So how come we have just had our best month ever helping 6 grads into great jobs? Not forgetting that there are 2 million graduates out there searching right now.
This is how we do it:
- Ensure that they do not apply for any job until they know exactly why they are applying for the role and that their CV / LinkedIn profile shows at a glance that they are extremely well qualified for the role.
- Ensure that they do not apply for any job until they have understood and can articulate all the key employability skills that employers seek from new grads.
- Persuade them that their first job doesn’t need to be their ideal job as long as it pays ok and they are learning new skills. I always say start earning, start learning. And as we mentor for three years after their first role, then we can help them get a better job if needs be.
- Ensure that they understand that it’s a full-time job searching for their first job. And that they need to be doing four/ five new applications every day. Including weekends!
- Ensure that they are “digitally fluent.” Nowadays 85% of all new graduate jobs need at least some understanding of why digital technologies are changing the world we live in so quickly and so fundamentally. Our digital internship is proving to be a godsend to all our new grads, whether they are going for digitally focused roles or just general ones.
- Ensure that when they have those Zoom calls they feel really well prepared. They have searched the LinkedIn profiles of who is interviewing them, they feel confident about the inevitable project they will have had to prepare and present. They know their “back story” backwards and can almost recite it, word for word with clarity and passion.
- Teaching grads that when interviewing they should think about the interviewers and to put themselves in their shoes. Who would I hire and why?
This technique works like a dream by the way and something I learnt years ago when pitching for advertising accounts. Of course, interviewers want someone who can do the job but they also want someone who wants the job and is really keen to work with them.
It’s such a crying shame that all of this is all new to graduates. Yesterday I talked with a Mum whose son had been specifically instructed by his university (Oxford) to not work during any holidays but to concentrate on his academic studies. No wonder now he is clueless about what type of role would suit him best and has never ever heard of employability skills!
Written by Chris Davies, Head Coach and the Founder of Graduate Coach.
Chris has over 20 years of coaching experience and a track record of helping students, graduates and career changers to get their foot on the right career ladder and thrive in their new roles.
To find out how Chris can help you to land a good graduate job email: [email protected]
Featured image by: Photo by Oleg Magni from Pexels
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