Graduate Applications

So the plan is to get onto a graduate scheme and hopefully start September 2014, in an ideal world. Anyway during my lunch hour yesterday, I googled ‘top graduate schemes’ and I came upon the ‘Times Top 100 Graduate Recruiters’, what a quick search where I got what I wanted in approximately 5 seconds.

This is a fantastic site for all of you in the same boat as me. You do have to pop in your details and register but it gives you more information than those who don’t. Currently at the top spot, is PwC. However, I’m not so mathematically trained so I’m not sure my application would pass the first stages. Also on the list are; British Airways, Coca Cola, Mars, Microsoft, Google, KPMG, BBC and L’Oreal. All are well-known, but I didn’t expect anything less.

With a first class degree and some experience to back me, I’m going to throw in all I’ve got with many of these companies and hope for the best. I mean, minus my A-Level results which were far from ideal, I’ve had a year in industry, I will have worked at a charitable organisation as a marketing coordinator, hopefully done some volunteering in an undeveloped country, been part of university societies as well as being captain for the Ladies 1^st Tennis team and travelled some of the world. Surely, that’s an offer they can’t refuse. On paper, I’m a well-rounded person, so what would be there reason for not hiring me?

On-line tests and assessment days

These few words are the ones I dread on an application. On-line tests scare the hibbyjeebys out of me, with maths not been my greatest skill (despite my parents disagreement) the majority seem to revolve around this. So what happens next, I fail the test and that’s it, I haven’t even got a look in. And apparently even if I got my parents with their supernatural maths-like abilities to do the tests, they test you again at the assessment day. ERGH! Maybe I should do a couple of practices in preparation.

And assessment days, a good friend of mine is now in a graduate scheme with HSBC but he went through a bloody gruelling process to get there. He had to put together a presentation, that bare in mind, took him weeks to create and then present in front of quite senior people within HSBC. I mean, talk about pressure. Not only that, but everyone talks about the ‘dos and don’ts’ of a group interview stage.

·         Do step forward and give suggestions

·         Don’t speak too much

·         Do show team skills and encouraging others

·         Don’t come across of too much of a leader

·         Do give off a positive, enthusiastic vibe

·         Don’t look too keen

·         Do provide constructive criticism – great idea however I think…

·         Don’t big yourself up too much

Surely, you should just be yourself and not have to follow some sort of unstated guidelines. Surely that’s want these big organisations want, someone natural and not faking all to get a job, because if said person was to be hired, having claimed to have all these magical skills that wouldn’t work out so well for the company.

Now, what is wrong with a good old fashioned face-to-face interview?