Successful Graduate Job Hunting
Employers will often send new graduates back to their old university for these fairs, giving you the chance to meet recent alumni who can talk about what it’s like to work there and the role they’re doing. It can be a really good way to find out about what the culture of the organisation is like – and whether you could imagine working there. If you’re able to go to a careers fair in your first year, then you can find out about the ‘taster experiences’ or insight programme that many of the larger employers offer during the Easter holiday in your first year. These typically last between two days and a week and provide an in-depth introduction to an employer and their graduate roles. Applications for these courses usually close in December or January and most include a selection process for the available places. Employers attending fairs will also provide information about their summer internships and other work experience schemes, as well as their graduate programmes. To get the most out of a careers fair, it’s important to do some research before the event itself. It’s no good asking an employer what they do, or which type of jobs they offer, when all of that information is available on their website. Make the most of being able to speak to a recruiter or a recent graduate to ask them about what the organisation looks for in the graduates they recruit, and their
idea about the types of jobs you’re interested in and want to find out about employers’ application and selection processes? Or are you one of the many who is just starting to think about what you could do in the future and has no clear idea about what that might be. It’s important to remember that your careers adviser won’t give you all the answers about which jobs to apply for or the graduate employers that would be right for you – only you can make those decisions. But they can encourage you to understand your skills and interests and advise you on the different ways you can investigate your career options. Your appointment with a careers adviser is likely to be the first of several and each time they will give you an ‘action plan’ with the next steps to take. One of the main advantages of getting in touch early with your university careers service is you’ll discover the wide range of events, workshops and training sessions that they run during the year, to help you find out about different industries, business sectors and career areas – and the graduate employers within them. Almost every careers service hosts their own careers fairs, usually during the autumn, and these are a great way to meet employers in-person and find out which organisations are actively promoting their graduate programmes.
Careers Information used by the ‘Class of 2024’
UNIVERSITY CAREERS SERVICES
EMPLOYERS’ WEBSITES
EMPLOYERS’ BROCHURES
88% made use of their local university careers services
83% used employers’
58% read employers’ printed or digital brochures
recruitment websites
RECRUITMENT PRESENTATIONS
E E R CAREERS FAIRS
SKILLS TRAINING EVENTS
60% attended employers’
56% took part in local
35% participated in employers’ skills training events
presentations on-campus
university careers fairs
Source High Fliers Research 14,271 final year students leaving UK universities in the summer of 2024 were asked which careers resources and information they had used whilst researching graduate employers, during interviews for The UK Graduate Careers Survey 2024
TOP 100 GRADUATE EMPLOYERS 37
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