For many third years, life after university seems like lifetimes away; for others, it’s seems like it’ll happen in seconds. The fact is that under all the workload, commitments and just wanting to enjoy your last year of university, sometimes seeking employment seems like an afterthought. This is not a foolproof guide but it definitely takes steps in the right direction.
GET THAT LINKEDIN CLEARED UP!
Ah, LinkedIn. For most of my life, my account sat somewhere on the internet collecting dust. But I realised that once I got started, I heavily underestimated how useful the social media was – and it definitely is social media. It’s all about connecting with people: some people you know, some people you don’t. Pay great attention to how your LinkedIn looks by choosing a nice, clean and professional picture; an eye-catching biography and clearly outline what you’re looking for. If nothing else, it will be the first thing that your employers will notice if they look you up online. Make sure it counts.
SUBSCRIBE TO JOB EMPLOYMENT WEBSITES
While this will not guarantee the job straight away, subscribing with generic job websites will give you a good feel as to what you’re looking for, and what salary they’ve posted alongside it. Think: Reed, Glassdoor, Indeed and CareerBuilder, to name a few. It also makes sense to widen your search to target graduate-specific employers. Websites such as Graduate-Jobs and Brighter Box that will provide alternative opportunities to the generic search, as well as giving you a more thorough knowledge on what you’re looking for.
GET YOUR CV IN CHECK
CVs are essential when searching for a job and everybody needs to give theirs another check before sending them off blindly. By the time we’ve finished university, there is always something else to add on: whether it’s a society that you’re actively involved in (hello, Hercampus!) or a part-time job that you took while studying, it’ll beef up your CV intensely. Remember to not undersell yourself. With everything we do, there’s some knowledge that we’ve gained from it – and especially if it can relate to the field that you’re looking to work in.
HEAD OVER TO THE CAREER SERVICE CENTER
But editing your CV is easier said than done. I can only speak from my experience, but the University of Nottingham’s Career Service has helped me intensely; they took me through the whole process for interviews and really pointed out where my CV and applications were weak beforehand. You can get your LinkedIn and CV reviewed but if it’s something specific, like an interview or a presentation, you can arrange a meeting with one of their advisors. This help is provided free from the university and should be used by every student, if only for a second opinion. This is an underutilised tool by most people and while it is busy, there are weekly check-in times. Make sure to use it just to understand how much work you need to do.
NETWORK THOSE JOB CONFERENCES
Networking is an intimidating and strange thing for many graduates – we’ve spent most of the three years discussing hangovers and weekly nights out, and now we need to turn to more professional banter. It’s scary to even just think about it. But we are fortunate that the University of Nottingham and Nottingham itself hold a number of job conferences: make sure to go to them to talk directly to employers, or other graduates to get a clear picture of what job you’ll like to do. Make sure to note down their name and try to find them on LinkedIn afterwards – you’ll never know what connections will come in handy later on.
LOOK INTO ALL OF THE JOBS
Every job is attainable and every person is employable. But there are also some jobs that are more difficult than others to get. While some are completely cut off by strict deadline times, others are still open and hiring – it’s just that if you don’t know where to look, they’re so much more difficult to find. If you have a great understanding of where you want to go, and what job you’ll like to do, it’s easy enough to start the job search. Remember to look into the company, the job they’re hiring for and keep up to date with what’s going on currently in the sector that you want to hire into. You never know what they’ll ask if the interview.
TAKE A CHILL PILL
It’s the final year of university – it’s most likely that you’re already stressed out of your mind, working yourself to the bone and hardly even thinking about getting a job! But again, it’s your final year of university: have fun! These things do take up a bit of your time but it’ll definitely help you in the long run. And if you don’t set up a job right away after graduation, there’s no need to stress. After our time at university, we have months and months of free time to really look but for now, while we have a few moments, it’s always good to get these things in mind.