Job Search 101

My quest to find a graduate job has taken me to many far flung recesses of the world wide web - with so many sites and boards displaying lists of vacancies, it's often difficult to pick out the best opportunities. Many sites offer a huge array of different search options and filters designed to help you pick out the perfect job, however, in reality, the search is never simple.

The first obstacle you must overcome is the bane of many a graduate job seeker - recruitment consultancy. If you can figure out how to remove these jobs from your search then you have taken a significant step. Somehow jobs in recruitment seem to crop up in every sector (despite the recession!) - it seems there is always a ready market for arts graduates to help other arts graduates find jobs recruiting arts graduates. Without wishing to belittle the noble and ancient profession of recruitment consultancy, I can't help but feel that, although financially profitable, it is not a path that provides a great deal of career progression or job satisfaction (if you know otherwise feel free to set me straight). In short, it is not for me.

So, if you are able to remove these jobs from your search, what remains? If you are using some of the better known graduate job boards, for example Milkround, Target or Prospects, then you are most likely left with a selection of highly lucrative but exceptionally competitive graduate schemes. I have tried and failed in applying to a whole host of these - many seem the worst culprits for long winded application forms, banal testing and delayed responses. With hindsight, I don't think I would be suited to a life in big business but that is beside the point. Many statistics are quoted in the national press about 80 candidates responding to every available position and it is perhaps these jobs that they are referring to. An aspiring graduate must broaden their horizons if they wish to shorten their odds.

As Tanya de Grunwald and her excellent Graduate Fog website have suggested (I suggest you read for a far more thorough dissection of the problems faced by recent graduates), with a little extra effort things can be made easier. Smaller firms often don't have the time or the resources to advertise on the major jobs boards, instead preferring trade magazines and niche websites. By searching out these nooks and corners of the job market you are already displaying your quality as a candidate. Better still, your chances of employment are significantly increased. In addition, these firms often request only a CV and a Cover Letter, a format that is far less time consuming than the short essays demanded by some big companies. This is not to say that you shouldn't tailor an application to an employer, but at least you can be a little more efficient in the use of your time and even re-use certain sections. As a failing job seeker myself, you can take these tips with a pinch of salt, but I hope they may be of some use.

After many months without success, this is the approach on which I am now focusing my efforts. It remains to be seen whether it will deliver a result, but the jobs I am finding now seem a little more appropriate for my skill-set and importantly, more fulfilling.