Finding out about employers
This involves more than just finding out which employers recruit graduates! In order to decide which employers are right for you, and to give yourself the best possible chance of success in applications, you need to find out as much as possible about the job roles organisations to which you are thinking of applying.
Careers advisers keep in touch with a range of employers through visits, information bulletins and Kent graduates now in employment.
Many graduate directories focus on the big, blue-chip corporate recruiters but their graduate training schemes are only one part of graduate recruitment. Don't overlook less well-known companies and small or medium-sized employers.
Researching Employers
Finding out as much as possible about employers will help you to make your applications stand out – all graduate recruiters appreciate a candidate who has shown the motivation to research the company and its environment. You should know:
- What the employer does (they may do more than you think! Did you know, for example, that Mars make petfood and pasta sauces as well as chocolate?)
- What the job for which you are applying involves
- What sort of person the employer is looking for
- Current issues affecting the employer's business interests (such as mergers, new government legislation, the stock market, environmental or political issues)
When visiting an employer’s website, don’t just look at their graduate recruitment pages. Other sections (such as About Us, Media or News) will give you extra information that will help you find out about these current issues and latest developments.
Information Resources
Vacancies
- University of Kent online vacancy database http://kent.prospects.ac.uk This database lists all vacancies which have been notified directly to us by employers and cover jobs for new or recent graduates; “year in industry” placements; internships and vacation work.
- Graduate Prospects www.prospects.ac.uk - comprehensive information on employers and job vacancies, www.prospects.ac.uk/links/JobVacsThis database of graduate recruiters can be searched by work sector, region and type of work
- The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers www.Top100GraduateEmployers.com
- TARGETJobs www.targetjobs.co.uk
- Best Companies Guide www.bestcompaniesguide.co.uk
- Top Companies to Work For www.thejobcrowd.com/top-companies-to-work-for also, the reviews employees write (thousands each year) are readable for free on the site. Every company and every graduate career has a rating, as well as insights into salaries, interview advice etc.
Our Graduate Directories page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/graddirectories.htm gives details of other useful websites for graduate vacancies
Newspapers. There are links to the vacancy sections of major national newspapers from www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitespub.htm
Employer Information - general
The following sites include profiles of major graduate recruiters:
- Prospects.ac.uk www.prospects.ac.uk/links/coprofiles
- Employer Insights from TARGET Jobs http://targetjobs.co.uk/employerinsights
- Inside Buzz www.insidebuzz.co.uk/Employers.html - accounting, banking, consultancy, law and “top companies”
Other useful online resources
- BBC Business - www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/companies
- Reuters http://uk.reuters.com/business
Further useful sites are listed at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/EmployerSearch.htm
Social media, such as LinkedIn and Twitter can help you to keep up to dates with companies’ graduate recruitment activities and business developments – see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/social-networking.htm
Obviously, you can also just Google a company’s name – adding “graduates” should get you straight through to the graduate recruitment pages.
Employers in specific locations:
See our web pages:
- Employers in Kent www.kent.ac.uk/careers/kentopps.htm
- Employers in other UK locations www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesgen.htm
- Employers in other countries www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesint.htm