Top 10 job-hunting tips for recent graduates

1. Keep in touch with as many people as you can – course-mates, past employers and lecturers as well as friends, as they can be a good source of information and can give you insider knowledge about graduate jobs!
2. Think about your online profile and the impression it gives of you to potential graduate employers. Companies are increasingly using social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin to attract people to their brand via competitions, interactive games and viral campaigns.  You may be following one of the world’s largest graduate recruiters without having thought about it!  If you link to them, they can see your profile.   Make the most of it!
3. Join your university alumni society, a great way to network!
4. Research everything. Decide what industry your ideal graduate job is in then research everything about it including the type of work available, the companies in that sector, starting salaries and career progression.  The more informed and interested you are, the better you will do in interviews.
5. Make sure that you know what your own strengths, weaknesses and skills are, so you know what type of graduate job you are most suited to.  Use our behavioural profiling tool – Parallax – to help you with this.
6. Learn to sell yourself and your skills.  If you can’t shout about the experience you’ve got and how great you are then who will?  This doesn’t mean boasting, it simply means promoting yourself in a positive light and thinking positively about all the experience you have gained so far and conveying them to graduate employers both on your CV and at interview.
7. Visit your university careers service (or your nearest one if you have returned home).
8. Make sure your profile on gradplus.com is up to date.  Upload a new version of your CV, including your degree result. Add in your key skills and achievements as well as your preferred sector(s) of employment and preferred location(s).   Avoid spelling mistakes in your profile; graduate employers look at this too!
9. Make sure your applications are high quality.  There are an average of 70 graduates applying for each graduate job according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) so make sure that your application stands out for the right reasons.  You must tailor your CV for each graduate job you apply to and get someone else to proof everything before you send it.
10. Stay positive. Finding a graduate job can be hard and time consuming but don’t get fed up.  Desperation doesn’t come across well in interviews so follow these tips and keep smiling!