With graduate careers advice flying from dozens of different directions (parents, friends, careers advisors), it's difficult to remember exactly what you need to do to yield the results you want. Yet it's the simple points that most people forget and ignore. We've compiled the top five pieces of advice that you need to employ whilst hunting down that perfect graduate job.
1. The personal touch
There's nothing worse than robotic applications, so personalising your interactions is key. When applying directly for a role, ensure you have a personalised CV and cover letter/email. If you don't it makes it very obvious that you are bulk applying for roles and you're just trying to get a bite. Try finding out who your application will be received by and address them, instead of 'to whom this may concern'. This also applies to networking, such as Linked In connection requests and Twitter direct messages.
2. Keep records and organise your graduate job applications
This is so crucial, but still people fail to get themselves organised. Do you really want to receive an exciting phone call about the progress of your application and yet have no recollection of the company or the role? Keep a record of all your applications in a spreadsheet, including all the vital information such as: when you applied, company name, role, location, contact names, salary etc. This way you'll be able to answer the phone and coherently chat about the role as if it were the lyrics to your favourite song. This is also useful for knowing when to chase for feedback - just don't ever leave your computer's side.
3. Be willing to open every door of opportunity
Yes, you've been told this hundreds of times, but are you really following through? We know it's tedious, and you're likely to get a lot of job emails, but you should register to every graduates careers site available to you as this can drastically improve your chances of finding the right role and company. To assume that you'll find every single job from one or two sources is naive. Remember the jobs market is a market, with each stall offering different opportunities - miss one stall and miss hundreds of potentially unique graduate jobs. You should also be adding new Linked In connections every day and actually reading those numerous job alerts you get, rather than instantly deleting them (we know you do it). What if your dream job was in that last email, how would you expect them to find you? Believe it or not, finding the right person is actually really difficult.
4. Treat every phone call as if it were 'THE ONE'
If you've been sending out your phone number on your CV absolutely everywhere, expect to be called on a number that you don't recognise. Don't assume this will be a sales call and pick it up with attitude; this could be
the call. With that in mind, don't answer with "wassssup!" or your best Jesse Pinkman impression - it doesn't exactly scream professional twenty-something looking for a graduate career. Even if you've just woken up, try to not let it come across; give your throat a clear and don your best phone voice. If the call comes at an awkward time (i.e. while in the pub/bath), let it go to voicemail - but only if your voicemail is professional and not one of those annoying pretend conversations that embarrasses the caller.
5. Do your research
If you're too lazy to research the company you're applying to, or who is about to interview you, then you're not ready for the job. You need to immerse yourself in information to stand a chance at being noticed. Use the buzzwords from the job specification in your application as much as possible; learn their history; study their website and in turn, think of improvements you can offer. If you can show off this amount of knowledge in an interview, you will prove yourself as a worthy candidate. Add all this information to your application spreadsheet so you are ready to demonstrate your extensive knowledge about the CEO's favourite colour.
