Gaduate Jobs advice

[Duffman]

Is anyone here lucky enough to be on their last year of uni and unlucky enough to have to start looking for jobs?

Im doing bussiness and have been looking for graduate jobs but they are hard to get into most just going for the highest gpa (i got 4.8) :( I was wondering does anyone here know of any good graduate jobs or has been through the process before?

Im wondering if its hard to get a job after uni? I wouldn't think it would be doing bussiness but you also need experience. I got recommened not to do a masters so I don't have to much qualification but at the same time im not sure what to do.

[#Russ#Es#]

I've been looking for a f/t job after uni since September last year (marketing-related jobs)...its definately NOT easy! Like you said, most employers look for experience in graduates- the problem is, how do you get experience if noone is willing to give you a go? Its a rather frustrating process, I hope you find it easier than I have.

[merlin]

Learn to spell graduate correctly first if you want a job : (j/k)

I'm currently on a government graduate program (in my final 6 months now) and it is well worth getting on one - the experience and opportunities it opens up is amazing.

I had experience when I applied but the other grads had absolutley none so don't be discouraged.

[Duffman]

Uni offers internships and I only have 3 subjects next semister. I was thinking of going and doing one but im bit lazy and only wanted to do 3 but I surpose any experience will help. I think id better do it now. Iv also limited myself abit in not wanting to travel Sydney had many more openings though Brisbane only has a few :(

[fordxr8]

Guess i'm kind of lucky. After 4 years of Science at uni, and no good prospects for the future, i switched into dentistry. Now in the 5th, and final, year of my dentistry degree (the hardest years of my life - 40+ contact hours a week plus lab, patient treatment planning and study time) i've had 5 job offers so far for next year ranging from $70K to $140K. As far as i know, every dentistry student that graduated last year got a job. it's been hard work but appears well worth it.

[parawolf]

Originally Posted by blinkau

Uni offers internships and I only have 3 subjects next semister. I was thinking of going and doing one but im bit lazy and only wanted to do 3 but I surpose any experience will help. I think id better do it now. Iv also limited myself abit in not wanting to travel Sydney had many more openings though Brisbane only has a few :(

Internships are massively valuable.

I started as an intern at a multinational in Jan 2001, was full time by September 2001, was headhunted by a customer contact just before easter this year and i'm now earning more than double what I was as a full timer in my previous job (not that I was underpaid their either). :

Internships, can and do lead to jobs. If they don't they give you that one year experience which is more than others at graduation time, also failing that - i just had a friend finish up his degree in business, went to a recruitment company (actually 3) and landed 9 interviews in a short period of time.

Now he is working in his job of his dreams. (for now).

Get yourself a career pimp.. they don't cost anything

[XRchic]

Getting a job after uni is very much dependent on what degree you have done (well it was when I finished back in 2000). As someone said above, dentistry, medicine will always lead to jobs very quickly, and very well paid. My cousin and her husband did dentistry together and both had jobs before they finished their studies - both with starting salaries around $80K. My cousin did medicine and she was offered positions before she finished, although not as well paying to begin with... however after 10 years of hard slog post grad, she is a respiratory specialist earning $450K a year in a Gold Coast private practice. So they would be the pick.

With business related degrees (ie commerce, accounting, economics etc) it is usually a good move to try and get into a bank as a graduate, or some financial institution. They pay rather well and there are loads of opportunities... my aunt did commerce back in the 80s and she now works for St George on $800K a year in Sydney CBD - and that was just from the graduate program!

I did a couple of degrees, the last one being law. I got a job pretty much straight away in the graduate program in the ATO. The pay was terrible to start with but I started in Feb 2001 and since then it has pretty much tripled. And there are quite a lot of opportunities there for any graduate, such as business, law, accounting, economics even psychology and behavioural science, arts.... the work is rather boring, but the hours arent too bad, the people are pretty relaxed and if you go a bit higher, things improve quite a lot re work.. and you get to travel a bit too, if you like that sort of thing.

I think places like ASIC and ACCC and some state govt agencies also run graduate programs for people with many kinds of degrees and some of them run really good programs. I think ASIC runs a two year graduate program from memory and it it rather good. Most of the postions as graduates in these places are advertised once a year, around the middle of the year - to start at the beginning of the following year. There would be an application which would involve a statement addressing selection criteria for the job, your CV and a cover letter. The good ones are shortlisted, those ones sit an aptitude test, the ones who get through that are interviewed and they choose their grads from there. Some agencies run grad programs to start every two years, some twice a year...

All the info about graduate programs is on their websites. And Ford even have a graduate program for those who have degrees like marketing and quite a whole range of degrees.

With masters degrees, again it depends. I am doing LLM at the momet, only because I was told I wont get promoted any further without it because beyond a certain level, everyone has masters in something so if you dont, then you cant compete, in reality... as to what use you get from doing masters, well that depends. I am majoring in tax, so the technical knowledge I get out of it is quite useful. Other areas of study, I do not know.

I hope this helps. Good luck!

[chippa6]

Graduate Jobs are available but with the amount of graduates from different uni's there is a lot of competition. I would recommend applying for as many as possible. - To get a response is a numbers game - more applications = more chance of a reply. If you get interviews and no position don't worry as you have just got that little bit more comfortable with interviews.

I finished my business degree (HRM Major) in 2003. It is very hard to find a job in HR in QLD as there are many people who have moved up from down south with experience. Everyone I talk to says to move to sydney or melb.

I would recommend contacting large companies directly, I recommend this so that you will have many others who have probably been in the same position previous. Also in these larger companies it will be easier to establish youself with a mentor or just lots of other people to learn from and bounce ideas off. Even look at an entry level position, where once you know the workings of the organisation and they have moulded you to their own organisational culture, promotions will come, as many employers like to promote from within.

A big thing to point out in your CV when you do not have any experience is TRANSFERABLE skills, (any previous skills that can be transferred from one job to another) could be anything from interpersonal skills, communicating with various demographics, etc, anything that can help you, as opposed to direct skills and experience in the specific industry which many graduates don't have straight out of uni.

Hope this helps.

Chippa