Graduating? What’s Your Next Step?

The number of graduates hired by organisations featured in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers fell by 4.9% in 2017, the first drop in graduate recruitment for five years and the biggest annual fall recorded since 2009. Some of these employers included Mott Macdonald, Aecom, Arup, Savills and Deloitte.

This afternoon, the Niyaa People team conducted a careers talk to the soon to be graduates at the Birmingham School of Architecture and Design at Birmingham City University and we want to share our top 5 tips with the rest of you:

 

1. Be the first out the starting gate

Just like horse racing, being one of the first to commence a graduate job search will place you at an advantage. Not only will it highlight you’re taking your job hunt seriously, but your CV and application details are more likely to actually be seen by the right people in the business, rather than being lost in an “info” inbox alongside 200 others.

2. Don’t be a robot

In this technological day and age, communication is becoming a copy and paste email or a 10 page, generic question application on a company website. When looking for a potential new role, view the people you’re approaching as your potential new colleagues; We are all human. A personalised cover letter geared toward the company’s projects, a Linkedin connection to the decision maker with a direct message or simply picking up the phone are all much more personal ways of getting someones attention.

 3. Network

Following on from the last point, get out there and network! Being a construction and property recruitment consultancy, we know first hand professionals are networking, so no matter what your sector may be, make sure to target local events. These may be seminars, discussion nights or charity events, but they’ll all have key people from local business in one room ready to speak to you. You never know, it might be the MD of your next company.

 4. Research the companies

This may sound obvious enough, but in the panic of applying for as many graduate roles as possible, take time to target a select list of companies and research. How big are they? What services do they provide? Who are their clients? What’s the culture like? Knowing the answers to these questions will make you feel more confident in the company you are about to apply for and you’ll also be much more prepared should the unpredictable phone call come through asking for 5 minutes of your time.

 5. Stay up to date and keep on going!

Make sure your CV has all the information it needs with it still being concise, get someone else to proof read it and keep it to 1/2 pages. If anything changes (address, work experience, qualifications) make sure to update your CV and any professional online pages i.e. LinkedIn. Use your network and speak to recruiters, but most importantly keep motivated, be proactive and put in the effort, after all, this process alone is a reflection of your work ethic to an employer.

 

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26th February

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