Category: University

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A graduate scheme can be a foot in the door

There are many reasons to go to university. It’s a time to experience life away from home, to expand your horizons and meet new people, as well as to gain additional education. But the reason at the end of all that is to access the graduate jobs market. Given the debts that are now associated with three or more years at university, that factor will be uppermost in the minds of many matriculating or graduating this year. But going right into a job isn’t the only way to progress after uni. A graduate scheme is another option, as is an internship. (In fact, internships are available while you are at uni, in the holidays, sometimes for terms of up to three months in the summer or for a few weeks at other times. These can be a great way to see life in the workplace and get to know a particular company. With such a tough jobs market, you would be right to take any opportunity you can get along those lines.)

Research out recently suggested that the average student could soon be racking up debts of around £50,000 over the course of a three year degree. That figure is disputed, with others calculating it will be nearer £40,000, but either way, that’s a lot of money to have to pay back when you leave. However, this is a different kind of debt to other loans like a mortgage. The tuition component is quite low interest, and only has to be repaid after you pass a particular threshold of earnings. You also have to remember that the average graduate will earn an additional £100,000-plus over the course of their working lifetime, above and beyond the debt their studies involved.

Nevertheless, £40-50,000 is a massive amount of money – more if you are considering a longer degree, such as for engineering, which frequently involves a ‘sandwich’ year in industry. With that in mind, you should do everything you can to prepare you for getting graduate jobs. A graduate scheme will introduce you to a company and lead you into their organisation, but these are currently in short supply. Another idea is an internship (after uni, this time). These are often low-paid or expenses-only but are a foot in the door in many cases. Whilst you won’t want to be building up more debts, if the internship leads to a good job at the end of the term, then it will have been worth it.

Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.

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Graduate scheme is a way to get your foot in the door of your dream career

These days competition amongst graduates for the best graduate jobs is tougher than ever. This is unwelcome news for recent graduates, and students in their final year or two of university or college of further education, but, naturally, positive for employers. As they try to cut their payroll expenditure, they are now more likely to create extra internship jobs, rather than instant, entry-level contracts at the first time of asking. In a graduate scheme, the holder of the position is expected to impress, show talent, and prove an important addition to the workforce. Much desired graduate jobs can be obtained through this kind of process if the worker makes him or herself invaluable to the company in question, so that, when the period of the internship is finally over, the company feels that it can no longer afford to let the intern go, rather than it still being the case that it can not afford to employ him or her on a full time contract. But how does an intern get to this stage?

The first, most important step is choosing the business you want to work for. Unpaid internships can typically last as long as three months, depending on the level of competition, so you need to know that this is a job you really, really want. Do lots of research. Find out who works there and see if you can get an idea of what it is like, and what would be expected from you. If you don’t do this, and it turns out not to be suitable for you, then you might want to stop, but of course you will have wasted time, and you might run the risk of upsetting people in the industry: you certainly won’t receive an excellent reference this way.

First impressions are key. From your research you will be able to judge the dress code. Some companies, for example in the media industry, have a ‘smart/casual’ approach, and it is desirable to fit in. The general rule is: always initially try to be a few notches smarter than the general dress code, then you can relax a bit once you are fitting in.

Good graduate jobs are still out there, it is just that the path leading to them might be a bit longer, with more hoops to jump through. A good graduate scheme will provide good support to those in internship jobs, and good companies understand and appreciate the sacrifices made by their interns, and recognise the value of a good worker. But in this economic environment everybody is required to make sacrifices, and graduates are no exception.

Please visit http://www.careerplayer.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.careerplayer.com/

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