Careers Help for Kent Graduates
If you graduate from the University of Kent in 2011, please fill in our Vacancy Email Form. This will entitle you to get careers help for up to three years after you leave Kent and enable us to send you vacancies and postgraduate study opportunities after you graduate.
If you graduated more than three years ago, and feel that we may still be able to give advice that is relevant to your situation, you are welcome to contact us – email careerhelp@kent.ac.uk If we cannot help you directly we may be able to refer you to more appropriate sources of help and advice.
If you are still in or near Kent , you can use the Careers and Employability Service in person: see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/opening.htm for opening times.
JOBS AND MORE - ON THE WEB
You can access our vacancy database at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/jobs/index.htm, please fill in our Vacancy Email Form to enable you to access this. The jobs advertised in these lists are all targeted on NEW or RECENT graduates.
On PROSPECTS WEB www.prospects.ac.uk you will find comprehensive information on employers, job vacancies, postgraduate courses and details of different careers , plus interactive services for graduates, including careers guidance and CV feedback, at www.prospects.ac.uk/links/GradAdvice
vacancy pages of Prospects.ac.uk www.prospects.ac.uk/links/jobvacs The digital magazine for graduates. Published online every fortnight and packed full of the latest jobs, postgraduate courses, advice and information.
Our Links section www.kent.ac.uk/careers/graddirectories.htm gives details of the most useful websites for graduate vacancies.
"I STILL DONT KNOW WHAT I WANT TO DO "
If you are in this situation, try:
- Prospects Planner www.prospects.ac.uk/links/Pplanner a powerful program to help you choose a graduate career.
- Careers Explorer
- See the jobs and postgraduate courses which other graduates in your subject have entered at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/degreein.htm
- Also see our Choosing a Career pages www.kent.ac.uk/careers/Choosing/ChoosingCareer.htm
WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
If you are seeking work in Kent , see our pages on Working in Kent, including the Kentgrads database, at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/kentopps.htm
If you are looking for work elsewhere , see our regional links, with employer lists for different parts of the UK, at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesgen.htm
You may be able to get help from another university careers service after you have graduated.
See www.prospects.ac.uk/links/CareersServices
University of Kent graduates can also get advice by email if it is now difficult for you to visit the Careers and Employability Service in person. See www.kent.ac.uk/careers/emailform.html
SUMMER GRADUATE RECRUITMENT FAIRS
These are large events with many employers who recruit graduates hosting stands. You can talk to the recruiters and discuss the opportunities they have with their organisation. They are run at most times of year and in many locations round the UK, but there is a peak around graduation time in June. Here are examples:
- The Guardian LONDON GRADUATE FAIR will be held in June 2009.
1000s of graduate jobs with recruitment teams from over 120 top employers. Free CV and Application Form checks. Workshops and presentations. Entrance is FREE. Pre-register to be eligible for fast track entry at 12.00. www.londongradfair.co.uk/summer
You can find details of all fairs at www.prospects.ac.uk/links/careerfairs
TIPS FOR THE FAIRS
- They will be very busy: often likened to a cattle market!
- Take some CVs to hand to employers and a black pen
- Dress smartly
- Research the employers attending on the fair web site first: decide who you wish to approach first
- Arrive early.
- Talk to recruiters – don't just hover nervously round their stand or grab all the freebies! Shake hands, smile and make eye contact!
- Prepare a 30 second verbal CV: “Hello I'm Jo Smith. I've just completed my Sociology degree at the University of Kent and got an Upper Second. I've a strong interest in retail management (or whatever) as I've had several part-time retail jobs and enjoyed the fast moving environment …”
- Make a note of the name of the person you talk to
- Don't just see the household name companies: others may be just as good and their stands will be much less busy.
- You may not hear from the employers you see until all the fairs have finished: ask them when and how they are likely to contact you
14 tips to make sure you get a job!
OK I can't guarantee that if you follow these tips you will definitely get a job, but if you heed them carefully you will GREATLY increase your chances!
- Treat job hunting as a full time job. Very often I see graduates who have been employed for nearly a year and ask them how many applications they have made. Very commonly the answer is "about 5 or 6". In the present market you probably need to make about 20 applications before you get a job offer and should be trying to make at least two applications a week.
- Develop an action plan for each day and week http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/skillsactionplanning.htm and try to take a positive attitude. A study of 327 job seekers found that writing a plan at the start of your job search, had a big impact on success: make a plan and continuously assess your progress. "Thinking about a plan, acting on a plan and reflecting upon that a plan were important early in the job search while having positive emotions were important later in the job search"
- Don't use the blunderbuss approach ("a gun with a flared muzzle for scattering shot widely, increasing the probability of a hit without taking aim"). Waitrose said that out of 2,500 applications received they still could not fill the 20 graduate positions that were available. "A lot of the graduates ... think there are no opportunities out there so they apply for anything and everything and they don't really invest in the time to really look into each organisation." Source: The Guardian It's far better to make ten carefully researched and targeted applications than 50 fired off without thought. You should focus on three career areas at most to apply to, so you can do the detailed research necessary into the opportunities available. See our commercial awareness page for help on how to do this http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/commercialawareness.htm
- Make sure your CV and application forms are top-class. This is SO EASY to do. See www.kent.ac.uk/careers/applicn.htm for lots tips and examples. I can usually tell in 10 seconds which CVs have been rushed off in an hour or two and which ones have taken ten or twenty hours getting them perfect. Funnily enough, there seems to be some correlation with degree class: people with Firsts often put the same effort into their CV as they did into their academic work!
- Be flexible. Don't restrict your applications to the big corporate employers or to very competitive career areas such as investment banking, marketing or media. Broaden your career search by looking at other, less well-known careers that offer similar job satisfaction. Don’t rule out jobs that are not specifically labeled as “graduate jobs”: starting at a lower level and working up is a well-established route now. Get any job as a starting point as any employment looks better on your CV than "unemployed" and you may be able to work your way up. Even shop jobs can add "customer service skills", "working in a busy team" and "ability to work under pressure" to your CV. Working in a bookshop is a starting point for publishing. Working in an office will add administrative and computing skills to your CV. Funnily, research on this suggests that female graduates are more flexible than males who tend to hold out for their ideal job and consequently are more likely to be unemployed.
- If you can't get any job, do voluntary work www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/voluntaryWork.htm to improve your skills, it will also help to boost your confidence, allow you to make new friends and give you a lift knowing that you are helping others. Also see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/vacwork.htm and www.kent.ac.uk/careers/alternatives.htm for schemes and our Charities page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/charity.htm
- Constantly develop your skills. Look at job adverts for the types of job you want, if you lack any skills mentioned in the vacancies develop them through work experience (even restaurant work can add "customer service skills" to your CV), voluntary work or courses. Look at your CV to see if there are gaps that need filling. Sometimes short courses in computing, languages, business, bookkeeping and of course, learning to drive can be a big help in making you more employable. A good way to do this is via the European Computer Driving Licence www.ecdl.com which teaches you word-processing, database, spreadsheet, Power Point and other IT skills. Many local colleges will offer it at low prices if you are unwaged. See http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/distance.htm to find part-time courses in any part of the country. Hot Courses www.hotcourses.com is particularly good: just type in your postcode for courses near you.
Another way to learn new skills to use the web. Typing learn XXX into Google, will give you free training on almost any subject. For example:- Free Typing Tutor www.sense-lang.org/typing
- Web Page Design www.davesite.com/webstation/html
- MS Word Tutor also typing and web page design www.nailitnow.com.au/word/free/tocheadings.html
- Book-Keeping www.bookkeeping-course.com
- MS Excel www.studyfinance.com/lessons/excel
- Desk Top Publishing. Quark Xpress www.quark.com is an industry leading package used in the publishing industry: you can download a fully working demo.
- Register with recruitment agencies. They don't charge; some will be helpful, others less so, so it's worth sending your CV to many agencies. You'll find a list of larger agencies at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/recruit.htm,
Science agencies at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitephar.htm#ScientificRecAgencies
Media agencies at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesmedia.htm
Advertising, PR and events management agencies at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/advertising.htm - Learn to network and use creative jobhunting techniques. Vital for media and environment jobs, but it will give you a head start in any field you care to name: see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/CJ.htm for tips on how to do this effectively.
- Consider working abroad. Teaching English as a Foreign Language is available in many countries: see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/tefl.htm Also see our working abroad page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitesint.htm . You can also study abroad. Many Masters courses are now taught in English and study is free in some countries such as Sweden: see www.kent.ac.uk/careers/postgradmenu.htm#PGAbroad
- Job hunting involves a lot of rejection. Try not to take this personally. It isn't the end of the world, there will be other jobs you can apply for. Try instead to see it as an experience to be learned from. If you are regularly rejected at the application stage, there are two main possibilities: either there were better candidates than you or your application is weak. See our example applications to see how yours measures up, and get your application checked over by a careers adviser to see if there are areas where it could be improved. (Keep copies of all your applications.) If you are rejected at interview, try ringing the employer while their memory is still fresh, to ask politely why you weren't offered the post. Within an hour of leaving any interview, note down all the questions you were asked, and particularly any where you feel you didn't give a good answer, so you can work out a better response if the question crops up in future. Try our Practice Interviews
- If you feel that employers are prejudiced against you because of your degree or A-level results:
- consider careers where personal qualities are more important than A-level grades and degree class: sales, retail management, nursing, etc.
- stress any relevant skills and experience gained through part-time work and/or extra-curricular activities
- consider smaller employers, who are usually more flexible in their entry requirements than "household name" companies
- gain further experience, through temporary work or voluntary work. for example www.volunteering.org.uk
- don't panic - as you build up experience and your career progresses your exam results will rapidly diminish in importance.
- See our maintaining your morale page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/copingWithRejection.htm
- Use a variety of vacancy sources. Our vacancy database, local and national newspapers, specialist publications (some are listed at www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sitespub.htm) and speculative applications. To find out the best vacancy sources for particular career areas, use our I want to work in ... pages
It's also worth using your local Job Centre: Job centre vacancies www.jobcentrevacancies.co.uk Guidance and advice for UK job seekers. - Your academic referee will be able to write a more effective reference for you if s/he knows what field of work you are applying for and what experience you have gained outside your studies. Send them a copy of your CV and keep them informed about what you are doing now. See our references page www.kent.ac.uk/careers/referees.htm
OTHER HELP
- Also see our page on Maintaining your morale and coping with rejection
- DirectGov www.direct.gov.uk/en/MoneyTaxAndBenefits/index.htm Money, tax and benefits includes a beginner's guide to benefits.
- Once you have got started in your career, you may want to help Kent students by getting involved in some of our Alumni activities such as the Careers Network. See the Alumni Office web pages for more information on what is available.
Last fully updated 2010

