Focus On Your Future ~

Developing an effective strategy for employment

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Today’s workshop will cover….

Case study exercise

A guide to developing a strategy for employment

Working on your skills audit to develop your own strategy

Resources available to help following graduation

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Case Study…….

Peter is about to graduate after completing a degree in Combined Arts at Durham University. His primary areas of study were history and philosophy but he also undertook some modules in art history. The academic variety of the degree really appealed to Peter; he feels that the breadth of his degree evidences his ability to cope effectively with different challenges. He has enjoyed the opportunity to research information but also to present ideas and views in a compelling and creative way. His dissertation involved an assessment of the impact of propaganda during conflict. Outside of his academic studies, Peter has invested considerable time in a music society. He has established a society website and has actively promoted the society to ‘freshers’ through self-penned flyers and promotional work with university student papers and radio. He has been working part-time in call centre and was promoted to team leader, responsible for ten staff.

Career AspirationsPeter is keen to use his communication skills in a persuasive and creative way. PR is one option that really appeals to him; particularly as the role encompasses contact with the full breadth of media. Ideally, he would like to work in PR for a music company but is open to other ideas and options. He is uncertain if the experience he has to date is relevant or sufficient; he is reluctant to undertake further full-time study.

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Your task…….

• How would you market Peter to potential employers? (consider the relevance of Peter’s skills and experience to PR)

• Is there a skills gap? How would you suggest Peter addresses the skills gap?

• How should Peter approach getting a job? (think about different job search strategies)

• Are there other careers/opportunities that Peter should consider?

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Developing a strategyfor employment

David Hendersond.m.henderson@durham.ac.uk Jude Gowdyjudith.gowdy@durham.ac.uk

Careers, Employability & Enterprise Centre

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Developing a strategy for employment

• Career focus - developing a clear understanding of what is that you want from a career

• Understanding the graduate job market• Understanding how you fit into that market and what you can offer• Effectively marketing yourself to employers• Diversified approach to job search • Pulling the strategy together

This session will cover….

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Career focus• If you have strong career focus this can make it easier to develop a strategy

for employment• It is not unusual to have no idea about which career path to follow therefore

career focus can be considered in other ways:- Sector (e.g. retail, FMCG, media, property, IT)- Employer (e.g. Multinational vs SME) - Opportunity (e.g. structured graduate programme v’s entry level xxxxxposition)

• Other factors can also help you to develop career focus:- Location (geographically flexible or specific?)- Salary- Lifestyle

Essentially career focus is doing what you can to identify career priorities and develop an employment strategy accordingly

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Career focus

Resources:

• Career management tools www.dur.ac.uk/careers/students/generalinformation/careerchoicewheredoistart

• Destination information: www.dur.ac.uk/careers/undergraduates/destinations/

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Understanding the graduate and non-graduate job market

• Competition for graduate places very high: 45 applications per graduate place (in some sectors it will be much higher than this). Graduate recruitment recovering but still short of pre-recession levels and increasing numbers of graduates being recruited following internships

• Exploring national and regional trends/skills shortages: e.g. in this region public sector is a major employer but significantly affected by recent spending cuts. In contrast chemical and pharmaceutical sector is strong in this region yet nationally graduate recruitment in this sector is half the 2007 level (www.nomisweb.co.uk).

1,20

0PWC

1,00

0Deloitte 900KPMG 780Teach

First

740Ernst &

Young

• Understanding which employers and sectors are more actively recruiting: Top 5 recruiters

Top 3 sectors for average graduate salary

Law Firms £38kInvestment Banks £42k Oil & Energy £32k

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Understanding the graduate and non-graduate job market

• In terms of actual numbers of vacancies the biggest recruiters are accounting and professional service firms, investment banking, public sector, banking & finance and retail

• The majority of graduate vacancies within organisations exist in finance, IT, engineering, HR, general management and marketing. The fewest positions exist within sales, logistics, purchasing, R & D, law, consulting, media and investment banking (the last four tend to be the domain of specialist organisations)

• High Fliers – The Graduate Market in 2011 (www.highfliers.co.uk)

• banking & finance• retailing• public sector• consulting, IT &

telecommunications • consumer goods

• 2007 - 2011 graduate vacancies

• accounting & professional services

• armed forces• oil & energy• law• media• investment banking• engineering• chemicals &

pharmaceuticals

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Understanding how you fit into the job market place

• Employer expectations will vary hugely depending on the nature and level of the job role…you need to assess yourself against the specifics of the opportunity and identify gaps.

• Addressing those gaps will form a key part of your employment strategy

• This is essentially about self-assessment but also an appreciation of what employers xxare looking for

• On a basic level you need to ask the question how employable am I in terms of both xxgeneral and specific requirements:

General (common to the majority of graduate schemes

Specific (common to the wider job market but also some graduate positions)

• Academic qualifications• Personal qualities• Transferable skills/competencies (leadership, communication, teamwork,

xproblem solving, decision making etc)

• Relevant experience, skills & qualifications

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Understanding how you fit into the job market place

Addressing the gaps:Qualifications: • postgraduate study but also explore shorter professional courses (usually

accredited by relevant professional bodies), distance learning programmes (e.g. OU), on-the-job training, KTPs (Knowledge Transfer Partnerships - http://www.ktponline.org.uk).

Skills/Qualities:• Your key transferable skills and personal qualities can be improved by simply

getting involved in a range of different things: temporary / p-t employment, volunteering, travelling etc

• If you have areas of weakness (e.g. presenting, debating) put yourself in positions where you have to put these skills into practice

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Understanding how you fit into the job market place

Experience: • internships for graduates are becoming more common (e.g. Accenture ‘Navigator’

scheme, Endsleigh graduate internship, Carillion graduate internship) • Graduate Step offers paid internship opportunities with SMEs (

http://www.stepplacements.co.uk); Graduate Talent Pool (govt initiative that is being disbanded but still open to 2011 graduates)http://graduatetalentpool.direct.gov.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/p!ecaaefg

• Universities are now offering internships to graduates; you do not necessarily have to be an alumni of that institution

• Graduate job websites useful for graduate internships (Guardian Jobs, Prospects, Target Jobs, Milkround etc) but also try keyword search (graduate/internship) in jobsites specific to your own career interests

• many internships remain unpaid and organised through speculative approaches, networking and contacts

• alternative to an internship is to find non-graduate, entry level employment in the right sort of environment/employer: in-house training, relevant experience, networking opportunities, internal job vacancies

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Effectively marketing yourself to employers

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•…this will help you to prioritise what you write and say during the job application process. Leave the employer in no doubt about your key selling points!Identify the key information that you want

an employer to know about you

• major gripe of employers is the quality of applications•http://www.dur.ac.uk/careers/students/generalinformation/effectiveapplicationsStructure your CV,

covering letter and application forms around those key selling points

• this is a key skill and can help you to research career options, source work experience and even get a job. Networking can be done informally in any situation but also more formally via career events and fairs (careers services, professional bodies, employers, alumni networks)

Networking

•…Linked In, You Tube (video CVs), Facebook Explore the different marketing tools available

to you

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Effective Applications/Interviews

• must be individually tailored to the organisation and the opportunityCV and cover letters

• demonstrate your understanding of the job role through effective research (company reports, news stories, market reports, company newsletter, news section of website etc) Career and Employer

motivation questions:

• relate to specific examples rather than general occasions•e.g. As President of the Wine Society I demonstrated team work skillsX•As President of the Wine Society I worked with the executive team to organise a series of lectures entitled ‘wines of the world’. My central role... √

Competency questions:

• critical to success in an interview situation• be able to answer questions about key competencies, career motivation, commercial and technical issues…pre-plan key points that you want to convey to the interviewer

Practise talking about yourself in a positive way:

•…this is the same irrespective of economic conditions e.g. Zurich received 1000 applications for the finance scheme but only made 5 offers: this was put down to the poor quality of candidates or more accurately, the poor self-marketing of candidatesQuality of application and

performance at interview that will get you a job

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STAR applications and interviews•Describe Situation

•Outline the Task(s)

•What Action did you take?

•What was the Result?

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Diversified approach to job search• There are a lots of different approaches to job search…you do not have to adopt

every approach to be successful but a diversified strategy will improve your prospects

• Online job sites – the most obvious means of finding vacancies but it is important to select those resources that are most appropriate to your career focus (e.g. graduate specific, job/sector specific, regional etc).

Top tip – use the career/sector articles on www.prospects.ac.uk to research the most relevant sources of vacancies; don’t rely on only one graduate job site!

• Professional bodies – usually advertise vacancies relevant to their organisation; also often provide a list of member employers (useful for speculative approaches)

• Recruitment agencies – can be a useful means of getting temporary experience but not always effective; some agencies very specific to particular sectors/professions. There are recruitment agencies that deal specifically with graduates including Matchtech, Discovery Graduates, Freshminds Talent, Pareto Law, Moloney Search, Graduate Recruitment Bureau

http://www.dur.ac.uk/careers/graduates/recruitmentconsultancies/

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Diversified approach to job search• Speculative – this approach can be frustrating but it does allow you to

proactively contact the employers that really interest you. It is important to convey those key selling points within your CV and covering letter but also convey your specific interest in the employer!

• Social media – means of making key employability information about yourself available to employers but opportunities also advertised; giving yourself a strong online presence is becoming increasingly important. Brave New Talent - interesting example of a leading social recruitment platform http://www.bravenewtalent.com/

• Networks – hidden vacancies can often be accessed through networks including social media groups, professional bodies, regional/national employer groups and alumni

• Vacancies advertised by the Careers Centre ~ graduate vacancies but not necessarily graduate schemes; genuine variety of opportunities

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Diversified approach to job search• If you are flexible about graduate employment, go where the jobs are…

– organisations that are still actively recruiting graduates include:- Accenture (ongoing)- AXA Business Graduate Programme (23/6/2011)- Bloomberg (ongoing)- Britvic Finance scheme (24/6/2011)- CSC (ongoing)- Kent County Council – Management Programme (24/6/2011)- Nationwide (15/6/2011)- Zurich (19/6/2011)- Ofcom – Graduate Advisor (4/9/2011 – January start date)- Co-operative Group – Business Management programme (19/6/2011)- Peppermint PR – Trainee Account Executive (1/7/2011)

Source: Milkround (www.milkround.com), Graduate Jobs (www.graduate-jobs.com) and Durham Careers Centre vacancies (www.dur.ac.uk/careers/vacancies)

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Diversified approach to job search

• Research graduate recruiters outside of the top 100…it is surprising how many less well known ‘big’ companies there are out there (Hemscott & Kompass useful company research tools)

• Think carefully about levels of employment: a non-graduate role in the right type of organisation could be a very positive step forward. Approximately 20% of graduates will progress onto a ‘graduate scheme’ meaning that the vast majority have to find a different career pathway.

• Evaluate the options available to you carefully but don’t be too anxious about making the wrong career decision…your career will not be static!

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Pulling the strategy together

Allow yourself the time to research different career

options and begin to develop some degree of career focus

Research the job market in respect of the career ideas that

you have: some sectors are much more active at recruiting

graduates than others

Develop your understanding of what specific employers expect from graduates or

simply employees; undertake a self-audit to identify the gaps

Address the gaps! Key part of the strategy and could

encompass a combination of further training &

qualifications, networking, work experience, non-graduate

employment

Think carefully about what you want to market about yourself to employers; also consider how you want to do this (e.g.

combination of traditional and online approaches)

Specific career goals? Consider related careers or opportunities that will allow

you to develop relevant skills/experience; this will also broaden the range of jobs that

you can apply for.

Look beyond the sector headings – e.g. challenging

financial graduate jobs available in all large

organisations not just banks; PR roles not confined to

agencies and media consultancies

Employ a range of job search techniques and critically be proactive…don’t wait for the

vacancies to come you, go and find them!

Finally…set yourself achievable goals within a time framework. This will help you to set targets to address the gaps in your employability

profile.

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Additional help and support

Use Careers

OnLine to find

current opportuni

ties

Immediate start date (aimed at graduates

)

Future start date (aimed at finalists)

Part-time/Term-

time (aimed at

all students)

Internships / Vacation

Work (aimed at

penultimate year)

Placements

Gap Year Opportuni

ties

www.careers.dur.ac.uk

Register online to continue to receive our Vacancy Bulletin at

www.dur.ac.uk/careers/graduates Services to graduates:

• careers advice (via telephone if necessary)

• marketing yourself (CV, cover letter and application support; mock interviews; self-awareness)

• vacancies

Vacancy Database

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Useful resources…..

Graduate Recruitment Sites:

•www.targetjobs.co.uk •www.prospects.ac.uk •www.grb.uk.com•www.get.hobsons.co.uk •www.agr.org.uk •www.bestcompaniesguide.co.uk

•www.gradjobs.co.uk •www.jobs.guardian.co.uk

•www.just4graduates.net

•www.thebigchoice.com •www.thegraduate.co.uk •www.totaljobs.com •www.gradfutures.com

Recruitment Agencies:

•www.rec.co.uk •www.lpgr.com •www.freshminds.co.uk •www.grb.uk.com •www.agencycentral.co.uk

•www.nigelwright.com •www.thebigchoice.com •www.tmpw.co.uk

Other resources:

•www.dur.ac.uk/alumni.careers ~ Alumni Contacts

•www.targetcourses.co.uk ~ Postgraduate Study

•www.work-experience.org ~ Work Experience

•www.volunteering.org.uk ~ Volunteering

•www.dur.ac.uk/community.action ~ Volunteering

•www.yearoutgroup.org ~ Gap Years

•www.gapyear.com ~ Gap Years

•www.dur.ac.uk/ktp ~ Knowledge Transfer Partnership

Focus On Your Future ~

Any Questions?Developing an effective strategy

for employment