fefssdf's road to (Hopefully) a Graduate Job....

Update as of January 10th
Hi guys,

So today has reminded me once again that rejection is part of the process of getting yourself a new role, whether it be a grad position or something more entry level.

I had an interview this morning for a temp admin/ events organiser job at my old uni. Sadly I received feedback shortly afterwards that I was unsuccessful and that the role has been given to another candidate instead who had slightly more experience.

I’m feeling a bit deflated as a result of this, but I have another chance next week when I have another interview for a different admin job, which actually offers higher pay too which is always a nice bonus!

I contacted the recruitment company I have been having discussions with since I submitted my video interview but I still haven’t received any information back regarding an interview. I’ve been asked when I’m available ect and was told yesterday I’d be contacted ASAP but I still haven’t heard anything :/

Just feels like I’m being messed around since it sounded like they wanted to interview me but maybe that isn’t the case :/

If anyone has any grad schemes which specifically want stem grads other than the likes of Deloitte ect which I’ve already been rejected from then please let me know

That's unfortunate but keep going

Is the other admin job at your uni? In all honesty I think if you're committed enough then you'll probably get one there in the end. It's very much in the university's interest to get their graduates employed. I myself temped at one and found it a good stepping stone into another position.

Recruiters will mess you about massively. Keep pestering them but bear in mind that they actually completely and utterly suck for the most part.

Hey guys,

Here is an update as of January 15th.

I got rejected from the admin job I had an interview for at the beginning of the week. I didn’t think I had much chance of getting it as it seemed to be quite a senior admin position so i wasn’t too surprised when I got told the role had been given to someone with more senior admin experience, but there was a positive since I was told that my past experience was ‘ valuable ‘ so I guess that’s something I can take from that interview process that my cv is in good shape.

On a more positive note, I had an interview yesterday for a recruitment role up in London. Interestingly this role doesn’t actually require any cold calls as it would just be focusing on the candidate side of things which is a lot more promising as that was one aspect of recruitment that didn’t seem that great.

It was a two stage interview and after I’d completed the first part which involved answering a lot of competency questions the two interviewers went to go and have a chat and when they gave back they said that they have a lot of ‘ positives’ and things are looking good so that was really promising. The next part of the interview then involved me going through some cvs and picking out 4 out of 15 which were suitable for a client brief that was read out to me. I did well on this in finding the 3/4 correct cv’s with the remaining one being put in a maybe pile as I wasn’t too sure, so I received good feedback on that task.

After that I was then told that again things were looking positive and that there is another stage in the process which would be another face-face interview. They said they wouldn’t be making any promises but that I would basically hear back within a few days so that’s a good sign. I left the interview feeling really positive as if I actually wanted the job which I guess is a good sign as often i have left interviews feeling a bit confused as to what I thought in terms of like if the company culture is right for me ect but I just got pretty good vibes all round which was nice

I'm really trying to be nice about this but think long and hard before taking a recruitment job in London of all places. I worked in the IT department of a recruitment firm back when I graduated (2012) and it was hands down the worst environment I've ever worked in. Many people left after a month. I personally left after three.

These places can be killer environments. HR has a knack for making everything sound rosy and great whereas in reality it can be teaming with sharks. I've seen this from the inside and also from dealing with them on the other side of the fence too.

So yeah, have a think. Look on their Glassdoor. If there's lots of good reviews but smells like HR wrote the review then do be very cautious.

I'm really trying to be nice about this but think long and hard before taking a recruitment job in London of all places. I worked in the IT department of a recruitment firm back when I graduated (2012) and it was hands down the worst environment I've ever worked in. Many people left after a month. I personally left after three.

These places can be killer environments. HR has a knack for making everything sound rosy and great whereas in reality it can be teaming with sharks. I've seen this from the inside and also from dealing with them on the other side of the fence too.

So yeah, have a think. Look on their Glassdoor. If there's lots of good reviews but smells like HR wrote the review then do be very cautious.

Hey I’ve had a look on glassdoor and the rating is 4.8 and there are 99 reviews in total. I’ve gotta say having read them it doesn’t sound like they’ve all been written by HR.

This company in particular is also in the times top 40 best companies to work for so they must be doing something right I’d like to think ?

The company has also won a lot of different awards highlighting their culture ect so idk I’ve gotta say it doesn’t sound like it would be like the typical cut-throat type environment a lot of other recruitment places are like.

I’ve had interviews with a lot of recruitment agencies - around 15 in total and I’ve gotta say having spoken with the staff it does seem like this place are pretty big on actually being ethical in their work.

Which company did you work for out of interest?

This would be true if it was regular recruitment.. if OP has an interview with an executive search firm (i.e. a headhunter) none of what you wrote would be accurate. Exec search firms have much more of a consulting vibe than an "eat what you kill" sales culture.

This would be true if it was regular recruitment.. if OP has an interview with an executive search firm (i.e. a headhunter) none of what you wrote would be accurate. Exec search firms have much more of a consulting vibe than an "eat what you kill" sales culture.

After working so hard to get such a good degree why waste it and go into recruitment? Pretty much selling your soul a bit tbh

Yeah that's fine then. If they're being regarded for their work culture than that's absolutely a good thing.

I won't name the company I worked for but they were in the energy sector. They were the type who laid out the big one for everybody, swanky offices and all that. We had a power hour at where everybody had to stand up and work from 10-11am. If people didn't hit targets they were given a doughnut each month in front of everyone - the hole signifying zero targets or something...

Looking back it's kinda funny but I am so, so, so happy I left that place. As is everybody else I assume

EDIT: Good luck!

What Ocado graduate scheme did you apply for and have you not heard back from your video interview yet?

After working so hard to get such a good degree why waste it and go into recruitment? Pretty much selling your soul a bit tbh

You could say the same with other entry level roles from other industry, where you'll generally be working long hours, with low pay (compared to industry average) and with very little progression within the firm (as well as lack of training and no incentives to do industry recognised qualification). Audit at certain companies (e.g. BBC) is a good example. At least with recruitment you can earn commission and develop some solid desirable skills (e.g. communication, people management).

I’ve gotta be honest and say that I’ve really struggled to get any other job which would actually make use of my degree. I’ve applied to lots of technical type roles but I always struggle with the online tests ect. Plus, I also much prefer making use of my communication skills as opposed to working on problems.

Nothing in life worth having comes easy.

I totally get your pain that it's difficult to get graduate jobs (plenty of graduates go through this even me) but don't give up! I suck at tests too so I ended up re-strategising and applying to companies that didn't use tests in their assessment process and had much better luck that way. This may mean taking on a lower paying role in your field to start with (but you have the advantage that it will be relevant experience) and then use that to move to a better company/job role that you really want once you've built up decent experience. You might even be lucky and find a decent company that pays well too. It's much easier to move into decent companies once you have built up experience.

Make use of LinkedIn and the job search engine there. Also don't be afraid to add people and ask them for advice.