Many of our students will know that we are very busy at the Careers Advisory
Service at the moment. This is a peak time of year for all kinds of
applications for graduate and placement jobs as well as postgraduate
courses. All our Advisers have a constant succession of students wanting
feedback on their applications, be it a CV or application form. Regular
questions at the moment include “Looking at my application what chance do I
have of being successful?” and “How can I give myself an edge in my CV?”
To give you an idea of how hard it is to answer these questions it is best
to use a sporting analogy. Every competitive sports person trains to get
themselves to their peak performance for an event or match. They perfect
their technique by practising but in the end how it will go on the day is
dependent on how much better the competition is. You may be lucky and have
the chance to study your competitors’ form but this is not always the case.
In the end you prepare as well as you can and hope that you are the best on
the day.
Careers Advisers can advise you on the best way to present yourself but
there is no single formula. You can help yourself a lot by studying the job
role, understanding what the daily reality of the job will entail and making
yourself aware of the usual skills and attributes the employer is looking
for in their ideal candidate. Going that extra mile in your preparation by
talking to someone from the organisation will help. This is why employers
come on campus and we have our Graduate Contacts Scheme.
Many graduate recruitment schemes are extremely competitive. You need to
realistically assess yourself against the requirements of the employer.
If you can confidently make a case then you should apply. Lack of confidence
or fears of failure are not reasons to avoid making an application; after
all we would have no competitive sport if everyone was hesitant about
competing without a guarantee of success. In the end you have to put
yourself in the race to find out if you will succeed.
Careers Advisers cannot accurately assess your chances because we do not
know what your competition will be like, however like any sports coach, we
can help you to give the best performance you are capable of.
