No more teachers, no more books. No more teachers’ daunting looks. So you are finally out of college and you are craning your neck over every newspaper ad looking for the best graduate jobs in London that you can apply for! One of the advantages in looking for work in London is that there are many opportunities available for the fresh graduates. Employment opportunities are aplenty in London, whether you are looking for a profession in commerce, engineering or medicine.
London is a global city, housing almost ten million inhabitants with around 300 languages spoken in this modern melting pot of cultures. It is a brewery of ideas for the world leaders, the academe, the entrepreneurs, even the fashionistas. Whatever your liking may be, however you envision your future to be, it can be done and can happen in London. What sets London apart among other locations is that not only does it provides opportunity, it provides the “best” opportunity. Majority of UK’s top 100 companies have their main offices in London, as well as over 100 or Europe’s 500 biggest companies.
A traditional way of looking for jobs is buying and browsing through the Sunday paper, I do not know what it is about the Sunday paper, but job listings are the most on this particular day. Archaic and outmoded it may seem, but it still works. Like jobseekers, companies would like to attract talent in the most accessible widespread way.
Living in the information age, with everything we need found in cyberspace, being tech-savvy does not hurt. There are plenty of job posting websites out there. Posting your profile can significantly increase your chances of getting picked out for an initial interview. The best thing about these sites is that you can post your profile for free. Even headhunters use the Internet to prospect capable individuals for job openings. This is something that you should use to help you get that London graduate job you have been dreaming about. You can also go directly to the website of the companies you are interested in and browse through their ‘Careers’ or ‘Employment’ page.
Affiliations and personal references are also one tool worth looking into. Gather your connections. Ask for job referrals from your college friends, family friends and even friends of friends. Name-dropping during an interview also improves your chances of bagging the job.
Job-hunting is tough and can surely put the strain over the graduate wanting to show and strut his stuff the soonest possible time. Preparing your curriculum vitae or your resume will be the first step in embracing your first-ever graduate job. It is in these pieces of paper will you present your strengths that will make the reader decide if an interview will be worth their time.
Below are pointers regarding a good resume format:
• Keep your resumes clean, making sure your choice of font does not strain the eyes, make them big enough to read, no smaller than a font size 10 should be used.
• Make sure that page breaks are not awkward and that there are no spelling mistakes. It is advisable that you keep your resume to two pages, one page for banks and other financial institutions.
• Use bullet points as to avoid long sentences. This will help keep the length of the resume in check. It is important that you keep this short and concise because if it is unnecessarily long, there is a chance that it will be screened out.
• Do not attach a picture unless requested.
• Whether you graduated with honours or not, a curriculum vitae highlighting your achievements will surely add more interest and show a bit of your personality.
• It would be of significance to put in your interests and hobbies as this would show how well rounded you are as a person.
• Character references should also be included, these could include professors or close family friends that can vouch for your character.
It may also be important to keep two sets of resumes particular to the job you are aiming for.
Online job posting sites would normally require creating a profile, which will be accessible to the headhunters and prospective human resources personnel of companies looking for talent. Just as printed-out resumes, keep it short and concise. Give out information, but try not to be ambiguous, stick to the facts.
The success of your resume will lead you to job interviews. Before heading off to this vital stage in your application process, you must learn as much as you can about the company you are applying for. Gather as many information as you can about the company you are applying for before your scheduled interview. Information is a powerful tool. As I mentioned earlier, name-dropping is, too.
Interviewers are not the only one who can ask questions. They will surely ask you to tell them about yourself, but it is recommended that you also ask them questions about the company. Ask about the company’s policies on certain things you may have concerns about as well as promotion and appraisal opportunities. Ask about your work hours as well as the company’s organization. These will give your interviewer the impression that you are genuinely interested with the company.
Hold your head high, young man. There are plenty of graduate jobs in the UK awaiting. Your future is here.
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