The graduate guide to job hunting –

5 top tips

Standing out from the crowd

• The Association of Graduate Recruiters recently announced that there is an average 69 graduates fighting it out for every available job.

• This means that graduates need to work harder than ever before to secure even an interview in today’s job market.

• Although the competition is fierce, there are a number of measures every graduate can take to help them stand out from the crowd and boost their chances of landing their dream role.

• These are a few approaches you might consider taking if you are a graduate looking for your first role.

1.) Be flexible with your location

• Many graduates will start their job hunt by focusing on a very specific area, and then loosen their criteria when they find they’re not receiving any responses.

• However, you need to think ‘if I am looking for this, how many others are doing the same thing?’.

• It is worth being flexible from the outset, so that good opportunities in slightly less desirable locations don’t get snapped up by other candidates.

2.) Use blank searches

• An example of a blank search would be if you were to search for all jobs in your region without including a job title or narrowing down by sector.

• Quite often the same type of jobs are advertised on job sites in a variety of ways, so leaving these fields blank could help you stumble across great jobs that no one else has.

• Some sites also allow you to sort by the total number of applications for each role. It is well worth looking at jobs with low applicant volumes.

• It doesn’t always mean that the role is a poor one – it may just be poorly advertised or quite niche, increasing your chances of getting to the interview stage.

3.) Don’t stop until your CV is as good as it can be

• Owing to the tough economic climate of the last two years, graduates from this year will also be tussling for work with graduates from last year, so it is vital that your first impression is outstanding.

• If you don’t have an eye for design or an eloquent tongue, make sure you sit down with somebody that does and let them give your CV a facelift.

• Failing that, there are a number of companies that charge a small fee to review your CV.

4.) Utilise social networking sites

• An increasing number of companies are coming around to the idea of posting jobs to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn when a vacancy arises.

• Twitter Live Search actually enables users to type in a few keywords (e.g. Developer in Cardiff) to reveal the most recent relevant tweets.

• Not everyone is aware that you can search live tweets, so this could definitely give you a competitive edge over your rivals.

5.) Don’t be afraid to call

• In many instances, calling after an interview will lift your chances of securing the job.

• Enquiring how your interview went demonstrates that you are enthusiastic about the role and confident enough to chase comments about your performance.

• Obviously, it is up to you to evaluate what would be a reasonable period of time to get in touch. Depending on what the interviewing company said to you, a few days after the interview would usually be a fair waiting period.

Good luck!

Specialist Recruitment to the IT, Engineering, Commercial & Executive and Legal Professions

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