Episode 98: Am I too old to Apply for a Graduate Job?

June 17, 2020 Podcast

Hello and welcome to the 98th episode of the UK’s number 1 careers podcast. In today’s episode I answer a reader question from Jessie, who got in touch and asked me the following question. ‘I graduated 7 years ago but want to completely change the direction of my career. ‘Am I too old to apply for a graduate job?’ A great question and one I will walk you through today. We will look at if there is indeed an age limit on graduate jobs, or if there is a time limit for how quickly you have to apply after university. We explore why work experience and skills are so key, and some of the key things you need to do to if you are thinking of transitioning careers. No matter where you are in your job search, still studying, or thinking of changing careers, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. As always you can find a full downloadable transcript and all the links from everything we discuss today at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/age

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • Why age is no barrier to applying for a graduate job
  • Why graduate recruiters value the skills and experience that older graduates bring
  • Why thinking about your skills and experience is so crucial if you are pivoting your career
  • How to link your skills to the competencies and values of a graduate recruiter

SELECTED LINKS INCLUDE:

Transcript – Episode 98 – Am I too Old to Apply for a Graduate Job?

Announcer: Welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, your home for weekly information and inspiration to help you get the graduate job of your dreams.

James Curran: Hello and welcome to the Graduate Job Podcast, with your host James Curran. The Graduate Job Podcast is your home for all things related to helping you on your journey to finding that amazing job. Each episode I bring together the best minds in the industry, speaking to leading authors, graduate recruiters and career coaches who bring decades of experience into a byte size show. Put simply, this is the show I wish I had when I graduated. 

Hello and welcome to the 98th episode of the UKs number 1 careers podcast. In today’s episode I answer a reader question from Jessie who got in touch and asked me the following question. ‘I graduated 7 years ago but want to completely change the direction of my career. Am I too old to apply for a graduate job?’ A great question and one I will walk you through today. We will look at if there is indeed an age limit on graduate jobs, or if there is a time limit for how quickly you have to apply after university. We explore why work experience and skills are so key, and some of the key things you need to do to if you are thinking of transitioning careers. No matter where you are in your job search, still studying, or thinking of changing careers, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. As always you can find a full downloadable transcript and all the links from everything we discuss today at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/age

Before we start let me tell you about the brilliant course I’m working on cunningly titled “How to get a graduate job”. This course is packed chock full of decades of experience into one step by step guide of everything you need to do to get a graduate job. There are videos, guides, handouts, cheat sheets, example CVs, example covering letters, example answers to those annoying 200-word competency questions, help with telephone interviews, video interviews. Look if you need to know it to get a graduate job it’s in my course. The course is going live in August, but to be the first to hear about it and get it at a never to be repeated price with special bonuses, head to graduatejobpodcast.com/course and leave me your email.

So, let’s jump straight into Jessie’s question, ‘I graduated 7 years and want to completely change the direction of my career. I’m coming up to 30, am I too old to apply for a graduate scheme? Do they have an age limit on applications?’ Well Jessie the good news is that……No. There is no age limit on applications for most graduate schemes. Excellent, good stuff, glad I could help with that one. See you next week.

Ok….lets go into the answer in a little bit more detail. In the UK age discrimination when applying for jobs is illegal, which is why companies couldn’t deny you a place on a graduate scheme due to your age. There are some companies though that require candidates to have graduated within a certain timeframe such as 24 months or 12 months after graduation, but if this is the case, they list that information nice and clearly on their ‘key requirements’ on the graduate application page of their website. These companies are definitely in the minority though. If they don’t mention this, then there is nothing to worry about, then you are good to go, so start getting that application ready.

Let’s break it down into what companies are looking for with a graduate scheme. They want high quality employees that they can train and develop in line with the way their business operates. They want people that they can bring through and develop into the future leaders of their business, to them, it doesn’t matter if you are 21, 23, 25, or 35, it is the quality that counts. They ask specifically for graduates, because having a degree, and in many cases a 2.1 degree, is seen as a base level of intelligence, illustrating that you can study, work hard and will have a base level in English. Now in addition to this base level that a degree is seen as bringing, companies are also looking for candidates who can bring some great transferable skills with them.

And the skills part is really important Jessie, and this is something that you shouldn’t overlook, because being older isn’t a disadvantage here at all. Compared to a fresh faced 21 years old graduate straight out of university, you are going to have an absolute ton of transferrable skills from life, work and everything else in between. You will have 7 years’ worth of skills over that 21-year-old. While they might be using competency examples of group work at university where someone wasn’t pulling their weight, you will be able to call upon real life examples from your work experience over the years. The fact that it might not be experience in exactly the same industry or area as the graduate scheme isn’t the point. A graduate employer wants to know the skills you bring, and selfishly what you can do for them, where you developed them is of less interest. From speaking to graduate recruiters, they say they actively encourage graduates who might be changing career to apply, as they know that they bring with them a wealth of experience, different viewpoints, maturity, and overall a host of different skills, all attributes which companies are desperately looking for in their graduates.

The only challenge you might have Jessie is in really tailoring your experience to that of the graduate schemes you are applying to. All work experience is transferable, you need to pin point the exact bits that are going to make those graduate recruiters sit up and take notice. Start with the competencies and values that they list on the corporate page. Taking previous guest DS Smith as an example who were on the show on back in episode 93, links in the show notes at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/age as an example they had 6 core competencies they were looking for from applicants. That you are Collaborative, Innovative, trustworthy, willing to learn, adaptable and finally, strategic. And on their website, they go into detail for what each of them are. Jessie, say if you were applying to them, your job in this situation is to think of specific examples of where you have demonstrated these competencies, so when you have been collaborative and worked effectively with colleagues etc. And then to play each of these examples back in your application so they can see how relevant you are for the role.  

Old is gold, so don’t let any stories you are telling yourself about being too old for a graduate scheme hold you back from applying. Don’t rule yourself out before you even apply. So, there you go, a quickie today. Show notes as I mentioned at www.graduatejobpodcast.com/age. If you have a question like Jessie drop me a note at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com and I’ll see what I can do. Don’t forget to sign up to hear about the upcoming course on how to get a graduate job which you can do via the show notes, this course will take you through everything you need to do and everything you need to know to impress at every stage of the application process, sign up so you can get it with special bonuses and offers when it goes live in August. If you want to support the show, make sure you rate, review and subscribe the podcast wherever it is that you listen. I hope you enjoyed it today, but more importantly, I hope you use it, and apply it. See you next week.