There’s a lot of talk in the media about bleak employment opportunities for graduates at the moment. If you were to believe every article that you read, you might as well resign yourself to the unemployment line, or at the very least, think about living at home with your parents for a good few months. In fact, the IT sector is in good health so those graduates searching for IT jobs, will not have to worry quite so much as those graduates trying to secure a job in areas such as charity or media. This doesn’t mean that IT graduates can rest on their laurels. The jobs are there, but the competition is still fierce, and to secure the very best jobs in the sector there are a few dos and don’ts that are worth paying attention to.
As a recent graduate, you will most likely be unaware of all of the possible routes to employment, and in fact there is no set way of securing yourself a job in IT. One possibility is to sign up to a recruitment agency, a company that specialises in matching available jobs with the right candidates. There are many recruitment agencies that specialise in IT, and even those that don’t are still likely to be recruiting for IT roles within their specialist recruitment sector. If you do decide to go down the route of using a recruitment agency, make sure that you have a good idea in your head of the type of role that you want. You might find that your recruitment specialist tries to make you interview for roles that you are not entirely enamoured with, so it can be helpful to have a strong idea of your own career path in your head.
If you would prefer to be a little more proactive and don’t want to rely on the advice of an IT recruiter, there are other options for landing brilliant graduate jobs in IT. Websites such as Jobsite.co.uk have sections dedicated to IT recruitment. All that you need to do is browse through the available roles and attach your cover letter and CV online – you might find that you land the graduate job of your dreams, without even having to leave the comfort of your sofa! Although today’s online recruitment technology makes job hunting a lot less manual, when you apply for a job online, make sure you don’t make yourself detached from the process. Somebody will still be reading your cover letter, so make sure that you address everything that is listed in the job description and person specification, and that your spelling and grammar is accurate throughout.
You can also always write to companies directly about potential roles. If you are very clear about the direction you want your career to go in and the type of company you would like to work for, this can actually be a brilliant way of finding employment, as it indicates to your prospective employer that you are proactive and tenacious.
For further information on how to get yourself a graduate job in IT as well as the latest graduate job listings in your area.