[Graduate Recruitment Bureau]

About to start looking for graduate jobs? Not sure where to start? Need some tips from a leading graduate recruitment service?

GRB and TSR are giving you the opportunity to ask questions about the jobs market giving you a chance to find the career you deserve.

Ask us any questions you might have!

[iloverockandroll]

Hey, this is a question on behalf of a friend of mine.

They want to get into law, but aren't really interested in working for big firms or joining big graduate schemes. They are saving for their LPC but I wanted to know if you have any advice as to getting any legal experience (since the LPC is expensive, and may take a while to save up enough) or any information on other routes into law through employment worth letting them know about?

[Graduate Recruitment Bureau]

Hi - really sorry - but Law is the only area we don't work in. If you haven't already I would suggest using your Careers Service.

[chelseafan]

The bird is the word.

[Fuzzpig]

Do you work with the Psychology area then? Just how many people are applying for assistant jobs, and will a first class honours make you that much more likely to gain an assistant position in order to get your experience required for the Clinical Doctorate?

What is the best way to apply for an assistant position? Where is the best place to look?

[chelseafan]

What is the average graduate salary?

[rnbchick]

When is the best time to look for a graduate job?

[Graduate Recruitment Bureau]

(Original post by chelseafan)
What is the average graduate salary?

The average starting salary for 2010-2011 remained stagnant at £25,000; however, AGR members predict an increase of 4.0% for the 2011-2012 recruitment season to £26,000.

[Graduate Recruitment Bureau]

(Original post by rnbchick)
When is the best time to look for a graduate job?

It depends. Some recruiters for graduate schemes have deadlines whilst others have ongoing recruitment. In your final year you should be doing some research to narrow down your options but balancing getting a 2:1 or better often forces students to start applying for jobs once they graduate. Best to use as many routes to the job market as possible to increase your chances.

[Freaknik]

am hoping to study chemical engineering at university, what advice could you give me that would help me stand out from others and increases y chances of getting a job in that field?

[Graduate Recruitment Bureau]

(Original post by aliluvschoc)
Do you work with the Psychology area then? Just how many people are applying for assistant jobs, and will a first class honours make you that much more likely to gain an assistant position in order to get your experience required for the Clinical Doctorate?

What is the best way to apply for an assistant position? Where is the best place to look?

Our experts do help Psychology graduates placing them into a variety of graduate level roles. A First is clearly an advantage but equally are the other skills you have acquired whilst at University. To hear about jobs that match your skill set you can register with GRB and our experts can alert you when a role comes in.

[hothedgehog]

Where is this hidden jobs market you speak of?

[Reily]

(Original post by hothedgehog)
Where is this hidden jobs market you speak of?

Yeah, that is pretty much my question too.

The Times 100 and Guardian 300 are going to be incredibly over subscribed, everyone knows who these firms are and what they offer and will attract a huge amount of applicants. Not that I'm necessarily put off by this, I will be applying to quite a few of them as well, but I've also been on the lookout for some of the more unusual and less publicised graduate schemes (stuff that usually doesn't make TargetJobs, Prospects or Milkround) and have found one or two that certainly sound interesting. There probably is a better way to do it, but a check of the Fortune 500 and google graduates alongside their name is where I have had my limited success. The theory being that larger companies are more likely to offer graduate positions but someone with more devotion could check the indices for smaller companies - particularly if you are focusing on geographical area or sector. I also check here pretty regularly in case anything else shows up - although if it's on here it's really that unknown.

With regards to numbers I'd quite like to cover my bases whilst still putting a lot of work into each of my application, I'm usually quite good at writing them so often get passed this stage at least. I have a list (well, three lists now) of companies I would potentially be interested in and some have the full 6 stage assessment process some others, strangely most large consulting houses, have a typical CV/Cover letter at the first stage at least. The quicker I can start on them the better though and some have already opened up so I am applying for them even as a tool to better familiarize myself with the process.

Anyway, to a further question, I'd like to see a more complete list of graduate offerings. All of the sites listed above have bases not covered and the one here needs updated - for example take out Innocent and I think one of the companies has even merged.

One of the biggest problems with researching early - the schemes changing for next year will throw me badly off sync.

[allees]

where can we find medium to small sized companies that perhaps wont be so oversubscribed?

[ForgetMe]

Do the companies in the UK accept work experience gained outside of the UK? And can I get a job if I only have a work experience of 5 months? Also, do the same companies accept graduates with a diploma from an institution outside of the UK?