Job hunting and the importance of having an open mind University of Manchester Careers Blog

Job hunting and the importance of having an open mind A mind is like a parachute. It dont work if its not open A classic quote from legendary musician Frank Zappa and a sound bit of careers advice if you ask me (although I’m pretty sure that’s not what he intended!). When career planning here are a few things I think you need to keep your mind open about including … The options open to you Think our job opportunities are limited by the degree you studied? Think again! Over 60% of graduate jobs are open to graduates who have studied ANY degree discipline. As long as you have the right skills for the job there is no reason why you cannot apply for the majority of roles. Obviously there are some roles such as law and medicine/healthcare and social work where specific qualifications may be necessary but don’t rule these out graduate entry qualifications or conversion course can always be taken. The ‘I don’t know what I want to do’ guide along with our which career pages will help you explore the different options open to you.   As a recent graduate you may also be eligible to book a careers guidance appointment to discuss your options with one of our careers consultant. What a ‘graduate’ job actually is The terms ‘graduate scheme’ and ‘graduate entry level job’ are often used interchangeably when they are actually two different things. Graduate recruitment schemes are structured programmes combining work and training advertised by larger organisations. These programmes tend to last 1-2 years. These recruitment schemes are by no means the only option open to you when, in fact they only represent a small proportion of the roles open to you. Most graduates will be employed directly into individual positions within either large or small organisations. These roles are often referred to as graduate entry levels jobs. You can find out more about different graduate jobs here. What your first job will be like This may come across as slightly blunt but realistically you are not going to land your dream job straight away.   That’s why the term ‘career ladder’ exists.   Imagine the dream job (if such a think exists) is at the top of the ladder each job/ experience that you gain moves you up the rungs closer to the top. Where you could work   No offense to Manchester but in an ideal world I’d be living and working in York where I originally went to Uni. I love it there, but when I graduated there no library/ info roles were being advertised so I had to widen me search a bit further afield. Basically to stand the best chance of success you need to be open to moving to where the work is (obviously I understand that for some of you who might have families or other commitments this may not be always be practical!) Our regional pages sure a great place to find out about opportunities around the UK and if you are thinking about working further afield check out our country pages. All Graduate Graduate jobs