The University of Chester are offering a 3 day course for unemployed or underemployed 2008 & 2009 graduates.  It is open to graduates from undergraduate or postgraduate degrees who live within daily travelling distance from their Chester or Warrington campuses.

The course includes intensive one-to-one careers counselling and the opportunity to apply for a five week placement in a local company to carry out a business improvement project.

On completion of the course and a written assignment you can gain 20 M (masters) level credits towards further postgraduate study.

The next start date is January.  To apply call Careers & Employability at the University of Chester on 01244 513066.

New readers to this blog may be interested in a post I published earlier in the here listing sources of help from careers services around the UK for unemployed graduates.

Yet another careers event to tell you about, it is the season for them!

Manchester City Council are running an event at Whitworth Art Gallery about creative careers.  Wednesday 18th November, 10am-3pm.

It will cover a wide range of areas such as crafts, art & antiques, advertising, music, media, design, architecture, publishing, computer games, software and computer & video.

It is not a graduate event per se, the ticketing information suggests that school groups will be attending.  If you are already very well informed about your chosen career area the talks and workshops may be a bit basic for you but even if that is the case there are bound to be valuable opportunities to network.   If you are exploring options it may be an interesting way of gaining an overview of several areas at once.

Register for free tickets online.

If you are interested in a career in social work or social care don’t miss the Compass Job Fair.  It is a specialist jobs fair and career convention which takes place in Manchester, London, Leeds & Birmingham over the course of the year.

Manchester’s fair is next week, on Monday 9th November 2009, and will take place at the Hilton Manchester in Deansgate in Beetham Tower.  It is open 9.30am-4.30pm but it is a good idea to check the website in advance in case you want to attend some of the seminars that will be running during the day, there is an impressive choice of topics.

From the website it appears you need to book tickets in advance.  I don’t know if you can just turn up on the day, I would suggest booking to be on the safe side!

Prospects have produced an e-magazine the University Guide with advice on  postgraduate study.

Prospects also have a very useful website for searching for postgraduate courses and research opportunities in the UK.

EmployAbility is a not-for-profit organisation which helps students and graduates with a disability to find work with disability-friendly employers.

The opportunities are generally open to anyone, but if you have a disability EmployAbility can give you extra help with improving your application and interview skills.  They can also advocate for you with an employer if there are particular circumstances which they think the employer should take into account.

Deadlines are approaching fast for some so check out the opportunities on their website. I have listed some of the full time jobs below to give you an idea, closing dates are indicated:

• Financial Services Authority Graduate Programme – 11 November
• NHS Employability Graduate Management Training Scheme – 20 November
• Bank of America Merrill Lynch Full time programme – 20 November
• Mayer Brown training contract – 8 January
• Herbert Smith training contract – 10 January

If you missed our careers fairs or are interested in an area not covered by our autumn fairs, Prospects are running some virtual fairs over the next couple of weeks.  They can be a great opportunity to chat with employers and submit your CV from the comfort of your own computer!  You will need to register in advance on the website.

• Monday 9th November – Public, Voluntary Sector & Education
• Tuesday 10th November – IT, Engineering, Science & Technology
• Wednesday 11th November – Law, Professional Services, Banking & Management
• Thursday 12th – Sales, Publishing, Media, Marketing, Retail, Tourism & Leisure
• Friday 13th – Work experience
• Wednesday 18th – Postgraduate study

There are currently 12 opportunities for the Manchester Graduate Internship Programme being advertised on our website.  This programme is only open to 2009 graduates of The University of Manchester who completed an undergraduate degree.

They include opportunities in engineering, administration, business, IT, marketing, science and logistics so there may be something to suit you.

Several of these opportunities have closing dates of tomorrow Friday 30th October so apply quickly!

The final fairs of the autumn programme are taking place this week.

Postgraduate Study Fair – Wednesday 28th October
This is your chance to talk to representatives from a wide range of Higher Education course providers, both from the UK and abroad.

Law Fair – Thursday 29th October
Opportunities both for law graduates and non-law graduates intending to take the law conversion. Vacation placements, training contracts and law courses.

When you have an interview or assessment centre coming up, watching videos can be a really useful way to help you prepare.  We have streamed the AGCAS videos on our website to give you access 24 hours a day.

All you need in order to be able to watch them is a login for the Careers Service website.  Try your old student login, if that does not work you can create a new graduate login by clicking on the link at the bottom of the login page.

Available videos include:

• ‘At the Assessment Centre’ new for 2009
• ‘The Assessment Centre video’ from 2000 is still online as well
• ‘Making an Impact at Interview’

This week we are running two of our biggest careers fairs.  These are a great opportunity to meet lots of employers in one day.  No rides I’m afraid though!

Wednesday 21st October – Engineering, Science & Technology Fair

Thursday 22nd October – Finance, Business & Management Fair

Both events are open to members of the public as well as students and graduates of The University of Manchester.  They run 10.30am-4pm each day.

It is a good idea to look at the fair website before attending and explore the A-Z list of exhibitors so that you can see the types of jobs that are on offer.  More on preparing for the fairs.

Pre-registering will save you a few minutes when you arrive but is not strictly necessary.

• Preregister for the Engineering, Science & Technology Fair
• Preregister for the Finance, Business & Management Fair