Episode 84 – The 4 things you need to be doing before you start applying for a graduate scheme

October 19, 2019 Podcast

Hello and welcome to the 84th of the episode of the Graduate Job Podcast where I run through the 4 things you need to be doing before you start applying for a graduate scheme. I take you through my top tips to ensure that you get your graduate job applications off to a smooth start, and don’t fall for the common mistakes that applicants tend to make. Don’t worry if you have started applying already, as this is still an episode which you aren’t going to want to miss. Now the only link you need to remember from today is https://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/planning, as that has all of the links to everything I discuss and a full transcript which you can download, so make sure you head on over there.

And don’t forget to check out today’s sponsor who are our friends over at CareerGym.com. Career Gym is the number one place for you to undertake all of your psychometric tests which you will face when you apply for a graduate job. No matter what graduate job you apply for you’re going to have to face some type of verbal reasoning, situational judgment, and working style tests. You can practice these at CareerGym.com. Use code GJP to get 20% off all of their tests!

MORE SPECIFICALLY IN THIS EPISODE YOU’LL LEARN ABOUT:

  • Why you need to know which graduate jobs you are applying to
  • Why you need to be researching the chosen companies like crazy
  • The importance of really knowing why you are applying to each company
  • The value of practicing now for the psychometric tests!

Don’t forget, also make sure you check out https://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/subscribe which links to how to subscribe on Itunes, Spotify, Youtube, and by email. So something for everyone there.

SELECTED LINKS:

Transcript – Episode 84 –The 4 things you need to be doing before you start applying for a graduate scheme

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.

A very warm welcome to the 84th episode of the show. It’s been far too long since the last episode and for that I apologise. It might not sound it from my ropey production values, but it does take a lot to time to put these shows together, and I’ve procrastinated and prevaricated and kept putting them off. But the procrastination is over, helped by the fact that I’ve taken some time off from work for an extended holiday/career break round Asia, and without a daily commute and job to go to, I’ve suddenly found myself with more time on my hands for writing episodes and also one to one coaching sessions. So

I hope you enjoy this episode which was written on the bullet train in Japan and is being recorded in Nepal.

Now this episode will go live in October as the majority of graduate schemes will be opening their doors for another year, so it is a timely opportunity to point out the 4 things you need to be doing before you start applying for a graduate scheme. For the links to the shownotes for today’s episode don’t forget to check out https://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/planning.

So without further ado, lets start with point 1.

1 – You need to know who you are applying to

Now to some people this might sound basic, to everyone it might sound completely self-evident, ‘of course I know who I will be applying to’….but hear me out. Before you start applying for graduate schemes you need to be very clear on what graduate schemes you will be applying to….self-evident right? Not in my experience.  From the clients I coach some people have a laser like focus…’I want to be an accountant, and I will be applying to accountancies’. Fair enough. But for most graduates it’s not that clear cut, they have a range of interests, a range of companies that sound great, a range of graduate roles that pique their interest, and almost too many possible graduate jobs to apply for. This is completely normal and understandable. But going in to start applying for graduate jobs without getting some clarity in this area will not end well. Because if you aren’t focused in knowing what type of graduate job you want, your applications aren’t going to be focused and it’s going to be difficult to convince the employers why they are the special one for you. If you can’t convince them of this fact, your application is going to go into the ‘thanks but no thanks’ pile. Now I have dedicated entire episodes to exploring how to narrow down your options and find a graduate job that is right for you. Check out my episodes with John Lees, Scott Mautz and Dr Cory Jubenville for starters. Links to these episodes, and a full transcript of today’s episodes can be found in the show notes at https://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/planning

2 – You need to be researching the chosen companies like crazy

Having narrowed down who you are applying to, before you start any applications you need to think about point number 2. You need to researching the chosen companies like crazy. You need to be conducting detailed research (emphasis on the detailed) into each company you are going to be applying to. You need to know;

– When the graduate schemes open

– When the graduate schemes close

– What the application process involves

– What the job actually involves, not what the corporate blurb says, but what you will be actually doing on a day to day basis

– What the company values are

– How is the company performing financially, are they expanding, contracting, staying the same etc.

– What is their revenue model

– Who are their competitors

– What is their competitive advantage

– What are the key projects initiatives they are working on?

– What upcoming events graduate fairs universities will they be appearing at

– What graduates on the scheme actually have to say about working there

Now getting to this level of detail takes work, which is why I contend that you need to focus down on a maximum of 3-5 companies at a time and not adopt a scatter gun cut and paste approach to graduate job applications. Now some of this research can be done online through the corporate blurb, or websites like Graduate-jobs, Glass Door etc. Or the business pages of the papers. But to really go beyond the level of the average candidates research you need to speak to people who actually work there. A method that works well here is utilising LinkedIn to reach out to your university alumni network to speak to former alumni from your university who work at your desired company. Get in touch via the message/connection function, introduce yourself and what you are applying for and ask if they have 5 minutes for a chat. Alternatively, simply get in touch with the Graduate scheme and ask if it is possible to speak to one of the current grads to learn more about the scheme. As with all of these steps, it’s about doing what the average candidate won’t do. Now the reason this research is crucial is the information you will get will inform what will go into your CV, your answers to the online application and also the interview when you get round to it, and also crucially help you to answer point 3, which is.

3 – You need to know why you are applying to them

A key step you need to be doing now, is understanding exactly why you want to apply to each company. A question you are 100% guaranteed to be asked when you apply for any graduate job is “why do you want to work for us”. This is a superficially easy question to answer, but is one which very easily lets the recruiter differentiate between the average and the great candidate. The average candidate regurgitates information from the corporate website which everyone knows. ‘You’re a Times top 100 graduate scheme’, ‘Your one of the top 50 places for women to work’ etc etc.. The great candidates go beyond that, they have done their research so they know what it’s really like to work there, they can talk honestly about the company culture, the training and development, because they have put the effort in and found out at first hand from people who work there, so they can take this answer into the ‘great’ category.

4 – You need to start practicing now for the psychometric tests!

The final point 4 is….. You need to start practicing now for the psychometric tests! The early stages of the graduate job application process is all about whittling people down,  and the stage that gets rid of the most people is psychometric tests. Recruiters know this, and in an effort to save money have introduced the psychometric tests at an earlier stage than in the past. In the past you would submit your online application for a graduate job first, if you passed that you then would then do the online verbal, numerical tests etc. Now they do it the other way around which makes sense. Why bother to review the online application if they aren’t going to pass the tests anyway? Now, no matter which graduate job you apply to, you are going to have to complete some psychometric tests, verbal reasoning, numerical, situational judgement tests. Unfortunately, that’s just a given. What the average candidate does is wait to start practicing them at the last possible minute, and as a result doesn’t do very well. Companies don’t give you much notice to do these tests, once you’ve applied they will come back and tell you you have 3 days to do them. If you have to start practicing then you won’t do very well. The good news is that the secret to doing well at these tests is…..brace yourself.  To practice. Practice makes perfect, what a shocker. So, start practicing now so you are good to go. There are loads of free resources on the net, but to be honest my advice is don’t be cheap and pay some money. Look as a Yorkshireman I loathe spending money, but trust me, this is an area where you don’t want to scrimp. The paid for sites are so much better and have so many questions, and great functionality where you can check your progress, do them under time pressure, see where you are coming out against your peers etc, and you’re not paying much more for them than you would for a round of drinks, well a round of drinks in London anyway. Check out the shownotes at Graduatejobpodcast.com/planning where I have linked to some of the biggest providers such as our show sponsor Career Gym and Job Test Prep, Assessment Day etc. If you would like to support the show click on the links in the show notes as it won’t cost you anything extra but the show will earn a small commission. Check out Episode 35 where I dive into psychometric tests in more detail

Again, links in the shownotes at Graduatejobpodcast.com/planning.  Free or paid sites, the key to take away is that you need to be practicing…and now!

So there you go, the 4 things you need to be doing before you start applying for a graduate scheme. As I mentioned at the beginning, since I’m on my sabbatical I’ve more time for one on one career coaching, so if you would like some help with your applications, CV, Covering Letter, assessment centre and the like then check out https://www.graduatejobpodcast.com/coaching/. Look at it as an investment in your future. You only get one opportunity each year to apply for a graduate job, so make sure you are as prepared as you can be. You don’t want to be there regretting not getting help as the rejection letters roll in. So there you go, episode 84 in the bag, if I don’t have another episode up in a weeks time then please do feel free to email me motivational abuse at hello@graduatejobpodcast.com. Until then I hope you enjoyed the episode today, but more importantly, I hope that you use it and apply it. See you next week.