A guide to graduate job hunting

Now graduation is over you may have turned your attention to the little matter of job hunting. Here are some handy tips on getting started.

Know what sort of job you want and in what sector?

If you’re not sure what type of job and for what type of company, check out the Get Ideas of the Careers website. Here you’ll find exercises to help you think about what’s right for you. The job sector pages give you background information on a variety of occupational areas and our York profiles give you an insight into the range of jobs York alumni have entered.

Where do I find jobs advertised?

There are lots of graduate level jobs advertised on a host of online jobs sites. Our information sheet, Finding graduate job vacancies, gives a list of suggested general job sites, including Careers gateway, Prospects, TargetJobs and lots more.

Depending on the sector you want to work in, you might be better checking job sites which are particular to certain industries and services. The job sector pages will give you links to specialist sites.

The things nobody tells you

There are some details, which aren’t often covered in advice to graduates. These include busting a few myths around graduate job hunting (“all the jobs are in London”, “I’ve missed all the opportunities”, “all my peers have got jobs”, etc) and what employers really want from candidates.

Some of these issues are tackled in the job hunting toolkit, along with understanding job sdverts and how best to use job sites.

Getting the job

Making applications is only the first stage on, what can be, a long recruitment process. Help with writing a CV or completing a form to sitting aptitude tests and attending interviews is available on the apply for jobs web pages and the info sheets linked from each page go into more detail.

Keeping it local

If you’re keen to stay in York(shire), Yorkshire Graduates advertises vacancies in the region.  Other regional sites include Inspiring Interns (for Manchester and the north of England, as well as London), Graduate Advantage (Midlands), Unlocking Potential (Cornwall); if you’re using national sites, eg Graduate Talent Pool, you can often filter by location.

International work

Whether you’re an international graduate returning home or any nationality looking to work outside of the UK, use the international work resources for vacancy sites and advice.

For international students considering working in the UK, it’s important to read through the information about options and visas on our pages for international students.

Unsure of your next move?

You might feel you’re not ready to start job-hunting yet, and need more time to be sure of your direction.  So, if you need to talk to someone here in Careers, please give us a call on 01904 322685.

Advertisements

GUEST BLOG: Chinese students: Advice from graduates in China

This post was originally published a few years ago – but the advice from our Chinese graduates is still good if you’re thinking about your return to China:

Seven million new graduates will enter the job market in China this year. If you are a Chinese student at York you might already be thinking about the move back home at the end of your course – and considering how you can make the move from education into employment successfully.

Through our Graduate Profiles database we have collected some interesting insights from former Chinese graduates who have already successfully returned home to find work.  Here’s what they say:

3 benefits of taking some time out after your degree

Graduation was the climax of the last few years of your life and now it may feel like you’re in a headlong rush into employment. Taking some time out after your studies can be a great opportunity to have fun, build skills, reflect on your university experience and prepare yourself for your next steps. The time you spend doesn’t have to be a year-long, it could be as little as a few weeks – enough time to pause, find inspiration and gain skills.

Pause

This has probably been the busiest year of your degree. Library, revision, lectures, seminars, exams, dissertation and in the background, the nagging feeling that you should really have a plan for what happens next when you finish University. It’s OK to pause, in fact it’s good to pause. If you’re not sure what you want to do next then taking some time out will allow you to try different things whether that be volunteering or work experience related to a career area you’re interested in, or travel and work overseas. All experiences will teach you something, it may be that you definitely don’t want to work in a certain career sector but this is still useful! You don’t need to have all the answers right now, but by allowing yourself some headspace, you’ll be able to stop, gain some perspective and figure out what is important to you.

Find inspiration

If you’re taking time out, use it wisely and have a plan. When it comes to securing a  longer term job, employers will want to know how you spent your time out and what you gained from it. You may be considering travelling and experiencing different cultures or you may decide to stay closer to home and and use work experience or volunteering to get an insight into different career sectors or you could combine the two. The point is through your experiences, you will learn more about yourself. You can only know what you do or don’t like, by trying things.

Gain skills

You might think that unless you’re in a graduate level job, you’re not gaining useful skills but the good news is many skills can be transferable. On our website we have a list of skills that employers look for when recruiting. Whatever you do during your time out, you’ll likely be adding to your skillset and fulfilling some of the employer wish list, for example, if you plan to travel, learning a language is a great skill to have and the communication and intercultural skills you’ll develop will be a great addition to your CV, not to mention the self management and planning skills you’ll also acquire. See your gap period as an opportunity to gain experience before entering permanent employment. Short term work can help you identify what really interests you and where your career motivation lies, and it doesn’t have to be ‘casual’ work. Check out the graduate-level internships on Graduate Talent Pool for quality work experience.

Finally…

Once you’re ready to take the next steps – whether it’s a graduate job or further study – Careers and Placements is still here to help. As a starting point, our web resources have plenty of info and advice about job hunting, further study, making applications and going for interview.

Further info:

Check our web page – Taking time out

Read our information sheet – Taking time out

Graduate internships – Graduate Talent Pool

Look at our information sheet on Working outside the UK, this has links to lots of vacancy sources plus volunteer overseas programmes

GoinGlobal is available on our website and includes country profiles, job search resources and cultural information for 41 countries

We’re still available for you. Check out how to set up your lifelong careers service

Graduating this year? Here’s how to set up your lifelong Careers Service

It’s been a tough few years, full of ups and downs, but you’ve made it! You’re graduating from the University of York! The end of a very important chapter in your life, but not the end of your careers service.

We offer all of our graduates a lifelong service. That’s right. If you want a career change at 92, we’ll be there to help you through it. You’ll have access to the full shebang. Appointments, mock interviews, online resources, quick tips and guidance. Whatever you need to help you through your career, we’re here.

There is just a quick little admin task we need you to do: upgrade your Careers Gateway status by registering as an Alumni.

Here’s how you do it:

Go to Careers Gateway.

Click on ‘Alumni login and registration’.

Click on ‘Alumnus sign up’

Fill in your credentials and click submit (remember to give your current and most active email address).

Once you’ve submitted your form, we will verify that you were a student here and you’ll receive an email when your account has been updated. You will then be able to use Careers Gateway exactly as you did when you were a student, including booking an appointment and browsing opportunities.

You can update your personal details and email preferences by clicking on ‘Profile > Update Profile’. Click ‘Next’ and ‘Save’ to ensure all changes are recorded.

Congratulations on your graduation! Now a new chapter begins and we’ll be here if you need us.

 

Letter to a prospective History postgraduate

If you’re going onto – or considering doing – postgraduate study in History, take a moment to read about the experience of a recent PhD student.

http://blog.historians.org/2018/03/letter-to-a-prospective-history-graduate-student/#comment-2342623

Guest blog – Getting a job in fashion in London

If you’re interested in one of the varied roles in fashion – be it journalism, PR, buying, marketing or tech – find out more from Lyst’s post (global fashion search platform).

York team in Atlanta trading strategy competition

On Thursday 19^th April, five York students will take part in the final of a competition in Atlanta, Georgia, where they will present a trading strategy that they have devised over the last few weeks.

Out of over 60 universities worldwide, each were able to submit up to two teams, York was the only British university to enter, and the team of Tom Armstrong (Mathematics), Edward Bottomley (Economics and Finance), Jasmine Gotobed (Economics), Theo Wilson (PPE), and Gabriel Zedda James (Economics and Mathematics), were selected as one of the final five. They are taking part with the chance to win $10,000 (£7,000), for the victorious team.

The York team will have 15 minutes to pitch, and take questions from a panel of judges, all with experience in finance, on the advantages and drawbacks of their chosen strategy.

The team’s underlying philosophy looked at Piotroski’s F-Score concept (a Stanford economist and a concept that their supervisor, Dr. Keith Anderson of York Management School has studied in the past). The concept looks to score companies on 9 different indicators, and if the overall score meets Piotroski’s threshold, then he would buy it for the year.

The York group revised the strategy, modifying the indicators and putting weightings on their preferred components, and bought on a quarterly basis, as opposed to a year, so they had more flexibility in an ever-changing market, and managed to return a much higher amount than Piotroski with their ‘G Score’ strategy, with relatively little risk.

The five students were put together through their membership of the Griff Investment Fund; a group of around 50 undergraduate and postgraduate students that manage £10,000 of the university’s endowment and invest in the stock market. Established in 2013, the group is one of, if not the UK’s first student run, real money portfolio.

The York team would like to thank the Economics department, York Management School and Careers and Placements for their generous support in helping them get fully funded for their trip, and for a great opportunity to showcase some of York’s homegrown talent.

Guest blog written by the competing York team.