12 tips of Christmas

Christmas is a wonderful time of year. It’s the time of year you spend with loved ones and eat far too much food. It is also the best time to start looking for a graduate scheme or internship. 

Make the most of your leisure time by researching into the best ways to find that all important graduate job. Write the perfect CV and learn how to handle graduate recruiters professionally. 

Here are our top 12 tips Christmas tips to help you!

1. Creating the perfect CV for your chosen career can be tricky. This is why we designed ‘The 6-step guide to perfecting your graduate CV’. A good CV is essential to get the graduate job you want, so check out our 6 steps to help your produce a well-crafted CV.
2. Have a read of our quick tips to help you prepare for graduate applications, interviews and assessments. Use our article ‘Application planner: quick tips for graduate job-hunters’ as a handy check list to make sure you're on the right track to get a graduate job. 
3. Diving straight into work with an employer suits some graduates, but for others it's the last thing on their mind. Whether you want to be self-employed, take a break, travel or do further study, there is an alternative to getting a job. Read our article ‘After graduate: alternatives to getting a job’.
4. Innovation, imagination and intuition… creativity takes all three. A successful graduate career involves making both big breakthroughs and inspired evolutions. Have a read of our article ‘Creativity: graduate recruiters like fresh thinking’.
5. Interviews for graduate jobs come in a variety of formats: competence interviews, telephone interviews, panel interviews, technical interviews and now, strengths interviews. If you’re going face-to-face (or on the phone) with graduate recruiters then knowing what to expect and how to prepare will give you a head start and keep your interview nerves at bay. Find tips for dealing with tricky interview questions and techniques to help you come across with confidence.
6. Almost every graduate job-hunter encounters a job application form at some point, particularly if they are applying for graduate schemes and programmes. Take a look at our step-by-step guide ‘The graduate’s guide to job application forms’.
7. Many graduates choose to take a gap year. If you want to pay for your gap year travel by working while abroad there are plenty of opportunities available to you. Read ‘Gap year jobs to apply for before you travel’ for our top tips on when and where to apply. 
8. Are you juggling more than one job offer? It’s a nice problem to have, but how do you manage the situation? Have a read of our article ‘Juggling more than one job offer’ to find out how to make your decision and deal with graduate recruiters in a professional manner. 
9. Social networks are great tools for keeping in touch with your friends and family, but graduate recruiters can use them too. With this in mind, look at how you can maintain and manage your online reputation in our article ‘Social networking and graduate recruitment: manage your online reputation’.
10. Dress for success at your graduate job interviews. This is crucial. You want graduate recruiters to remember you, not your clothes. Find out what to wear in our article to boost your confidence and create a lasting professional impression at your interview.  
11. Rejection is just a fact of life, but don’t let this hinder your chances of finding a graduate job. Read our article ‘Coping with rejection’ for our confidence boosting tips when it comes to interviews. 
12. Working abroad can have a great impact on your graduate career. Offering not only work experience but in-depth knowledge of different cultures and work ethics. Take this opportunity to have a read of our ‘Working abroad’ to see if this is right for you.

For more advice on how to get a graduate job, internship or placement visit www.targetjobs.co.uk.

By Roxanne Chand

The graduate’s guide to creating the perfect CV

A good CV is essential when applying for graduate jobs. So taking the time to perfect your CV is vital to get the job you want. A well-crafted CV will show your career interests and highlight your most relevant skills and experience in the way recruiters like. There is no quick fix when writing your graduate CV, but the overall aim is to market yourself and your skills to an employer and convince them to call you for an interview or assessment centre.

 We have created a 6-step guide to perfecting your CV.

Step 1: focus your message

Understand what your CV actually needs to say. How you focus your CV will depend on the graduate job and industry you’re applying to. Read the job description and job adverts carefully. Use them to help you write your CV. Emphasise any skills or experience you have that match the criteria they are looking for.

Article you may be interested in: Writing CVs for different types of graduate jobs

Step 2: pick a CV format and stick to it

A recruiter is likely to spend between 30 seconds and a minute scanning your CV. This is long enough for them to spot any necessary skills they are looking for, and also any spelling mistakes you may have made. So, it is crucial that you always proofread your CV before sending it to a recruiter. First impressions count! When you’re putting your CV together, ask yourself these three key questions:

1. Is it easy to read?
2. Is the formatting consistent throughout?
3. Does it represent my skills well?

Graduate recruiters don’t waste time trying to locate hidden details, so your CV needs to be logically structured and broken down into clearly marked, easily readable sections. Aim for clarity. Choose a font that is easy to read. Consider Calibri, Cambria or Arial.

Step 3: use the space on your CV wisely

The maximum length of your graduate CV is two pages of A4 – there is no room to waffle! So keep your CV to the point. Be logical – employers will read from the beginning, so this is where the most relevant information needs to go to catch the recruiter’s attention.

Step 4: fill in the gaps

Never leave anything up to the imagination of a graduate recruiter. Gaps are highly conspicuous on CVs and recruiters will spot them a mile off – they’ll be looking for them when they check continuity and consistency.

Step 5: stand out from the crowd 
You’re competing against other graduates for the very best positions. You’ve got to stand out from the crowd to get noticed for your abilities or you will just get lost within the pile of other identical applications and CVs. Showing any evidence of work experience and skills development through extracurricular activities will always give you an edge in a pile of CVs. Use your skills and experiences to your advantage and sell yourself.

Step 6: check your CV carefully

Once you have finished writing your CV print off a copy and read through it to make sure you’re happy that it:

1. makes sense
2. is targeted to the job and employer
3. shows you meet the employer’s minimum requirements
4. has no spelling errors

For more help writing the perfect CV check out targetjobs.co.uk

*Add your CV to your TARGETjobs profile

• Make it easier to apply for jobs and internships on targetjobs.co.uk 
• Receive personal invites to networking and skills events from TARGETjobs Events 
• Be contacted direct by our team who recruit for specific vacancies on behalf of some of Europe's biggest and best graduate employers

TARGETjobs Weekly Round-up

Hello everyone, 

Welcome to this week's round-up post. Today I have a variety of career advice articles and of course our upcoming graduate job deadlines.

So, let me start off with our upcoming graduate job deadlines. 

 

Whether you're looking for a graduate job in management consulting, finance, engineering, property or another career area, you'll find plenty of vacancies with closing dates coming up on targetjobs.co.uk. 

Now, onto our careers advice

The majority of students say their parents play a major role in their decision-making about careers and study, according to a report published last week. More than half (54%) of students who took part said that their parents tried to exert influence over their choice of course or career, while 69% said their parents had tried to influence their choice of university. Find out more about our recent survey here.

Law

Calling all law students! Ever caught yourself saying 'I'm studying law but I don't want to be a lawyer'? If so, don't panic when it comes to career planning. The competencies your are developing during your law degree and legal work experience are relevant in many alternative careers. We list 12 of them here.

Updated every Thursday morning, we give you the essential information you need to keep on top of your applications and raise your commercial awareness for interviews and meetings with law recruiters. Check out the latest vac scheme and pupillage deadlines and stay up to date with all the stories you need. This week, read what the president of the Queen’s bench division had to say about a group of Cardiff law students, what the CIA had to say about torture and what a judge shouldn’t have said at Preston Crown Court.

Building

Are you interested in working for prestigious real estate company JLL? Well you will be pleased to know their applications open in the New Year. Read up on their internship opportunities and application hints and tips here to give yourself a head start.

Now that's all the career advice for this week. Make sure you visit our Facebook page to enter our daily Christmas competitions '24 Days of Christmas'. 

Have a great weekend!

Roxanne