Career Advice For Graduates: How To Find A Job In Todays Market

Career Advice For Graduates: How To Find A Job In Todays Market

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Its becoming an increasingly tough slog for talented new graduates to find a job in todays market but with the right skills and experience it is achievable, regardless of how bleak the outlook may seem. Our consultants feel that experience is the key to kick starting your career, so heres some advice on how to get yourself noticed and get some experience.

Why you need it

Getting valuable experience with the right company will enable you to establish and develop the required skills for your chosen industry. It often involves long hours, a lot of hard work and little - if no pay, but it can seriously raise your chances of securing a full time position in your dream job. Many agencies offer internships or graduate training programs that can last from anything up to 18 months. Most pay your expenses and offer intensive schedules designed to teach you as much as possible and ultimately train you up to a junior level.

Foot in the door

There are lots of high profile agencies helping grads get their foot in the door. Londons Saatchi and Saatchi were voted the uks most popular graduate recruiter in 2009 by graduates themselves in the Marketing and Advertising sector at the National Graduate Recruitment Awards. Theyve continued to invest in their in graduate scheme and offer a fantastic, in-depth introduction to the advertising industry. Another organisation who takes their graduate recruitment seriously is global communications agency; Leo Burnett Group. Their Graduate Foundation Programme is due to open this September for their 2011 intake and puts budding graduates through their paces for over 15 months, offering a fully integrated training scheme which covers advertising, digital, experiential and retailer promotions. The group are offering placements for Junior Account Executives and Junior Planners. Jess Farahar, Graduate Account Executive at Leo Burnett spoke very highly of the scheme The Leo Burnett graduate scheme has proved itself brilliant! The last eight months have provided me with a cohesive understanding of Leo as an agency, as well as a wider industry.

They want us to succeed. I think we all feel very lucky to have been given the chance to work here.

How to get involved

The best starting point is to make a list of all the companies youd like to work for, and then make sure youve done your research for each one and tailor a covering letter to each of them. Covering letters are usually a big stumbling block for a lot of people; it can be difficult to strike a balance between being informative and waffling. To make yourself stand out try going via social networking sites such as LinkedIn, its a great way to show prospective employers that youre proactive and passionate about getting experience. For more information on promoting yourself through social media, check out our blog at The Wall.

Avoid the obvious

If youre planning on going for a creative role then its perhaps wise to try and grab your prospective employers attention with something original instead of just emailing a covering letter. We know of a candidate who wrote her CV on a piece of toast original if not slightly appetising, this stunt got her an interview. Another candidate sent a box of doves to a high profile advertising agency with his CV tied to one of their legs in the hope of dazzling the MD.

Unfortunately by the time the box arrived at their offices the birds had snuffed it. This is perhaps an example of what not to do. People Director at top advertising agency Profero, Tina Brazil gives some great advice on how to get noticed...

If you still need convincing about the benefits of taking part in a graduate scheme then see what Dan Noller, Junior Creative at Elvis Communications has to say. After graduating from Saint John Moore's University, Dan signed up for a 3 month internship with the advertising agency and has since gone on to become a permanent member of staff. To give you a head start, below weve listed some of the top grad schemes that we feel will help you develop all the necessary skills and experience to get going in your chosen sector.

Leo Burnett
Saatchi and Saatchi
Proctor and Gamble
Dragon Rouge
BBH

About the Author:
Headquartered in Covent Garden, London, Major Players team of more than 80 consultants provides freelance and permanent personnel. The firm recruits for various Marketing Jobs advertising jobs, design, digital media, events, interactive media, creative, design, PR jobs in UK.for more information visit http://www.majorplayers.co.uk/



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