Job Search & Graduate Opportunities

This leaflet reviews key sources of vacancies for graduates. You could be applying for such vacancies well before you graduate as a number of graduate employers recruit up to nine months ahead of the date you might start with them. Others have on-going recruitment and many smaller organisations will just advertise vacancies as they arise. JobPlus Online http://middlesex.prospects.ac.uk Our web based vacancy service has a graduate vacancy section including both future vacancies for final years and current opportunities. You can search by type of occupation, location and hours and type of contract. Some of the work experience/ internship and voluntary work opportunities may also be of value to graduates. For more speculative approaches, you can also search the Employer Directory from list employers that is arranged alphabetically. To access JobsPlus you need to register; this is free of charge and can be done via the website. Once you are registered you can set up email alerts so the system automatically emails you new jobs that meet your search criteria. Careers Fairs and Presentations on Campus These are events where you can meet employers in person and learn more about their recruitment. We run Careers Fairs twice a year at Hendon campus: in November a broad based Careers Fair with an emphasis on employability and one in May with a recruitment and agency focus. There is a teacher recruitment event at Trent Park usually in January. Details will be available on our website and you can see the previous years programme. There are other graduate job fairs in the London area and elsewhere in the UK, especially in the autumn and early summer periods. www.prospects.ac.uk; www.londongradfair.co.uk; www.grades.org.uk. www.gradjobs.co.uk A few employers and agencies give presentations on campus in the autumn or spring. These and the other external events are advertised on our website. Graduate Prospects and My Prospects Prospects publications include Prospects Finalist (published between October and May), which lists vacancies from employers coming up in the next 3 9 months, and Prospects Graduate online digital jobs magazine via (www.prospects.ac.uk ) which lists employers that are currently recruiting. You can also register with My Prospects and be notified by email about vacancies of interest. Directories of Graduate Opportunities There are a number of annual publications: Real Prospects, Targetjobs and GET directories, which are published in the early autumn. They include job and sector profiles, graduate vacancies and websites of major recruiters. Other Targetjobs publications have a specialist career focus on e.g. City and Finance, Law, IT and Teaching sectors. Inside Careers also produce some specialist directories with titles like Actuaries, Banking Securities and Investments and Information Technology and a number of other publishers including Prospects produce directories relating to the legal professions. Copies are available for reference with a reasonable number for students to take away in the careers centre. Associated websites are: www.prospects.ac.uk, www.get.hobsons.co.uk , www.targetjobs.co.uk and www.insidecareers.co.uk. National, Regional and Local Newspapers National broadsheet papers - Guardian, Times, Independent, Daily Telegraph and their Sunday equivalents - all have vacancy pages with different career sectors featured on specific days of the week, plus online vacancy information. Some run weekly sections specifically for graduates, e.g. the Guardian on Saturdays. More specialised publications like the Financial Times may run occasional graduate features and sections. Local and regional press are also a vital source e.g. in London the Evening Standard and Metro. See www.fish4jobs.co.uk for useful links. Specialist Journals and Publications Sectors such as education, social work, health, law, IT, HR and marketing all have their own specialist journals, which are likely to have vacancy sections. If you are not sure what these might be go to Explore Types of Jobs on www.prospects.ac.uk and look at the occupational profiles of the field that interests you, which will have listings of key vacancy sources. Some professional bodies may also have vacancy sections on their websites.

Middlesex University Careers Service

htp://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/careers

Recruitment Websites Recruitment or employment websites allow employers to post advertisements for jobs with some offering case studies, employer reviews and job search advice. Some specialise in graduate recruitment, including www.milkround.com; www.graduate-jobs.com; www.gradunet.co.uk; www.gradrecruit.co.uk There are also general ones including www.totaljobs.com; www.monster.co.uk; www.jobserve.co.uk; www.workthing.com; www.gojobsite.co.uk; www.fish4jobs.co.uk; www.reed.co.uk. Some recruitment websites have a local/regional focus, e.g. www.londonjobs.co.uk; www.justlondonjobs.co.uk. Graduate Talent Pool offers internships for graduates http://graduatetalentpool.gov.uk. Jobcentre Plus also has a website where you can search for vacancies http://jobseekers.direct.gov.uk Regional Sources for Graduates There are some websites for graduates with a regional focus West London www.westfocus.org.uk East Anglia, Essex, Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire www.gradseast.org.uk London Mayors Office website for graduates www.london.gov.uk/graduates. Other University careers services will have information on local vacancies for graduates. You can usually make use of them in the area in which you live or intend to move to. See www.prospects.ac.uk for a full listing. For jobs overseas see the Graduate Prospects website and resources in the Careers Library and on our website. Recruitment / Employment Agencies Many employers use agencies to help them recruit permanent and temporary staff, especially where they have difficulty recruiting staff directly. Agencies will now invariably use the web to promote their services and attract applicants. There are some agencies that specialise in graduate recruitment, e.g. The Graduate Recruitment Bureau www.grb.uk.com The Graduate Recruitment Company www.graduate-recruitment.co.uk Reed Graduates www.reedgraduates.co.uk Some have a specialist focus for example Finance: e.g. Joslin Rowe: www.joslinrowe.com Media: e.g. Pathfinders www.pathfindersrecruitment.com IT/Technical: e.g. Matchtech Group www.matchtech.com

Some more generalist offering a wide range of sectors e.g. Hays: www.hays.com. For a complete listing look at the Recruitment and Employment Confederations website www.rec.uk.com. > Job seeker > Consultancy finder You could try a search engine and it is also worth calling in at local branches. Creative Job Search In some sectors many jobs are not formally advertised, so networking and using personal contacts (creative job search) will be important for a number of graduate job seekers. If you know the kind of work you want, targeting relevant employers with a good CV and letter can be rewarding. For more information see our highlight leaflet on Creative Job Search.

Further information:
See Career Highlights Leaflets on the following: Work Experience Part Time & Temporary Work Voluntary Work Creative Job Search and Networking Recruitment Consultancies

Further resources such as hardcopy literature and DVDs are available in our careers library and electronically on our website

Middlesex University Careers Service

http://unihub.mdx.ac.uk/careers