0-60 In 60 Seconds: How To Get Your Job-Hunt Moving!

Leaving aside the pressures of various assignments, university is generally a fun time in the lives of many students. It’s a time for making friends, as well as huge leaps in personal development.

It’s no surprise, then, that the end of university comes as a downer for many students. It’s this period which brings every graduate back down to earth, and to the crushing reality of trying to find employment. Even for the most confident of people, this is a rather daunting prospect. Finding one’s life’s purpose is no easy feat and requires a great amount of thought, planning and dedication.

Know what kind of work you’re looking for

Nobody needs to have their entire career mapped out immediately after finishing university. It’s useful, however, to have an idea as to the sort of work which appeals to you.

Consider your skills and interests. Use this as your basis for sector selection. It will make the enormous beast of job-hunting seem marginally less enormous and, as a result, more manageable.

Know where to look for those jobs

Having decided the jobs you will be applying for, the next step is to actually apply for them. This involves having some understanding of where to make those applications.

There are many websites which post vacancies, including Reed, CV Library and Indeed. There are also employment agencies which will provide career advice, as well as vacancies. Many of these agencies will focus on specific areas of the job market. For example, Office Angels focuses mainly on administrative and secretarial work, while Reliance Employment places an emphasis on warehouse and transport work.

Make sure your CV is top-notch

More often than not, your CV is the first point of contact which will draw employers’ attention to why they should be hiring you. It’s imperative to ensure your CV does its job properly and promotes your good qualities as an employee.

There are numerous organisations which can help you to write an effective CV. Most CV reviews are free, but some include a charge.

Prepare for the job interviews

Nobody really enjoys a job interview. Yet it’s one of the most important parts of looking for work. It’s at this point that the potential employer and possible employee meet for the first time. It goes without saying that a good first impression is vital.

Research the company. Keep questions they may ask in mind, so that you can be as ready and prepared as possible. As implausible as this may sound, do your best to relax and enjoy yourself. A happy employee is a good employee.

Keep your experience up-to-date

Education is all very well and good, but experience of the work place is what really grabs employers’ attention. This experience can be earned in a number of ways: voluntary work, weekend work, internships or any such like. Employers will appreciate any real-life know-how that you can bring to the role.

Don’t go it alone

Any job-hunt will be made more difficult by the feeling of loneliness that it engenders. It’s therefore important to maintain contact with the right people. Stay in touch with friends from university and see if you can help each other out. The universities themselves will provide services for graduates seeking employment. Cultivate your network, and the process will be made easier.

With these ideas to help get the job-hunting underway, the process will hopefully seem a bit less impossible. In the midst of the many people who are trying to get their careers going, the ones who seem like they know what they’re doing will stand out from the crowd.

Be one of them.

Inspiring Interns is a graduate recruitment agency which specialises in sourcing candidates for marketing internship roles and giving out graduate careers advice. To browse graduate jobs and graduate jobs Manchester, visit their website.