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On Wednesday 10th February we are running a Careers Fair primarily for students from the School of Built Environment. 14 employers are coming and all details are available on our main Careers and Employability website. The event is open to students of other Universities too.

This is a useful opportunity to meet employers face to face in this sector which has been hard hit by the recession. There is good and bad news in construction recruitment. The bad news is that we have less employers coming to this niche event than we did last year. However, the good news is that employers do still have opportunities and some are saying that they are getting so much interest via their websites they just don’t need to promote themsleves via careers fairs this year.  There is a sense from some employers that they know that they don’t have to reach out to attract candidates as they may have done in previous years.

As a careers consultant, there are many bits of the same advice that I have given 100s even 1000s of times to different people.  I sometimes begin to doubt myself and wonder - “surely you know this?” It must be like this for people in many jobs; where they have said something so many times but generally it is the first time a client has heard the advice. It does feel strange sometimes; feeling that knowledge about something is so routine to me, but not to others.

One of the areas that I give advice on is filling in application forms. There is one type of application form which is common in many organisations, including Universities; in which you fill in all your details and then you are asked a question which asks you to provide a “supporting statement” and usually reads something like: “please tell us about how you meet the requirements for the job”. To me this is straightforward; you have to systematically turn to the “person specification” that should have come with the job and point by point; illustrate concisely what evidence you have for each point.

Recently my experience of actually recruiting for both professional jobs and internships within our department has told me that many people just don’t know how to approach filling in this kind of application form in which they have to provide a “supporting statement”. I have looked at many application forms recently where in some cases a “supporting statement” is not provided at all and in others a “supporting statement” is provided but it only bears a tenuous relation to the “person specification” of the job applied for.

As a shortlister, unless a candidate has something exceptional to offer, I won’t shortlist them if they basically haven’t done what was asked of them in the application and the challenging bit for people seems to be showing how they meet the “person specification” within a “supporting statement”. My approach will be common to many recruiters and fair HR practices mean that if an individual doesn’t show that they have the requirements for the job, they can’t be shortlisted for interview.

I think many people think that they have implicitly shown how they meet the requirements for a job. I was shocked that some of the candidates who provided weak “supporting statements” were actually recruitment consultants who I think should know better! Some stuff is common sense - of course you don’t have to re-state you have a degree if you have included this in your education details.

Oh, and a final point; how long should a “supporting statement” be? In my opinion it should be 2 pages of A4, font 11, single-line spacing. I have asked other colleagues about this and also HR staff and they agree with me. However, if a candidate makes a longer statement and they still look good, I can be forgiving but I might wonder at their ability to be concise. Other colleagues I have spoken to who recruit say they don’t mind about length as long as all points are covered.

For more information about application forms; go to our Successful Applications handout.

‘The Graduate Market in 2010′ was published last week by High Fliers Research. It indicates considerable pessimisim amongst graduates, despite fact that employers do have some better news for 2010.

The key findings presented in the report are:

- The UK¹s leading graduate employers have increased their recruitment targets for 2010 by 11.8%, compared with the number of graduates actually recruited in 2009, following two consecutive years of declining job opportunities for university-leavers. Vacancies dropped by 17.8% in 2009 and 6.7% in 2008.

- The City¹s top investment banks are intending to hire a third more graduates than in 2009, after halving their recruitment over the last two years. There will also be substantial increases to the graduate intake at accountancy & professional services firms (up 13.9% compared to 2009), high street banks (up 30.2%) and retailers (up 21.3%).

- Employers in ten of fourteen key industries and employment areas expect to recruit more graduates in 2010. Just three areas are predicting fewer graduate vacancies this year: consumer goods companies, engineering & industrial employers and the public sector.

- Although the total number of graduate vacancies is set to increase in 2010, over a quarter of this year¹s entry-level positions have already been filled ­ either by 2009 graduates who received deferred job offers or by students who¹ve done previous work experience with employers ­ and therefore are not available to finalists from the Class of 2010¹.

- Starting salaries at the UK¹s leading employers are unchanged from 2009 levels, the first time that pay for graduates has been frozen. Salaries rose by 5.9% in 2009 and by 4.1% in 2008. The average package for 2010 remains £27,000.

- Student job hunters remain very pessimistic about their career prospects and few believe that there will be more opportunities for graduates than in 2009.

- A quarter of students admit they’ve been forced to apply to employers they have little or no interest in and half think they’ll have to take any job that they’re offered.

- Half of student job hunters have little confidence that they will find a graduate position at the end of their studies and a third are now planning to remain at university for a postgraduate course instead.

- More that a third of finalists concede that they should have begun looking for work earlier and a quarter have already made many more job applications than they were expecting to.

- Nearly half of students say they that the recession has put them off applying for jobs in investment banking, a third have been deterred from working in property, a fifth of finalists do not want to join the retail sector and a quarter thought accountancy was now less appealing.

The research was featured in bulletins on BBC radio and in news reports in several national newspapers:

BBC News - http://tiny.cc/tfzj1
The Independent - http://tiny.cc/tYhTC
Financial Times - http://tiny.cc/Eos5Z
The Times - http://tiny.cc/Idnve

On a personal note, I do think it’s a really tough job market out there, but I have been struck when looking at some recent applications for graduate internship positions here in my department, that many people don’t seem to follow the instructions when applying which does not inspire my confidence as a potential employer. Follow the instructions when applying and your chances are so much improved when trying to get a job! Don’t make it easy for an employer to reject you.

I have just been sent a link to an interesting article from a website in the USA:  100 Best Job Sites for B-School Students .

Well, I have learnt they call Business School, B- School in USA! But seriously - a useful list for anyone interested in going into Business, especially if you are looking at North America.

This guest post is contributed by Shannon Wills. She is based in the US and her specialist area of interest is Online Engineering Degrees . She welcomes your comments/questions at her email id: shannonwills23@gmail.com.

“It’s the highest degree you can earn in any discipline, and one that takes at least three years of your time and a considerable amount of effort on your part. But once you have a PhD under your belt, your opportunities increase and you have the potential to secure higher paying and more prestigious jobs. If you’re planning to earn your PhD in the USA, here’s what you need to do:

• Ensure that you’re qualified for the research programme: Each PhD programme comes with its own set of requirements, and if you’re from another country, you need to make sure that your educational and other qualifications will be accepted at the university of your choice. You need to check if you’re qualified to do a PhD in your chosen subject or if you need to take a few prerequisite courses to gain admission into the PhD course.
• Apply to more than one university: Don’t limit yourself to just one institution when applying for a PhD. Select four or five schools that meet your specifications and send out your applications well before the due date.
• Arrange for a loan: Education is expensive in the USA, so if you don’t have the funds to cover your tuition fees and other costs, check if you’re eligible for a student loan that you can pay back once you graduate. Individual schools should be able to advise what funding may be available for their programmes (if any). If you are working already, see if your employer is willing to sponsor your education. Some students qualify to work as assistants or in other teaching capacities at the school where they enrol, and this allows them to save on a part of or their entire tuition costs.
• Apply yourself: If you want to minimize your expenses and tuition costs, you need to get your PhD degree as quickly as possible. So apply yourself and work hard at your coursework and dissertation in order to finish in three or four years and move on to the next phase of your career as soon as possible. Most PhD students continue to work at their courses throughout the summer without taking breaks like undergraduates.
• Check out online options: If you don’t have the luxury of going back to school full-time, you could check out online PhD options. They don’t cost as much and most of them are as good as the ones offered at traditional institutions. Just ensure that the school you choose is recognised and the degree accredited. It may take longer to earn your PhD this way, but you don’t have to give up your regular job in order to study. Online study is something that I have a specialist interest in.

Before you decide to do your PhD, you need to realize that it could take a long time, as much as six to seven years if you’re not fully involved and are side-tracked by other activities and interests like a job and family. Also, it requires a great deal of dedication and hard work, so unless you’re absolutely sure you have what it takes to go down this road, it’s best you don’t attempt it.

When getting started with your search make sure to use the Fulbright Commission which is the major agency advising on study in the US. Locally, the University of Manchester Careers Service acts as one of the Fulbright’s regional resource centres so you can use that too. There are also pages on Salford University’s website about Study Abroad.”

In this post, there are 2 films from the PhD Futures Careers event in June 2009. Each film lasts for about 25 minutes and includes; each speaker introducing their career path briefly; followed by questions and answers involving the whole panel.

The career stories in the film are varied, but all seem to demonstrate that individuals did not actually plan to be where they are today, but were able to effectively seize unexpected and interesting opportunities that came their way.

The speakers in the first film are:

Sophia Kousidou - Principal Software Engineer, i-Prophets

Emma Gillaspy - Project manager, Vitae NWhub

Gavin Matthew - Quality Assurance Executive, AstraZeneca

Click here to watch the film

The speakers in the second film are:

Anthony Rourke - Government Operational Researcher, UK Civil Service

Victoria Sheppard, Research Skills Co-ordinator, University of Salford

The sound failed for the other member of the panel Ela Beaumont who you will see in the film. You will also see Ibrahim Khanji, who chaired this panel session.

Click here to watch the film

This month Careers and Employability are launching the graduate gateway programme for unemployed or under-employed graduates. We will be targeting our own Salford graduates, but graduates based in Manchester/Salford from other Universities can also apply.  This programme is for all graduates including those with a postgraduate qualification.

The graduate gateway is a free programme of professional training and work experience run by Careers and Employability at the University of Salford. It is a response to the really challenging labour market for graduates at the moment and is being supported by external funding, primarily from the European Social Fund.

For the initial programme, you need to register your interest by 8^th January. You will need to fill in an application form. The first start dates of the programme are in February.

Over Xmas I have also had information through from Blue Orchid, the Business development Agency in Manchester who are running free courses for people who have been made redundant or who are already unemployed looking to get back into work. You can contact them on 0161 341 0245.

If you are reading this from outside of Manchester/Salford and you would be interested in a programme such as the Graduate Gateway - contact the University Careers Service where you live to find out if they are offering anything similar as the funding we have secured to fund this programme has been available nationally.

For those of you who know Salford campus - the scenic snowy approach to the University library!

I don’t think I have ever known snow hang around for so long in our central city location. The VC sent all staff home at 1pm yesterday to reduce the risk of hazardous journeys. We were like children being told the last 2 lessons had been cancelled on a Friday afternoon. I have never seen some of my colleagues move so fast…the thrill of being able to break the office rules and  leave early.

Make sure you take a break this Xmas!

If you are staying round over Xmas, this link will tell you what activities are on that you can get involved in.

This is the second in a series of 4 films from the PhD Futures careers day we ran here at Salford in June 2009.  Subsequent films will include PhD graduates working outside of academic careers.

The film is about 30 minutes long and the speakers are:

Barry Richards - Research fellow from the School of Health, Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences at Salford University, currently working on a research project sponsored by the global footwear company Scholl.

Rob Aspin - Senior lecturer in Computing at the University of Salford

Janice Whatley  - Lecturer in IT at the University of Salford

None of these speakers have had traditional paths into an academic career and for all of them it was something they came to after trying many other possibilities.

There is a 4th person in the film, Ruth Grady, a Life Sciences academic from the University of Manchester. Unfortunately the sound did not work for her. The frustrations of technology. Will get it perfect next time.

Click here to watch the film.

Finally, I have got the films of the panel sessions that were part of our Careers day for PhD students in June 2009. The first film I am posting includes a panel of academics talking about their own career path to date. Each speaker talks for about 5 minutes and then these short introductions are followed by questions to all members of the panel. The whole film lasts approximately 30 minutes.

The speakers in this film are:

Abigail Gregory, Senior Lecturer in Modern  Languages at the University of Salford

Ed Granter, Social Sciences research fellow at Manchester Business School, University of Manchester

Orla Flannery, Lecturer in Exercise and Health Psychology at the University of Salford

Click here to watch the film