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GRADUATES MISSING A JOB HUNTING ‘TRICK’?


Times are hard for graduates—you don’t need me to tell you that. On a recent mission to help job seekers at a recent graduate recruitment exhibition in Birmingham I had the opportunity to advise many graduates, many of whom had been job hunting for several months without success.


Who am I?


Two main concerns were raised by job seekers. Firstly, some had clears ideas about their next career step and felt they had been doing everything they needed to do to get that elusive job, but without success. Secondly, many didn’t know what career path to follow and were therefore feeling stuck, without direction.


Let’s look at the first point. When challenged, many job seeking graduates I spoke to recognised that there was indeed something else they could be doing to find work. In particular, many graduates had not been making the most of social media in their job hunt.


40 What do I want?


The Successful Job Seeker’s Journey


On the second point, when it comes to deciding on the right career path to take, the process is about understanding who you are, what you want and then how to get it.


The more you know about yourself, the more chance you have of being able to match your personality, values, skills and interests to suitable jobs. If you’ve done a fair amount of varied work experience (both paid and voluntary), travelled and faced a number of challenges in your life, you’re likely to have good self awareness. If not, then it’s still possible, through some


How do I get there?


exercises and thought provoking questioning, to understand who you really are. After I ran a recent career makeover workshop in London, one participant said “I now have a better idea about what makes me tick and the things I need to consider to get a job”.


To understand what you want, it’s important to create an image of the work you’d like to do, even if you don’t know what sector you want to work in.


What skills do you want to be using? Where are you located? How large is the organisation? What is your boss like?


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