‘GET REAL’ TO COMBAT JOBS UNCERTAINTY SAY GRADUATES

In recent times students graduating from university have benefited from a buoyant jobs market but it seems that tougher times lie ahead for those planning to enter the world of work in 2009 as a result of the credit crunch and global economic uncertainty.

Whilst it is too early to accurately predict what the jobs market will look like next year, the Graduate Recruitment Bureau set out to gauge the mood of this year’s graduate job seekers. A survey of graduates on the GRB database revealed fascinating insights into their mind sets and an imaginative list of top tips for others hunting for jobs in the same tightening market.

High on the list of things to do were:
Lower your sights in the short-term
Apply early
Be flexible over such things as location, pay, career choice and contract terms
Try to gain work experience in your chosen career area even if this means working for nothing
Differentiate yourself from the masses by brushing up your interview skills and undertaking thorough research into the sector and firms you are applying to
Network like mad by registering with agencies, attending recruitment and careers fairs and using friends and family contacts. But, they warn, under no account just sit at home and do your research on the web (useful as that is)

The survey results suggest that graduates are being pragmatic and realistic about their prospects. They know it will be hard to land that dream job and it may take longer than normal to achieve their goals. If at first they don’t succeed they are prepared to look at alternative routes, including:

Unpaid work experience
Voluntary work
Postgraduate courses of study
Gaining further qualifications and skills though training
Temporary work
Taking a year out

A fair degree of stoicism showed through in the responses, as suggested by advice to:

Be patient and persevere – stay positive
Maintain your confidence levels
Learn from missed opportunities
Be the best you can be but never think you are too good for anything
Don’t let rejections get you down
Never, ever give up!
Understanding yourself, your values, interests and motivations.

The respondents could hardly be accused of hypocrisy! Asked to describe their own attitude towards successfully securing the career of their choice
· 31% said they were being realistic
· 28% said they were optimistic
· A further 20% described themselves as confident
· Only 18% felt they were being pessimistic.

Alternative strategies being employed to achieve their goals included:
· Working overseas (6%)
· Working for free (7%)
· Travelling further afield (12%)
· Being more flexible (16%)
· Revising career goals (9%)
· Lowering expectations 7%)
· Returning to study (7%).

This generation of graduate job seekers are also willing to network and seek support wherever they can find it. Sources of help included:
· Recruitment agencies (67%)
· Family and friends (42%)
· Graduate recruitment directories (44%)
· Job centres (33%)
· Recruitment fairs (33%)
· University careers services (45%)
· Web resources (50%)

Only 3.5% of the sample declared that they were going it alone.
When asked why the graduate jobs market was tightening, the respondents were divided in apportioning blame. 15% blamed the global economic climate and a further 9% blamed the UK climate. 14%, said there were too many graduates and a further 10% felt there were too few graduate jobs to go round. 12% blamed their university for not doing enough to prepare them while 4% blamed themselves for not having started their job search early enough. A further 10% admitted there were not enough graduate jobs in the region they were looking for work in. Employers did not entirely escape criticism with 13% claiming that employers were setting too high standards.
Commenting on the survey results, GRB co-founder Dan Hawes said “Who better to ask about job seeking strategies in a recession than those at the sharp end? Running a graduate recruitment consultancy, I can identify with the sentiments expressed by those going through the process of seeking their first ‘real’ job at this time. It isn’t easy in the present climate but as our respondents have clearly shown, they are refusing to concede defeat and are facing up to the challenges in a realistic, positive and down to earth way.”
Notes:

1.The survey of 368 UK based graduates on the GRB database was conducted in October 2008. 52% were male. 71% had achieved either a first on a 2:1 degree class. The vast majority had already graduated but a small number of final students also contributed.

2.Dan Hawes, co-founder, is available for interview and can be contacted on 01273 200411, 07769 975917 or d.hawes@grb.uk.com

3.Graduate Recruitment Bureau (GRB) can offer a range of services to fulfill all of your graduate recruitment needs. From Search and Selection to Online Advertising we offer you choice and flexibility.Since 1997 we have been helping graduate recruiters, large and small, meet their hiring targets. Our CV database covers students and graduates from the Times Top 30 Universities in Science, Technology, Engineering, Math’s, Legal, Language, Business, Economics, Accounting, Marketing and Humanities degrees with 2.1s or higher and strong A Levels. We have two main services to attract and hire graduates- Search and Selection and Online Advertising.Search and Selection - Our team of Recruitment Consultants specialise in different sectors and take a detailed brief from each client. We then search for suitable candidates from our extensive CV database, screen and introduce the best candidate CVs. Our services have been used by graduate recruiters to fill places on graduate schemes, ad-hoc roles, shortfall and hard to fill vacancies requiring a degree.Online Advertising - Our award winning website enables graduate recruiters to attract high calibre graduates to their vacancies. With in-house design and performance metric reporting this service is an excellent branding opportunity and highly targeted recruitment marketing campaign.

4. GRB Quick Facts
-200, 000 registered job seeking students and graduates from all disciplines and all UK universities
-47% from the Times Top 30 Universities
-30,000 graduated in 2008
-16,500 graduating in 2009
-40,000 unique visits a month on our award-winning website www.grb.uk.com
-Established in 1997 by two graduates
-Several blue chip clients and fast growing SMEs
-AGR and REC member

10 benefits of a recession for graduate job seekers...

Recessions can mean tough times for a lot of people but can also carry benefits. Some benefits of a recession for graduate jobs seekers are...

- It makes you more creative and consider different careers.
- It makes you look at SME employers instead of some "traditional" London-based firms which are cutting back.
- It makes you realise you can't take your current job for granted.
- It makes you think-twice about buying more "stuff" that is non-essential.
- It makes you think harder about what you can offer an employer.
- It stops complacency and creates a sense of urgency.
- It brings you back to the basics - you need a job to pay the bills.
- It forces you to make tough decisions - enter the job market or take further study?
- It is an agent for change.
- It causes you to be less wasteful - why commute by car when the train will suffice.

Making Light of a Tightening Market

If newspaper headlines are to believed "Class of 2008 head for home as the career ladder is pulled away" (The Times, 04.10.08), job prospects for graduates in 2008 were dreadful. If what has happened to the stock market since then is anything to go by, then prospects for graduates in 2009 are going to be even worse!

However, the same newspaper ran another graduate jobs story in mid September with the headline "The boom has burst but the job market for newcomers is still bucking the trend".
Confused? Given the conflicting headlines and the speed at which things are happening in the global economy at the moment that's understandable.

Should you be worried as well as confused? What is the truth when it comes to job prospects for graduates this year and should Class of 2009 be worried about what is going to happen to them? And what can you do to improve your prospects?

See full article by Carl Gilleard (Chief Executive of The Association of Graduate Recruiters - AGR)

The hands have it

Interesting snippet from today's FT written by Emma Jacobs on the importance of a firm handshake. We all know body language can give different signals and it is important to give out positive vibes especially in an interview. According to research by the University of Iowa interviewees with a firm handshake are "far more likely" to get the job than candidate with a limp handshake. They found it was more noticed than the dress or physical appearance of a candidate. Women especially benefit from a firmer handshake so now you know - get practising!

Student Housing –vs- Halls of Residence

Student accommodation comes in the form of halls of residence, student homes, student flats or student houses, but which is the best?

This completely depends on the university, the conditions of the halls of residence and the student housing in the local area. Some students are luckier than others but there are increasing amounts of landlords taking advantage of the student market and therefore increasing the choice and the standard of student housing. Of course the price and value for money is important factor and again differs depending on university and location.

Halls of residence carry the advantage of allowing students to be close to 100’s of other fellow students but there are other ‘external student properties’ that offer this advantage now including London's Nido building, which has been described as a 'campus-in-a-box'.

Resisdents include students typically from Imperial College, London School of Economics (LSE), University College London (UCL), City University and King’s College. Although they are from different universities the residents still have the ‘communal experience’ students get on campus and in halls of residence.

For information on halls of residents at your University it is best to see their website or contact them directly and for student housing see Accommodation for Students.

Best Graduate Bank Accounts

Many banks offer student accounts whilst you are studying with interest free overdrafts but not all of them transfer into a graduate account automatically when you graduate and you could end up with a stack of chargers if you are not careful. So which Graduate Bank Account is best for you?

Read more ar GRB News and Views.

Taking Time Out

There seems to be a myth around that if you graduate and don’t go straight into a graduate training scheme you have blown your chances. In other words, if you graduated in 2007, 2006 or earlier, you are ineligible to apply for a graduate programme in 2008.

This is simply untrue. Most employers welcome applications from anyone and any age so long as they have the right skills, personal attributes and motivation. And don’t forget, age legislation in employment makes it illegal for employers to discriminate on grounds of age.

Where this myth comes from is anyone’s guess. However, it is a dangerous assumption to make even by those graduating in 2008. You may have a desire to take a year out but don’t want to jeopardise your career prospects. Or you may decide to take that highly paid temporary job to pay off your student debts before concentrating on your longer term career. Either way, you will not damage your prospects of getting on to a graduate programme by doing something else before applying for career jobs. In fact, your life experience during the ‘time out’ may actually make you a stronger candidate.

This is the real point – it is not what you do but what you learn from the experience that makes the difference. I get asked time and again if a gap year is a good thing to do. My answer is always the same –YES! But then comes the rider – it does depend on how much the individual learns from the experience.

When I was a graduate recruiter, back in the good old days, I would see lots of job seekers who had taken a year out before applying for graduate posts. After asking them to describe what they had done I would move on to ask what they had learnt and then quiz them as to how they might apply what they had learnt to the job they were applying for. Easy, I can hear you say. Well yes, you would think so but time and again candidates let themselves down by not being able to get past describing what they had done and sometimes even that was a struggle.

What these candidates had failed to apply was the skill of reflective learning. It is something I do most days on my way home from work – on the train, in the car or walking to the station. What had I set out to do, how close had I come to achieving my objectives, what prevented me from completing them and what had I learnt that I could apply on another day? It only takes a few minutes but the process, once you master it, can be applied to a whole variety of settings and it helps me to understand myself better.

This has two main benefits. Firstly, knowing yourself helps you to identify your strengths and weaknesses and that is important in terms of organising your career. You can also do something about tackling your weaknesses. Secondly, knowing yourself helps you to feel more comfortable with yourself so that when you are asked searching questions about yourself, such as in a job selection process, you have the confidence to respond. Don’t forget, often the interviewer is more interested in how you answer the questions rather than what you actually say.

So, if you have taken some time out don’t just think about what you did but focus on what you learnt. Capture those thoughts and when you make that all important job application, make sure you can articulate what added value your experience gave you. And if you are about to launch yourself into an activity that does not fit the traditional career path, ensure you do the same. One way of doing this is to record your experiences in a diary or logbook.

I recall spending some time on a ferry from Manley to Darling Harbour in Sydney with two UK graduates who were coming to the end of a round the world trip. One of them was really worried about how his travels would look on a job application form when he returned to the UK. In fact, he was quite gloomy about it. His girlfriend had no such qualms. She rattled off a whole list of skills she had gained from the experience – planning, budgeting, fund raising, a host of short-term service jobs, foreign languages and understanding cultural differences. She went on to mention ‘coping strategies’ at which point I was so impressed by her self awareness I almost offered her a job there and then!

Two people, one experience, but very different outcomes. I know which outcome I would prefer, don’t you?

Carl Gilleard
Chief Executive
The Association of Graduate Recruiters