The middle of May every year signals the end of the University term and for those students at Uni , it means their time as a student is up and they need to start of looking for a job.
It is hard to find the perfect job, even harder to find it in a field you have studied in. I studied International Management and Business Administration with French and it was very difficult to find a job in this field. I really wanted to work in Marketing and even though there was no financial crisis, it was nearly impossible. I am now in the field that I want to work in, but I had to go through a lot of different jobs to get there. Here are some tips:
Work Experience
Yes it is a bit tiring and can be annoying working for free, but it is important for the CV. I did try and get work experience while I was at Uni and unfortunately as I did not have a degree, I could not get work experience. Do not want until after you graduate otherwise you will be in the vicious circle of “if you not have experience, you cannot work at a company”. Get your foot in the door before you finish Uni. The National Council For Work Experience has a list of useful sites for students.
Graduate Roles
Scour the internet for graduate roles . They are few and far between but if you are lucky enough to get one, they fantastic jobs as you can training and development and such a young age. When I worked at MEC, I met a graduate who set up her own blog recording her life as a grad at MEC. It is a fantastic blog, all her posts are very detailed about her life at MEC.
Expand Your Skills
I wanted to go into marketing and then was attracted to online, now I do SEO and set up the website SEO Jo Blogs. I have worked with graphic designers who studied only offline print design working in brochure design but they could not get enough work in this field. Therefore they branched out to online (with little experience, just what they read in books) and are now web designers as well as the ability to work offline. Print design and web design are not the same thing and from experience it is important to know both, especially if you want to increase your chances of getting a job. There are many print
Don’t Give Up
Most important part of this post. Do not become despondent or depressed, you will get a job. If you cannot find a job in the field you want to go in, try going it alone. For example, if you want to get work as a web designer, why not design your own webiste. You have time and can do this for little cost. I wanted to work in SEO but it was very competitive and therefore I set up my own site. If you want to get into fashion, making the lastest collections, start making clothese for yourself and wear them to Uni or out and about.