How to make speculative applications

So you’re looking for a particular type of job. You’ve scoured every newspaper and signed up for all the jobsites, and recruitment agencies that you can find. You’ve applied for every vacancy going or there are no jobs to be found and you are out of options. What else can you do? Apply speculatively.

Applying speculatively means sending your application when an organisation is not advertising a job. I probably get asked more questions about this job search tactic than any other! After all you don’t have a job description or a set of guidelines to follow so it can be scary to the uninitiated. So here are my top tips…

Do all organisations accept speculative applications?

No. Some will only accept applications when they are actively advertising a job, this is especially true of public sector organisations such as the NHS, universities and local councils.

For small companies and particular sectors speculative applications are the norm. Always check organisations’ websites so you know where you stand before you apply.

Where can I get a list of organisations to apply to?

Sadly these lists are not pre-made so you have to generate them yourself. Decide the parameters of your job search – the role you want, type of organisation and geographic area. Start narrow and try to generate a manageable list first, then broaden it out if you exhaust your options.

• The ‘typical employers’ section of Prospects profiles are useful for finding out what type of organisations recruit for certain roles. Consider whether small and medium sized companies are likely to be an option as well as large employers and whether this appeals to you.
• If the companies you are interested in will need to promote themselves to clients where will they do this? Yellow pages is great for searching for a type of company in a particular town, but also consider if there are specific websites or directories that you should check.
• Are the organisations you are interested in likely to belong to/be accredited by a professional body? Professions like law, accountancy, engineering and architecture are regulated by professional bodies which often will make a list of members available on their website. Sometimes this list is password protected and only accessible to members, but it is often possible to join very cheaply as a student or unwaged member.
• Check to see if the Careers Service has done the work for you. Our sector pages include recommended links, the north west pages sometimes include lists of employers that we have compiled (these are not exhaustive but can give you a place to begin).

So I have my list of target organisations- now what do I do?

In a word: research.

Look at the organisation’s website, not only the ‘working for us’ and ‘about us’ sections but also the client-facing pages. Consider: what do they do, what is important to them, who are their clients, who are their competitors? Also research the industry more widely, search local and national press for relevant stories, read industry-specific journals (often available on reference at the Careers Service or in local libraries), look at their competitors’ websites.

Next think: how do I match the interests and priorities of the organisation, what have I got to offer that will be relevant? The more you know, the more targeted you will be able to make your application – and targeting is the key to success.

So, now can I apply?

Not just yet. Before you take the plunge think about networking. Networking can help you so much with your research, so you understand what the organisation is looking for, whether they are likely to have opportunities coming up and who you should send a speculative application to. It is also a way to make a great first impression, so that the intended recipient of your speculative application already knows you, which means they are more likely to read your application and look positively on it than if you just sent it without preparing the way.

What should a speculative application consist of?

In most cases a targeted CV and covering letter.

How many speculative applications should I make?

As many as you can do well. It is better to make 5 strong targeted applications than 50 identical ones.

Can I get some help?

Of course!  Whether it is compiling a list of organisations, checking an application before you send it or talking over what to say when networking contact the Information team at the Careers Service by phone (0161 275 2829) or email.

DisABILITY

Applying for jobs is stressful at the best of times but for people with a disability or health  concerns it can be even more worrying, with questions about discrimination and how and when to disclose top of the list.

However as someone who has suffered  serious health problems in the past I really believe that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, particularly when it comes to job hunting.  The key is to think about how your disability or health concern will make you a stronger candidate in the eyes of employers.

Here are my top 5 reasons why having a disability or health concern means you’ll have already developed a range of transferable skills employers are looking for:

Adaptability – Coping with a disability or health problem means that you will be adaptable, having worked out individual ways to overcome everyday problems.  Being adaptable will show employers you will be able to respond and cope effectively with a range of situations.

Time management – Whether its hospital visits,  the need to take regular breaks or simply because carrying out certain tasks takes you longer than most, having a disability or health problem means you will have developed time management skills. The ability to plan and prioritise your workload will impress employers.

Empathy – I think that having health problems or a disability means you are more likely to be able to identify with somebody else’s feelings. If you want to work in a customer facing environment empathy will be essential.

Negotiation – If you’ve got a disability or health concern chances are you’ve had to negotiate, be that with health care providers about treatments or university staff about deadlines or access to buildings. Negotiation will be a key skill in working life.

Commitment– let’s face it it’s much more of an achievement to get a degree if you have a disability or health concern than it is if you don’t! Employers will be impressed by your commitment.

This is by no means a complete list, have a look on our website for more information on transferable skills.  If you have a disiblity and are worried about disclose have a look at our resource ‘Employment support/ advice on disclosure for disabled students and graduates’.

Talent Scotland

If you are a graduate living in Scotland or a graduate thinking of relocating to Scotland this graduate this graduate placement programme might be for you.

Talent Scotland Graduate Placement Programme is open to those who have graduated with a degree or postgraduate degree in the past two years and who have no more than two years graduate level work experience.  You must also have up to date visa documentation (if applicable) and the language skills appropriate to a business environment.

The programme gives you the opportunity to work on a 3 -12 month project with an established business or social enterprise in a range of sectors across Scotland.  During the programme you will also take part in a 3 -5 day residential course which aims to help you develop innovation and business skills.

Click here to find out more about the programme and to see the placements you can apply to.

Some spot-on advice from Sarah on the undergraduate blog!

Manchester Undergrad Careers

Here’s a dilemma for you

• Unemployment rates are high, some students fear they might not get a job when they graduate.
• Yet employers tell us they can’t find graduates to fill the jobs.
• Students and new graduates tell us they aren’t interested in the jobs available.
• Yet some graduates are content to stay on in casual jobs in bars and fast foot outlets, rather than finding graduate level roles.

Here at Careers Service we hear from students every day that “there are no jobs” and yet we have employers desperate to find students and graduates to apply for vacancies.

We have seen that some vacancies get few hits on our database, and some get few applicants.

Whats going on?

• Some students are just not ready to think about employment after their final year: High flyers survey tells us that nationally –   13% have no plans after graduation,  12% plan to…

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Consider the 99%

Two Edinburgh graduates discuss the pros and cons of working in a large company or an SME.

Here at Manchester we can help you find opportunities to work in small businesses – especially in the Manchester area. Vacancies are advertised on CareersLink both for MGIP graduate internships and other positions. If you can’t see jobs you are interested in contact us for advice on how to sniff them out yourself!

Our graduate life

I think it’s an interesting topic to discuss the differences between working for a large vs. a small company. To do this I have had the help of a friend – Louise McKinlay, a recent MA (Hons) International Business graduate from the University of Edinburgh. Whilst I will be working in a Finance role at RBS – once the largest bank in the world, Louise has secured a marketing role at NAC – a small, but fast growing communications company with some very impressive clients, such as ICAS (Institute of Chartered Accountants Scotland).

This blog does not seek to suggest that working for a small or a large company is better. However, its aim is to highlight some of the benefits unique to each. Most importantly I hope to get the message out there that 99% of companies in the UK are small to medium sized entities (SME’s).

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Free Journalism Workshops

Any budding journalists reading this blog?

National press agency News Associates are running a number of FREE journalism workshops in both London and Manchester. If you are interested in a career in newspaper, magazine, online or broadcast journalism this is a great chance to meet editors and reporters. The three hour workshops aim to provide a practical insight into journalism, giving you the chance to work on a breaking news story. There is also time set aside to get advice and feedback from tutors.

The workshops are scheduled on a monthly basis up until February 2013 so there are plenty of opportunities to attend! For specific dates and times of the workshops click here

For anyone specifically interested in sports journalism New Associates also run sports journalism workshops covering match reporting, working to tight deadlines and understanding how different publications cover different stories.

Click here to sign up to attend either of these workshops .

‘You’re not special’… so what’s the point? Reflecting on the graduation speech of the year

It’s graduation season here at Manchester and even as I type distinguished personages will be sharing words of wisdom with the class of 2012 in a posh chamber across campus. At my first graduation many moons ago the author PD James gave a speech but I confess I cannot remember a single thing she said. The same holds true for newsreader George Alagiah who spoke at the graduation for my Masters.

I think I would have remembered more if they had given a speech like English teacher David McCullough Jr’s recent commencement address at a US high school which has caused much comment in the US media. Instead of the usual graduation ceremony fare of ‘congratulations, you are all super-special winners’ he opted to serve up a dose of realism. The press focused on his tough love messages summed up by the quote ‘you’re not special.’

Even if you’re one in a million, on a planet of 6.8 billion that means there are nearly 7,000 people just like you.

Some commenters took the view that the overpampered modern generation of young people sorely need this wake up call about to the harsh world they are entering.  Others felt it was crossing the line.

Mr McCullough was speaking to High School graduates, the University students and graduates I work with have (hopefully!) acquired a little more worldly wisdom. Perhaps this explains why although I have met the odd graduate over the years who really needed to be told that they are not the centre of the universe they were only the minority.

Astrophysicists assure us the universe has no centre. Therefore you cannot be it.

The vast majority of graduates I speak to seem only too well aware of how tough the world is and how much competition they face. What is worrying is the effect of that realisation. For many the reaction to tough times is to give up. The attitude seems to be ‘well, if I can’t succeed what’s the point?’ Is this the result of over-pampering? Go through school and life with everyone being a winner so no-one has to suffer the ignominy of losing. Then when you leave university and enter the real world you don’t have the skills to cope. I’ve heard (totally unsubstantiated) stories of talented graduates in big companies bursting into tears the first time their boss points out a mistake because they have never encountered criticism. I’ve met plenty of graduates drifting because finding a job is ‘too hard’.

The most important part of Mr McCullough’s message was not the reality check it was the call to action.

Don’t wait for inspiration or passion to find you. Get up, Get out, explore, find it yourself. Grab hold with both hands.

Give the speech a watch, but don’t be discouraged – be entertained and be inspired.

Do whatever you do for no reason other than you love it and believe in its importance.

Scam Jobs

Its graduation season again, thousands of students donning their cap and gowns and applying nervously for jobs. Unfortunately it’s also the season for scam jobs as some people try to capitalise on these nerves offering what would appear to be really good jobs to unsuspecting graduates.

We have already had students coming in which concerns over whether certain job are legitimate. One student who come into the Careers Resource Centre this week had uploaded their CV online and was offered a job they had not directly applied for or even been interviewed for. Digging a little deeper we found that the company was asking  for bank details which suggested to us this was a scam job. This is not just a problem for Manchester students and graduates, The Careers Group London recently blogged about another scam job they had come across.

How do you spot scam jobs?

As the Careers Group example shows it can be hard to spot scam jobs but here are a few tell-tale signs to watch out for:

• If they contact you out of the blue
• If they are asking for money/ bank details up front
• If you are asked to ring a premium rate number
• If the job is commission only
• If you will make money by signing up new members to sell for you

The main thing to remember is if it sounds too good to be true it probably is!

How to avoid scam jobs

Here at the Careers Service we don’t recommend that you upload your CV onto the internet not just because you should tailor your CV to each and every job you apply for but also because you leave yourself open to scam jobs. (See the above example!)

If you graduated from the University of Manchester within the last 3 years use Careerslink to find vacancies.  We screen vacancies before making them live to ensure they:

• Meet our vacancy advertising policy
• Comply with UK equality legislation
• Meet the national minimum wage

Find out more about our vacancy advertising policy here.

Do you have concerns about a vacancy?

If you have any concerns about whether a job is legitimate don’t apply for it in the first place.  If concerns are raised after you have applied or especially if you didn’t apply for the vacancy don’t agree to sign anything, pay for any services and cease contact with the company.  Contact the Careers Service if you have any questions or would like a second opinion. There is further information on where to get advice on scam jobs here.

If you want to read more about scam jobs have a look at this Guardian Careers article.

Trying out the ‘reblog’ option!  Some great advice from Bristol Careers Service here – Manchester students can also use our services for 3 years after the end of their course.

The University of Bristol Careers Service Blog has Now Moved!

Help – I’ve been forced to take a year out!

It’s that time of year when many students receiving their degree results have to make a sudden change of plan.  We’re busy right now at the Careers Service seeing people who are rethinking what seemed like career certainties just a few months ago, either because they didn’t get the class of degree for which they’d hoped, or occasionally because they achieved a much higher degree result than expected and they hadn’t applied for any jobs.

Whichever position you find yourself in, it can be a daunting prospect to be graduating into months of completely unstructured time, but this doesn’t have to be a disaster.  Employers are very interested in how people cope with setbacks, as well as how they demonstrate resilience and move on, so the focus should be on treating the unexpected time out as one big potential…

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Dig a little deeper for 2012 start jobs

July is a funny time of year in the world of graduate recruitment, the end of one cycle overlapping the the start of the next.  Last month I blogged about how some 2013 schemes are opening now, but this doesn’t mean that all 2012 start opportunities have been filled.

A case in point is TK Maxx.  Look on the webpage for their graduate schemes and it states that the Merchandising and Buying schemes are closed for 2012.  But dig a little deeper and search for ‘all jobs’ on the Jobs page and lo and behold the scheme has been reopened.  They are interviewing in August and have a start date of September 4th so if you are interested you need to apply pretty sharpish, don’t leave it until their closing date of 25th July which as it says is ‘at very the latest’.

What probably happened is that the HR department was suddenly been told to find extra people for the scheme.  This often happens, HR/Graduate Recruitment teams are set targets at the start of the year for the number of new entrants needed in each employment area.  But it is difficult for the managers in those areas to predict what their business will be like in 12 months time so those targets often change.  Perhaps TK Maxx have suddenly found that business is doing better than anticipated and so new vacancies have been added at the last minute.

There are several useful lessons for a graduate to learn here…

1. If you are interested in certain companies keep checking their sites and look beyond the obvious graduate page.  The company may not consider it worthwhile to change their graduate recruitment page for a few jobs so will likely just put a quick vacancy in the ‘jobs’ section instead – easily added, and easily removed when the jobs are filled.
2. Search for ‘all jobs’ if you can.  Don’t be picky about locations, roles and start dates – just see what’s out there and then decide.  Maybe you want to work for the big 4 but didn’t plan to work in Plymouth and might not have considered Assurance in Public Services specifically but once you see this 2012 start opportunity at PWC you may just change your mind!
3. Twitter is the job hunter’s friend! – I found out about the TK Maxx opportunity via a chance spot on Twitter.  To a graduate recruiter Twitter is immediate, free and easy so it’s amazing how many opportunities circulate there that you might otherwise miss.  Read how current Manchester student Catherine May has found loads of experience in her target field (journalism) via Twitter.
4. Help your friends and let them help you.  If you see a job that you think might interest your a friend or some of your classmates – share it.  The Careers Service Facebook groups are a great way to hear about and share jobs with students and graduates on your course, and/or why not tweet them?  Perhaps a job is not right for you but it might be perfect for someone else.  It only takes a moment and what goes around, comes around – the more helpful you are to other people the more inclined they will be to help you.  Let people know what you are looking for and they will be more inclined to let you know if they see something that they think might interest you.

EDIT: 6th July A colleague let me know that Logica’s graduate scheme is still open for 2012.  If you come across any others feel free to submit a comment :)

EDIT: 10th July Majestic Wine are seeking immediate start Graduate Trainee Managers for a number of regions.

EDIT: 31st July Ernst and Young are advertising a number of opportunities which start March 2013.