, I will then seek out the original vacancy on the companies website and apply directly if possible. Even if this still proves unsuccessful, I feel applying independently gives a better impression and shows a genuine interest in the organisation, as you have taken the time to research them!
As I continue on my job hunt I will hopefully find out more from my experience to help reduce your stress and to make the job hunt as successful as possible!
1) Picking the right job for you!
Knowing what careers are best suited to you and in some cases even exist is an important place to start when searching out potential jobs. To aid in this process I really recommend using the Prospects website (https://www.prospects.ac.uk)
Here you will find detailed descriptions of 1000's of potential jobs, giving you a realistic idea of what a particular job may entail and the commitment necessary. Alongside this, Prospects also offer a quick quiz to highlight the careers best suited to you. This is particularly helpful if you are like me and have very little idea of what you want to do!!! The results may even surprise you...
By finding an area of interest before searching the sea of "Graduate Jobs" you will feel far less overwhelmed and be more proactive in your search, which brings me to the next stage.
2) Finding job sites...
Obviously you can very easily google graduate jobs and have a tonne of potential sites and positions pop up. However some recruitment sites are not recognised by big employers or go against their "No Recruiters" policy. Therefore knowing the best sites to use can be tricky and a time consuming, so hopefully I can save you some of the hassle.
- Milkround (http://www.milkround.com): This is an excellent recruitment site, full of relevant positions to the searches made and recognised by some big employers. I found the site listed on a "How did you hear about this role" option form for a big bank so felt reassured it was legit and well recognised!! By allowing you to break your search down by location and sector, Milkround provide an efficient service for job hunting
- Reed (http://www.reed.co.uk): Reed offer a huge database of job opportunities and allow you to shortlist potential applications as you browse the site, making the search process much more organised.
- I could continue listing recruitment sites, but that would make for a very repetitive post....therefore, I will just suggest when using recruitment sites, make sure the site is recognised by companies and that vacancies are updated regularly to avoid wasting time. Sites with positions listed from several months ago are concerning, as the average application time frame appears to only be around a month or so!
- Also be prepared for a whole lot of email spam from recruitment sites!!! To reduce this, make sure your job preferences are selected correctly and hopefully such emails will become helpful notifications rather than irritating junk!
3) Finally, be direct!
Despite trawling recruitment sites for vacancies, I will then seek out the original vacancy on the companies website and apply directly if possible. Even if this still proves unsuccessful, I feel applying independently gives a better impression and shows a genuine interest in the organisation, as you have taken the time to research them!
As I continue on my job hunt I will hopefully find out more from my experience to help reduce your stress and to make the job hunt as successful as possible!