Options with a 2:2

An article in the Guardian may give you some tips when your degree didn’t meet your expectations – 

From networking to maximising your day job.

Take the Next Step

Join a free Careers Conference to meet employers in relevant industries. Have the chance to demonstrate your skills set and network with employers hiring for graduate roles.

Find out more and register at http://next-step-careers.co.uk/

Keen on Consulting?

Find out more about Accenture’s Insight Days and apply

Curious…

about what other students who study the same course as you go on to do once they leave uni?

Take a look at What do Graduates do?

The report (3 November 2016) uses data from the Destination of Leavers of Higher Education (DLHE) survey to.give a picture of the destinations of 2015’s first degree graduates in January 2016 – six months after they had left university.

Meet Balla Marah…

a Brunel alumni.  Find out what it’s really like to work as a graduate electrical engineer for Hoare Lea.  Balla studied for a masters in Sustainable Electrical Power at Brunel.

Check to see whether Hoare Lea are recruiting: you can find out about available opportunities at www.hoarelea.com.

 

 

Excel in an investment banking division internship

Get some tips to help you achieve your dream of moving on from an internship to getting a graduate job in the sector by reading this efinancialcareers article giving tips from current analysts, formerly successful IBD interns and career consultants.

First graduate job?

Be aware: Six things you need to check before you sign a contract.  An interesting Guardian article highlights factors such as hours of work, salary and job title.

What do recruiters want?

Well, there are two main things apart from your qualification(s) that recruiters value!  Your graduate job search may prove tricky if you lack these.

• Work experience
• Soft skills, eg communication, team work, initiative, creativity, leadership, flexibility.  In other words the skills that you need to do the job and work in a particular organisation

Work experience: How to find it

• Jobs Board
• Exploring career options
• Work experience and resources
• International work experience
• Talk to a careers consultant.  Not on campus?  You can get help by ‘phone, email or Skype – just let us know your preference when you contact us

Skills/competencies
An article on TARGETjobs should help you to understand the different competencies graduate employers expect, provide tips on how to develop them, and give examples of how they are assessed and how to demonstrate your abilities.

Who’s my career consultant?

Simples!  Contact them to see how they can help you!

Recent Brunel graduate?  You can get help from the PDC for up to two years after graduation though it’s best to get in touch with us sooner rather than later to maximise the help we can give you.

At home and not able to get into uni?  No worries!  Get some help by email or ‘phone (some careers consultants also use Skype)!

Consultants can talk to you about your career options, check applications, give you interview advice, and more…

FlywithBoots

Take a look to check out the opportunities at their stores – not just airports – throughout the UK

Find out what’s happening when…

Looking for a graduate job or work experience?  Then find out about university and graduate fairs and other events around the UK.

Summer’s here…

Although it might not feel like it yet exams will soon be over for another year, but what will you be doing with your summer?

Of course a break after the stress of exams and deadlines is well deserved but, after a week or two in the sun, what’s next? With more than 12 weeks of free time don’t waste it! It’s an excellent opportunity to broaden your skills and gain some work experience while earning some extra cash to bump up your finances for next year.

L1 student?
Free time over the summer gives you a chance to gain the work experience that is so valued by recruiters. If you plan to do a placement, showing an employer that you have used your summer to acquire new skills, or perhaps been responsible for a project or developing a new system will go miles in your applications – let alone give you something real to talk about during your interviews! You may even get a placement out of it for next year or a job after you’ve graduated!

L2 student?
You can still decide to take a placement year – just contact your Placement Officer. You can keep looking until September!

Have you already decided you’re not going to do a placement? Then getting work experience under your belt is even more essential. Put yourself in a recruiter’s shoes: who would you employ if you could choose between a graduate with no experience or someone who has built up a strong portfolio? Recruiters want to see that you can apply your academic learning in the work environment and the best way is through work experience!

So where can you find all these opportunities for the summer?

• Check out the PCC vacancies at www.brunel.ac.uk/pcc/vacancies. We have many opportunities for summer working from local firms to larger corporate organisations based around Uxbridge
• www.topinternships.com is dedicated to undergraduate and graduate internships as well as placements. You can find other resources on our website: Exploring career options, Finding work experience, and Working in UK regions
• Use your contacts. A survey conducted by the PCC showed us that many students gain work through friends and family!
• Volunteer. Brunel Volunteers have many projects going on over the summer – use your time to get involved in community projects http://brunelvolunteers.com.

If you need help with deciding what to do, your job applications or your interview style and practice while you’re working over the summer, we are too – drop in to the PCC (1st floor, Bannerman Centre), or visit our website for advice/information or to find our contact details.

Increase your chances…

Graduate internship?

Check out Inspiring Interns for jobs in London.  The website also gives useful advice on where to find an internship in London and a guide on industry-specific ways that you can improve your applications.

While you’re on the site check out The Graduate Glossary – or job descriptions translated!

Internship opportunities in London

Internships can be a fantastic opportunity to bridge the gap between studying and full-time employment, while providing invaluable, relevant work experience.

Don’t become a statistic (for the wrong reasons!)

There’s still time to redress the balance if you haven’t found that ideal job six months after graduation! Just to put things in place: Of the 256,350 UK-domiciled graduates who responded to the Higher Education Statistics Agency’s Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey for 2012/13:

• 70% were in employment and 7.3% were unemployed
• 6% were working and studying at the same time
• 6% had continued with further study or training
• Average salaries of graduates employed full-time in the UK ranged from £18,615 to £22,785, depending on their occupation

You can check out graduate employability by looking at the 2014 edition of What do graduates do? (Published by the Higher Education Careers Services (HECSU) and AGCAS) which gives graduate destinations by subject.

Undertaking an internship either while you study or after graduation is highly recommended because it:

Builds up your CV

Many graduates are placed in an employment limbo after university due to a lack of relevant experience in their field. Volunteering for a cause close to your heart will only ever be beneficial for your job hunting efforts, however it needs to be coupled with an opportunity for practical experience that relates back to your desired job role.

An internship can fill undesirable gaps in your employment history that are often a turn off for recruiters and HR personnel. Looking for a job while in any sort of employment is always viewed favourably over someone who is not putting their time to good use.

Depending on your sector, an internship can bolster your portfolio of work, which is one of the first things a recruiter will ask for. Having recent pieces in an up-to-date portfolio will set you apart from other applicants, who might only be able to show university work; this cannot compare to ‘real world’ examples.

Even if you aren’t offered a full-time role after the internship has ended, you will take away a reference that can differentiate you from the crowd of budding graduates.

Face Time

Online networking sites such as LinkedIn are a great way to support your online presence, however they lack in unique opportunities. With little experience to your name, networking is your greatest ally, and is often seen as being more valuable than the work experience itself.

Internships provide you with the opportunity to rub shoulders with professionals in your chosen field. No one is expecting you to dine with the CEO on the first day, but start small, reach out to those who are easiest to approach first, who can identify with you. Having a good word put in about you, before you make the approach to anyone higher up will give you a great head start – as they will already have a positive image of you.

By networking you are increasing your chances of being kept on in a full-time role, or put on a graduate scheme. Even when there is no full-time role available, there is always the possibility of your name being passed on, expanding your employment opportunities.

Here’s a collection of links to help you in your internship search:

• Inspiring interns
• Work in start ups
• London Internships
• Intern Avenue

Oliver Moore, Performics 

Level 1 student?

Just arrived at uni?  Get a head start?  Take the Guardian‘s Quiz to find out how much you know about the careers available to graduates.

PCC jobs board

What kind of jobs are advertised?

• Part-time & vacation
• Graduate jobs
• Graduate training schemes
• On campus jobs
• Voluntary opportunities
• Overseas opportunities

How do I access the jobs board? Online at www.brunel.ac.uk/services/pcc/vacancies/_nocache

How can I sign up for graduate job alerts?
Go to www.brunel.ac.uk/services/pcc/vacancies/subscribe [You can stop alerts any time you want!]

Can I still access the jobs when I’ve graduated or from off campus?
Yes, you can if you’re a Brunel student or graduate

Prepare for the Fair

Looking for work experience, placement or graduate job?  Then you’ll make a good first impression when you talk to recruiters if you can:

• Demonstrate that you know about the organisation and the job role(s) on offer
• Ask relevant questions
• Show an understanding of their business

Check the exhibitor list!
Recruiters may offer a range of opportunities, not just those restricted to the main activity of the company; technology companies, for example, may also recruit for finance or marketing roles.

Taking just 10 minutes to prepare some questions to ask recruiters will help you to impress…

Fair dates..

Gradplus for graduates ..

Gradplus is a graduate careers website providing access to the latest graduate jobs with some of the UK’s leading graduate employers.

A wide variety of work sectors are covered including banking and finance, business management, food and drink, public sector, retail, sales and recruitment, science, engineering, IT, transport and utilities.

There are company profiles and graduate case studies, videos and a graduate jobs newsroom. Plus, information on postgraduate study, work experience and student internships. There’s also a helpful tips section covering graduate schemes, CVs, application forms, interviews and recruitment agencies and a blog focusing on graduate job hunting.

Take a look at: http://www.gradplus.com/default.aspx

Online job sites for graduates

Have a look at these two online job sites particularly for graduates:

Gradplus is a graduate careers website.

Sectors covered include accounting and finance, business and commercial, engineering, technical and sciences, IT and communications, legal, manufacturing and production, public sector, travel, charity, education and environment. There’s also a newsroom and a blog.

Graduate-jobs is a specialist graduate job board. Register to receive job alerts or search jobs by sector, by location or by degree studied.