Graduate scheme closing dates – 2009/10

Final year students I see here often ask how they can find out the closing dates for grad schemes starting next September.  The 500 full-time graduate vacancies (at the last count) on the Careers Service website are helpfully sorted by application deadline, but not all graduate scheme listings are so user friendly.  So my colleague Jenny, who also writes for this blog, has pored painstakingly through two of the main graduate recruitment directories – the GET Directory and the Prospects Directory – to produce a Calendar of Graduate Scheme Closing Dates for 2009/10.

Is teaching your back-up?

Anastasia Miari – student blogger

Teaching, for a lot of us, is a back up. If all else fails, then teach, right? If this is your mindset, maybe you should consider taking part in the Student Associates Scheme, as I did for three weeks this summer.

Along with a great number of students, before this summer I thought that teaching would be a brilliant fall back if my acting/ journalism/TV-producing career doesn’t exactly go to plan. Lets face it, the country’s not getting any richer and jobs aren’t exactly being handed out willy nilly. So, I decided that I’d see if teaching was actually for me.

The Student Associates Scheme is organised by The University of Manchester in

An Aldi poster can inspire your career plans too, honestly…

Helen McGuire – student blogger

There is a poster I walk past almost everyday in the John Ryland’s Library, and every time I see it I’m filled with a sort of sense of impending doom about the future course of my adult life. It’s a poster advertising careers at the discount supermarket ‘Aldi’. In the corner of the poster of doom it states that a graduate can get a starting salary of £40,000 and a ‘fully expensed Audi A4’. This poster always gets me thinking about what I’d want out of a career. Would I really be happy in a 9 to 5 job, working for Aldi and driving around in my Audi A4? Or am I prepared to sacrifice financial success for a more fulfilling career?

As a second year student, I’m just starting to think about what I want to do with my life. I still have no fixed career

25th Nov Placement Fair and Career Development Day

Manchester Metropolitan University Business School are holding a Placement Fair & Career Development Day on Wednesday 25th November in partnership with Pro Manchester, a corporate membership organisation representing the 240,000 employed in the financial and professional service community in and around Greater Manchester.

The Fair is open to all students from MMU, Salford and The University of Manchester to attend. Open to students studying on any year of any course (undergraduate or postgraduate) but may be of particular interest to those interested in; Business, Marketing, Accounting, Finance, IT, Computing, Law, Media, Advertising and PR.

More details follow…

Prices increase, opportunities decrease – find a solution now!

Student blogger – Priya Thakrar

I remember when I hit the age of 16. I’d be in town every Saturday handing my CV out to every shop I could – especially the clothing retail ones in hope of some store discount! I ended up working in a petrol station. Although I’d moan about this at the time, I now realise that the experience I gained from assisting in simple commerce such as on the till or shop floor has been vital to progressing my employability skills. It’s not that I’ve become an

‘Describe a time when you had to fill in an online application form…’

Angela Wipperman – student blogger

After mammoth amounts of procrastination, I finally took the decision to begin my graduate scheme applications this month. There is something very imposing about an application form. It is a clerical mountain – the last thing you want to do is begin the long and torturous ascent but once it’s complete you feel quite good, actually.

I drew up a  modest list of 25 companies to which I will be applying. I have found that with most of these application forms, done one, done them all. Over the last couple of weeks, and the last twelve forms, I have identified a few useful rules to approaching an online application form.

The Layman’s Guide to Careers

Tom Owen - Final Year BA Econ Student

Tom Owen – student blogger

It’s 3.28am. I should be fast asleep at this time but something terrifying is gripping my senses and the worry is stopping me sleeping. In 8 months, regardless of what I wish for, I should be making my way into the world of work, an entirely real and nerve-wracking prospect. It is often said the best way to deal with fear is to confront it. So, throughout this year, I’ll be teaming up with our award winning Careers Service to allow readers to track my journey through the final year of an BA Economics degree.

Introducing our new student bloggers

Back in July, we put out a call to our student readers for budding writers to join the blog team.  We thought it would be great if students-like-you could share their own experiences of what it’s really like to be looking for a job or figuring out what it is you want to do with your life in 2009/10.

The response was impressive, so we had some tough choices to make. We were looking for writing talent, but we also wanted to get a good mix of subjects and second/final years and male/female. In the end, we’re very pleased to welcome to the blog team our 6 student bloggers…

Want to use Facebook in your job? Consider a career in digital media

If you’re interested in a career in Media, PR or Marketing, you should really consider digital and online media. While the economic recession is having an impact on these already very competitive sectors, Digital Media seems to be bearing up well and even growing, particularly in Manchester and the North West. If you want to find out more, check out our Careers in Digital Media Panel event on 12 October 12.15-1.45pm and hear from our 3 great panellists:

• The BBC
• A digital PR firm
• An online education company

Welcome freshers and returning students

Welcome to Manchester – if it’s your first time here then I guess you are pretty busy finding out what you like & dislike about the city. I can assure you it doesn’t rain ALL the time (though a waterproof and wellies can be pretty handy!)

Manchester has a reputation as a party city and there is certainly plenty to keep you entertained! To make the best of your time at university you need to work hard and play hard.  I don’t just mean study hard – you need to get involved in volunteering, clubs, societies and get work experience.  A degree on its own is simply is not enough to get a good job and it’s never to early to start.

Your Career Timeline