As you can imagine, entering the job market after graduating from University (in 2020), was very difficult and daunting. With companies facing uncertainty in the market, and staff being made redundant or being placed on the furlough scheme, recruitment was not on their agenda. This made job searching at the time to be very difficult and demoralising. With not knowing if roles were still open, I found myself applying and not hearing back from the company. I applied for around 20 roles and only heard back from 4, which is so irritating!
Having studied Business management and marketing, my modules covered a wide range of areas within business. This meant that I had areas which I enjoyed more than others. Which allowed me to narrow down my job search. For example, I didn’t enjoy marketing so stayed well clear of any marketing related roles.
Having a list of roles you would consider is ideal, especially in today’s market, when the competition for each role is likely to be high. This means that you are not closing off potential opportunities.
Frustrations
Having applied for graduate roles since mid-December I had a few interviews lined up for potential roles. Unfortunately, these were then retracted once the uncertainty hit the companies. This did make me wonder what I was going to do once I had graduated…
Thankfully, I still had a part-time job within retail, which allowed me to have an income and financial security. This did allow me not to feel desperate while on my job search. Even though I didn’t want a career in retail, I didn’t feel like I wanted to do literally anything instead of it. It allowed for flexible hours, and in the middle of summer, who doesn’t want that!
Once companies knew more about their future, I started getting interviews for roles. At first glance the role seemed like something I wanted to do, however as I found more out about the role, I decided it wasn’t for me. I found that some roles that appeared to emphasize the importance of work life balance in the job description, actually didn’t really care when it came to the job starting. This made me look more in depth into the roles I was applying for, as I didn’t want to waste the companies or my time.
Advice
With many other graduates being in the same situation as me, (seeking a new job during a time when there really wasn’t much out there), I found it was about trying to stay positive. In addition, I found that waiting for the right opportunity and then being prepared for it was important and finding the right mind-set allowed me to do this. It was also much easier knowing that others were in the same situation.
The right opportunity will come, its just about being patient if you can and then giving the right opportunity your all.