Job hunting help
Siobhan Feeney graduated last summer with a degree in Business & Management. She then used the Brunel Placement & Careers Centre to help her secure a place on a graduate scheme with Nestlé.
Siobhan went travelling soon after graduating and, after a well-earned break, she then came back to the UK to focus on applying for graduate schemes. She found that the PCC could help her when applying for jobs, for up to two years after graduating: “It was great to have someone there that could look over my CV and applications at a time when I was actually going through a recruitment process.”
“The careers advisers are very helpful; they are all knowledgeable and experienced individuals who are willing to give you an awful lot of their time”.
The PCC helped Siobhan secure invitations to assessment days for some high profile companies including Vodafone, Unilever and Virgin Media.
One-to-one appointments
“The careers advisers provide you with a one-to-one service. You are able to request as much or as little time as you need, which is extremely useful if you have lots of applications to go through. I had a list of about 15 graduate schemes I planned on applying for so it was really good to be provided with the one-to-one time that I needed to cover my CV and all my applications. After the meetings, the advisors also had a genuine interest in my progress and how I was getting on which really helped when I needed to go back and ask them any questions.”
All the hard work has now paid off as Siobhan recently heard that she has been accepted onto the Nestlé Marketing Graduate Scheme, starting in September.
“I would recommend that all graduates use the career services. When applying for numerous jobs at the same time, it is easy to make silly mistakes and become ‘word blind’ when going over applications and CVs. It is also often just a little thing that needs changing that doesn’t take long at all, but makes a huge difference. I think it is rare for us to still have access to these services after graduating - especially one-on-one attention - so we are really lucky. You get a more specialised and personalised service than you would from a recruitment agency, so why not use your own university to help give you guidance and refresh it all in your mind?”
Help from a distance
Even if you aren’t able to get to the campus, you can still access help by email, telephone or online. “The PCC website is jam-packed full of information” says Siobhan, “from current job postings and links to UK and international internships, to interview tips, psychometric test practise and loads more”.
Siobhan’s top job hunting tip
“I would recommend trying to get thorough feedback from the places you have applied to. Although it isn’t nice hearing negative things about yourself that you need to improve, that kind of feedback is a lot more useful and constructive than ‘We really liked you but the other candidate was just a bit stronger’. So I would recommend being persistent about requesting constructive feedback and then going to see the Placement & Careers Centre with that to see if they can help. They may also be able to understand what it is that you are missing on your application forms or not doing in your interviews.”
You can arrange an appointment with a careers adviser by email on careers@brunel.ac.uk or telephone on 01895 266840. Alternatively, there are lots of helpful resources online at http://www.brunel.ac.uk/services/pcc/students/still-here-to-help.