Many students who are getting close to graduation starts to wonder: How do I even land a graduate job?
We tend to hear that landing on is very difficult, that it’s a very tedious process, and that it’s gonna take a long time to find a job that you’ll actually enjoy. As much as it is true, here are some tips that can help you to both, speed up the process, and make you feel way confident in your application in general!
CVs: get to the point quickly
Don’t overcomplicate CVs with fancy design and bulging layouts. If you’re applying for a sales role, the recruiter isn’t looking for complicated graphic design or colour, so devote most of your efforts on the content. Recruiters are reading these to understand your experience and achievements relevant to the role, so these should be front and centre, and most importantly, concise.
They have to read through hundreds if not thousands of CVs, so getting to the point quickly is important. Make your CV relevant to the company and role you’re applying for, making small edits every time you apply for a different role. That includes making that sure you’re checking your spelling and grammar and that all sentences make sense.
Understanding the process
Most large corporate graduate schemes will have multiple stages to the interview process. Once the CV has been screened, there are usually interviews, and sometimes assessment centres. Part of your preparation should be to find out exactly what each company will be asking of you.
While working at Airbus, i found out that large companies often have employee resource groups (ERGs), or affinity groups, and these can be a way to meet like-minded employees and provide a support network for wherever you move. Reaching out to employees on LinkedIn can be helpful too, to try to get a feel for where you’re moving to.
Once you understand how the recruitment process is going to look like, you can then begin to prepare accordingly, and you’ll feel more confident that there will be no unexpected surprises.
Interview prep: try the STAR method
Interviews are one of the most common aspects of a recruitment process, from graduate level right the way up to the top of a company. Good preparation is the tried and tested method to give yourself the best chance to make these go well. Recruiters aren’t trying to catch you out in these sessions, but will ask questions to see if you have the right skill set or could develop other skills.
Read the job description then review your CV again; when replying to recruiters’ questions, be sure to detail the skills you have that are relevant to the position. One technique to answer using the STAR method: situation, task, action, result. This will give you the best chances of providing evidence to back up what you have done, or show what you can offer. Practise your answers to questions as best you can, using friends or family for mock interviews if possible.
Cultural fit: find how you match the company
These interviews also work to assess the cultural fit. Basically, they would want to hire someone who’s not only experienced, but who also would be able to become part of their ethos. A good idea would be to read the comapny’s website, explore the social media posts, and read through their mission statements (usuallytheh have everything you need to knwo about company’s values). This works both ways: you want to show that you can be a good fit, but the process can also help you decide if this role is the one for you.
Be authentic
Finally, be yourself. It’s natural and understandable to be nervous, but try to show your natural personality in interviews. This will help with understanding the cultural fit for you and the company, and it can be draining to act like something you’re not. Plus, you wouldn’t want to live a stressful live knowing, that you got hired into the company that doesn’t fit you.
With the variety of companies and graduate offerings out there, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed. They call it the interview process for a reason – it can take a while.
But always remember, practise makes perfect, and every setback is another opportunity to improve for next time. Think about it, every single time you get rejected, you learn something new: either about yourself, or how you can improve your future applications.
Don’t feel bad for reaching out to recruiters and asking for feedback. The more you try, the better you’ll get, and the least stressful it’ll be to go through the process again.
So, are there any more tips you can share that can improve students’ chances in getting a graduate job? Share in the comments!