Welcome to the 89th episode of the Graduate Job Podcast, where we explore the impact of the coronavirus on your graduate job search, and the things you need to be doing now! We explore why you shouldn’t worry in the long term about the impact of the virus on your graduate job search, and the good news that companies are still hiring great graduate candidates. We cover why in these uncertain times you need to be having patience with graduate recruitment teams if you’re going through the process at the moment. We delve into why you shouldn’t expect to be doing any face to face interviews anytime soon, and as a result why you need to be practicing your video interviews right now! No matter where you are in your graduate job search, if you’re still thinking of who to apply to, or in the graduate application process for someone at the moment, this is an episode which you aren’t going to want to miss. Now the only link you need to remember from today is www.graduatejobpodcast.com/coronavirus, as that has a full transcript which you can download, so make sure you head on over there.
MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:
- Why you shouldn’t worry in the long term about the impact of the virus on your graduate job search
- How companies are still hiring great graduate candidates
- Why you need to be having patience if you’re going through the process at the moment
- Why you need to be practicing video interviews right now!
SELECTED LINKS:
- Check out the ‘How to Get a Graduate Job’ step-by-step online course at https://howtogetagraduatejob.com/
- Don’t even think about applying for graduate jobs until you’ve read my free guide, ‘The 5 steps you must take before applying for graduate jobs’. Click here NOW. It will completely change the way you apply for jobs!
- Would you like a free 30-minute video coaching call? Simply select a time that works here https://calendly.com/gradjob/ We can go over your CV, application, or anything that you are struggling with.
- My previous episodes on passing online tests
Enter your details below to be kept informed of future episodes and news
Episode 89 – Coronavirus (COVID-19) and your graduate job search
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: 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 89th episode of the Graduate Job Podcast, for a Coronavirus special. Recording today from the beautiful, exotic city of….Leeds. Yes, sadly coronavirus has curtailed my round the world trip, and after hot footing in the last flight out of the Philippines I’m in self isolation in my lovely hometown of Leeds. There are certainly worse places to be.
Now over the last few weeks I’ve had lots of questions coming through to me from listeners and the clients I coach on the Coronavirus, and what it means for their graduate job search, and I wanted to share them as I know they will be on the minds of lots of other people out there. So let’s start with one common question I’ve had….”I’m waiting to hear on my graduate job application, what shall I do?”
Some of the clients I coach are in this position, they’ve done the hard work, got through to the assessment centres, and now……nothing……Radio silence from some of the big graduate employers. Now some of the companies such as KPMG have been in touch to say that they have cancelled all of their face to face recruitment till April, and will be in touch after that, others have said, we are looking to maybe do them remotely by video, but we aren’t really sure yet, and others, well they just haven’t said anything at all. Frustrating, but as you can appreciate this is uncharted territory for everyone, and it’s going to take a while to sort itself out and to settle down. But, here are 3 key takeaways though for you if you do find yourself in this or a similar situation;
1 – Patience – I know it’s annoying to be in a holding pattern with no news or light at the end of the tunnel whilst you wait for an interview or assessment centre which keeps getting pushed out, but you need to just bide your time. Expect that things are going to be taking longer than normal as you go through any graduate recruitment process. I know the graduate recruitment process is slow at the best of times, but expect it to be even slower. Recruitment teams are settling into new patterns of working from home, and will be running at reduced capacity as people are off work, so things will take longer. Conversations and decisions that would have taken place quickly in an office might now be taking much longer via email. By all means be following up with them as to where you are in the process, but don’t start badgering them with daily follow up emails, and expect that phone lines might no longer be being manned. It’s a fine line between proactively following up on your application, and being a pain. So be understanding and er on the side of caution in the short term.
2 – Employers are still hiring – It might seem as if the world is coming to a halt, but from speaking to graduate recruiters they have said their plans for new graduate hires haven’t changed. Companies that recruit graduates are thinking for the long-term, the graduates that they recruit today will be their leaders of the future and they are still desperate to get great talent into their businesses. While many industries will be impacted by coronavirus, the majority wont, and they still want brilliant new graduates like yourselves to be joining their firms. Especially since the graduate recruitment process works looking out on 6-12-month horizon, this can mitigate against short term blips. Coupled with point 1 about patience, don’t think that a lack of an immediate response means that they are shutting up shop. So, as a result, don’t let the current hiatus and global lockdown stop you from applying for graduate jobs or internships. Don’t take your foot off the application pedal, and in fact it’s the perfect time to utilise the fact that you might have little else to do and get your applications in. As I said, recruitment teams are still working and processing graduate job applications, so make sure you get them in. Also utilise this time to make sure you are acing those graduate job tests you will face. See graduatejobpodcast.com/testing for advice on how to pass them and links to my episodes on the topics.
3 – Expect a different process/Get good at video interviews
To prevent the spread of the coronavirus, companies will be putting on hold and cancelling in-person interviews. As an alternative, they will be upping their use of remote video interviews, whether live ones on tools such as Skype, or on recorded tools where you have to record your answers to set questions. These will be the new normal, so you need to make sure that you are ready for them, and are really good at them. You need to ensure that you are ready and set up with a good webcam, microphone, and laptop set up. If you’ve seen the news over recent weeks where they have been using lots of Skype interviews you will have seen first-hand how bad people are at this, with the camera too close and pointing up their nose and cluttered views in the background. You need to make sure that this isn’t you. You need to also be practiced in what to expect and also how to answer them. They are no different to a face to face interview in that you still need to make sure you have researched the role, researched the company, have planned the sort of questions you will face, and have some nice and tight answers up your sleeve which will tick the boxes of the STAR methodology. No different to a face to face interview, except you are talking to a laptop screen than a person. I’ll be releasing a couple of episodes over the coming weeks which will explore this in more detail so stay tuned for them. If you do want to practice and want some mock video interviews in the meantime, send me an email at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com.
So there you go, 3 key points for you, have some patience if you’re going through the process or if you’re about to start it. Don’t worry, employers are still recruiting and that isn’t going to change, and finally get good at video interviews. In short, nothing more than keep calm and carry on….applying for graduate jobs.
A shorter episode today but I wanted to get those points out to you. Drop me a line at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com if you have any questions or if you need some help with your applications, no matter what stage in the graduate job process you’re at. If you’ve never done a video interview before then give me a shout and we can arrange a mock one for you so it’s not going to be a surprise. All that remains to say is I hope you enjoyed the episode today and that you use and apply it….and don’t forget to wash your hands and stay indoors.