TARGETjobs career advice roundup

With the New Year comes new internships, new courses, new jobs and new opportunities. As always, we’re here to give you all of the career advice you’ll need to make the most of 2014.

To begin with we have some law advice, first for aspiring barristers and then for aspiring solicitors:

If you intend to become a barrister then you’ll be thinking about pupillage. At the TARGETjobs Law National Pupillage Fair 2014 you can hear from qualified barristers, talk to course providers and get information on funding. Here are six reasons you should be at Lincoln’s Inn, London on March 8th. 

In case you can’t make the Pupillage Fair, here’s some advice on finding the best law course to get your career as a barrister off to a flying start. 

Aspiring solicitors have only two weeks left to apply for summer vacation schemes at the leading commercial law firms (most firms use 31 January as a deadline). Vacation placements can be a smooth pipeline to a training contract – if you’re organised about deadlines and plan ahead. In 2012, 20 out of 24 vac schemers went on to get a training contract at Shearman & Sterling; Shoosmiths recruits 50% of future trainees from its vacation placement. Graduate recruiters at three firms explain the importance of vac schemes and we let you know what to do each term to make sure you get one.

Next we have a list of articles to help you navigate the application processes in specific companies, beginning with the NHS:

Graduates have just one month to apply for the NHS Scientists Training Programme (STP) and competition is tough. The scheme attracts thousands of graduates for approximately 250 healthcare scientist jobs each year and it all begins with the application form. To help you get ahead with the application questions we’ve put together this very simple guide. 

Is house building your thing? Then take a look at Barratt Developments PLC. Suzie Flynn, the talent manager at Barratt, explains that the company is looking for specific and well-tailored applications and career-hunters, not job-hunters. 

You can indulge your sweet tooth both in your personal life and your professional life if you apply for a job with Mars, and here are the five fundamentals that you need to demonstrate in a Mars interview. 

If that wasn’t enough, then we can also guide you through the specific questions you’ll encounter in an interview with Mars. 

As always, we’re finishing up with a list of the graduate jobs deadlines for you to browse.

Plus, as an added New Year bonus, we also have all the deadlines for internship and work experience applications here for the coming week. 

Have an excellent weekend.