I think we can all agree that looking for a job is hard. Of course, landing a job that you really want can have its challenges at any stage of your career, but couple job hunting with being a new graduate and lacking tonnes of experience, and the task becomes even harder.
After completing my English Language degree and graduating in 2019 the struggle to find a grad job was real. This was in a world where a pandemic, national job losses and budget cuts weren’t factors I had to contend with, but they are now just some of the extra challenges the class of 2020 have had to face while trying to kick-start their careers.
With that being said, it comes as no surprise that in September 2020, according to the Keep Britain Working Job Index Report, graduate roles were 80% lower than they were in January 2020, making competition for limited roles even more fierce than before. However, since these figures were released, the Job Index Report published at the end of 2020 has suggested there is optimism for the job market going forward as it continues to recover.
During your education there’s always a next step lined up for you. Once you finish primary school, you’ll start secondary school, after that there’s college, then you can go to university if you choose to. Once university is finished however, there is no fixed steppingstone for you to automatically progress to. While this is exciting, it can also be quite daunting. There are lots of options out there and many avenues you can explore when it comes to deciding on your next step as a graduate, but the process of figuring it out isn’t always quick and straight forward for everyone.
Just like the university experience itself, the process of finding your first graduate job is different for everyone. In my immediate circle of friends alone there were people who applied for multiple grad schemes and eventually landed one which they’d start after summer was over, some chose to start volunteering, others accepted internships, while some launched their own projects or entered training programmes. While some landed their chosen full-time roles quickly after just a few applications, others, including myself, found themselves in limbo for a little while.
Before I finally started my first graduate role I had spent months applying for jobs and internships, and all I was receiving was rejection. Most of the time my applications would just be ignored, so it got to the point where I was actually pleased with a rejection email because despite not being accepted, I at least felt like I had been acknowledged.
It feels like the ultimate catch-22 when you need a job for experience but can’t get a job without already having rich experience. This can make the process feel like a never-ending cycle of time-consuming applications and rejection emails and at times it can even make you start to question whether university was even worth it when you feel nothing but stuck at square one after all your hard work.
While the process can feel repetitive and sometimes demoralising, you have to remember that you’re not any less-than. No matter what stage you’re at in your career, in many cases there will always be someone more experienced or more qualified, but in the same vein you too will always have something that sets you apart from someone else too. Those are the things you have to try not to lose sight of and use to your advantage. Easier said than done, yes, but it only takes one opportunity to change things.
Often, one of the trickiest things can be finding a formula that works for you when it comes to submitting applications. Don’t be afraid to experiment with the style of your cover letters until you find a framework that works for you. Utilise your network no matter how big or small it may be, and remember to keep checking your CV and make sure it contains the relevant keywords an employer might be looking for when filtering through applications which match up to both your skillset and what is outlined in the job description.
Hindsight is an interesting thing, so looking back at my experience of searching for my first graduate job and how frustrating it was at times, I would say that you really do need to trust that persistence pays off.
Timing is everything and eventually things will fall into place even when it doesn’t feel like it and you’ve received your third rejection email of the week. Though they may be hard to see at the time, especially when your patience is starting to wear thin, there are some positives to be found in the graduate struggle. You might choose to consider freelance work if you have a skill someone else might be in need of, or you might take the time as an opportunity to push your passion forward if you have one outside of your chosen career. Perhaps one of the biggest positives you can take from the process though is that once you’ve had that first great opportunity, you can take it as a real confidence boost and comfort when you find yourself looking to make your next move because ultimately, after that first opportunity, you’ll always be more experienced and more resilient than you were before.
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