Cheetah's lessons for job hunters

WHAT DO GRADUATESHUNTING FOR JOBS HAVE INCOMMON WITH CHEETAH?

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Unfortunately, not much!

When a cheetah is on the hunt, it has to be extremely fast - butspeed alone is not enough to make a successful catch. Before itbegins the chase, it needs to get very close to its prey by sneakingthrough the savanna, approaching from down-wind, sometimesusing small rises in the landscape to hide its intent. A cheetah is verystrategic in that approach: It knows the landscape very well, itobserves the prey from a height and prepares well for the attack.

In short, a cheetah:

• doesn't start running randomly without planning which specificanimal to attack.

• is focused on its prey, well-prepared for the attack and skilled tograb it fast.


When European graduates decide to actively engage injob hunting, on average they send more than 60applications for various jobs in various industries. Themantra is: “the more the better”. Sadly, reality shows thatthis approach does not translate into success. Out of allthese applications, at the moment graduates score aninterview with a success rate just above 10%.

This is scary. It’s also the reason why, in the majority ofEuropean countries, the time actively spent on jobsearch for a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree nowadaysexceeds 6 months. Moreover, it keeps almost half of allgraduating students without a job for longer than a year!


Graduation is rather the start of a period of insecurity, fearsand repeated rejections, causing frustration for job seekers

and businesses alike.


Today, a diploma alone doesn't guaranteegraduates a job relevant to their education

1. Lack of strong orientation:

More than 65% of all European graduates in 2016 reported that they don’t have aclear picture of which role it is they fit and what their professional motivation is.2. Generic and non-focused applicationsMany roles and businesses look appealing to graduates in the new digital world, sothey tend to be non-selective in their application process. The quantity oftendominates the quality of applications they send out and their approach is non-

focused or unplanned.

3. Gaps in authentic, well-prepared personal positioningAt the time of graduation, students have little work experience and compete withtheir peers for the same roles. Consequently, they feel that they have little to offer andthey find it difficult to find something that helps them to stand out from the crowd.

4. Low understanding of what the selection process looks likeMany universities try hard to prepare their students for the labor market.Unfortunately, their insights are theoretical. Anyone who has ever gone through adetailed screening and selection process knows how valuable first-hand advice andup-to-date market intelligence are to being successful.


We see four main drivers for the current situation:

Our team of career experts atGrit International wants to

change thisreality.

We hope you want that too!

Follow us at: www.grit-international.com/point

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Cheetah's lessons for job hunters