Hello and welcome to this
session. My name's Helen and I'm
 one of the Careers Consultants here at Newcastle University 
Careers Service. This session is all about how to get started 
with your job search.
In this session, we're going to
cover where to focus your job
 search, tips to help you find job opportunities using a variety of 
methods, and we'll talk a little bit about how to remain
resilient in the job search.
So firstly, where to focus your
job search? Sometimes students
ask us if we think it's better
for them to adopt what we might
 call a scattergun approach and apply for lots and lots of 
different jobs in a range of
occupational areas, or whether
it's advisable to try to narrow
that search down a little bit
more. When looking for jobs,
it's important to spend time
researching the different
opportunities open to you in
your chosen sector or field and
keep an open mind. It's much
more effective to spend time
making fewer applications which
are of a higher quality and
dedicate more time to these
 applications rather than spend time making half-hearted 
applications for lots of roles,
some of which don't particularly
interest you. Knowing where to
start finding job opportunities
 can seem daunting, but getting yourself organised can really 
help with this.
Dedicate time to researching
what's out there. You might find
it helpful to set yourself
weekly targets to help you break
 your to-do list into manageable chunks. You could choose to keep 
a log on your phone or create an
Excel file where you note down
roles and companies which
interest you as well as their
application deadlines. Once
you've started applying for
 things, you can add to this file to keep track of what you've
applied to and who you're
waiting to hear back from.
We're going to start by looking
at some popular websites where
 jobs are advertised. A great one to highlight is the Careers
Service's very own MyCareer. This is where we post all the jobs
 which we receive from recruiters for Newcastle 
 students only current students and registered graduates can 
access this and it includes part
time jobs, internships,
placements and graduate roles.
You can search by job type,
occupational area, location and
more. It's updated regularly so
keep checking back.
If you don't see something
suitable for you straight away,
you can also create an alert to
receive email notifications when
job opportunities come up which
meet your interests. Whatever
 you're interested in, as a Newcastle University student, 
 this should be one of your key job search resources.
There are other sites which
advertise opportunities
 specifically for students and graduates. You might be familiar 
with some of them already, for instance, Prospects, TargetJobs,
Rate My Placement and
Bright Network. Many of the largest student and graduate
recruiters advertise their
opportunities on these websites.
The number of adverts may depend
on the time of year. For
instance, graduate schemes and
placements typically appear in
the autumn. These sites are
usually very user friendly and
appropriate for your level of
qualifications and experience.
There is often a focus on roles
in finance, HR, consultancy,
 marketing, IT, as well as engineering, logistics and law 
 and some sectors, such as science charities, the media and the 
arts aren't as well represented.
 Another group of websites you may want to look at are those 
designed for the general job
market. Here you'll find jobs
for each and every level of
qualification and experience.
 Popular sites include Indeed, totaljobs and the government's 
job website. There are a high
number of opportunities across a
wide range of sectors and
locations advertised on here.
However job searching on these
sites can sometimes feel a bit
 overwhelming if you're not sure what you're looking for. 
 Because they are such high profile sites, jobs advertised 
on these websites tend to
attract a lot of applications,
making them especially
competitive.
Now some advice on where to find
opportunities in a specific
sector or organisation. Firstly, if there are employers which
interest you, have a look
directly on their website to
check if they are currently
recruiting. You can find out
more about finding opportunities
 in most specific sectors by looking at our Careers Service Explore 
 Occupations pages. This section of the website contains 
lots of useful information about
finding a job in a specific
 area, for example, psychology, marketing or science careers 
outside the lab.
In each comprehensive section,
we provide information on
gaining experience and finding
jobs specifically within that
sector, so this is likely to be
an important part of your
strategy, especially in some
 sectors. Your academic school can also be a useful 
resource. Some schools
receive a lot of job
 vacancies from recruiters and email these out to 
relevant students. Some
schools also have LinkedIn
groups and blogs where job
opportunities are
signposted. So check with
your academic school to see
what they offer.
Using a recruitment agency can
be another useful way to help
you find job opportunities,
particularly for graduate roles.
Recruitment agencies manage the
recruitment process for
 organisations who have chosen to outsource their vacancies. 
Recruitment agencies cover a
wide range of industries and
advertise for both temporary and
permanent positions. Some
agencies are more generic, some
focus on graduate recruitment
while others are more specialist, for instance in
 sectors such as science or engineering. You can sign up 
with as many recruitment
agencies as you like, and it
should always be free to sign up
for one in the UK.
Just remember that
recruitment agencies work
in the best interests of
their client, i.e the
employer, so we recommend
you don't only use them
during your search.
 It's said that 94% of employers are using social media to 
 promote their vacancies. Following companies or 
organisations which interest you
on social media channels can be
a great way to keep up to date
with an employer's latest
vacancies as well as build your
commercial awareness by gaining
insight into what that employer
is getting up to.
This can prove useful when
writing applications or
preparing for interview.
 The advantage of this is that once you follow employers on 
 social media, their updates will automatically appear in 
your feeds, so you don't need
to actively keep searching for
updates from them.
 Social media can also be a useful way to build contacts. 
If you're looking for roles in
HR, for instance, you could use
 tools such as LinkedIn or the university's alumni mentoring 
 platform NCL Spark to identify people working in this area,
connect with them and request a 
 chat. It's also worth thinking about the contacts you already 
have. Who do you know and who
might they know? It's often said
 that only a small proportion of jobs are actually 
 advertised, so don't be afraid to ask the contacts you have if 
they can share insights or
signpost you to any upcoming
opportunities which might not be
advertised in the public domain.
 Applying for roles speculatively, by getting in touch with an 
organisation which interests you and enquiring about possible job
 opportunities, is another way to search for opportunities which 
aren't advertised. This can be
especially useful when
approaching smaller employers
who don't have formal placement,
internship or graduate training
schemes, or if you're looking to
 find a role in a highly specialised field or location. 
For most of us, job hunting
takes time. Finding a job may
not happen quickly, it's usually
something you have to persevere
with. Think of it as a project
you might do at University. Be
curious about different
organisations and job roles.
There could be some great things
 to discover. Accept it may take time to find the right job. This 
 is completely normal and especially true if it's a
 career rather than stop-gap job. 
 Think marathon rather than sprint. 
Job hunting in a difficult job
market can be especially
challenging. Economic
uncertainty typically means
fewer jobs, of course.
Sometimes things are simply
beyond your control, so try and
focus your energy on the things
within your control where you
can make a difference.
For example, if the type of job
you want isn't readily
available, might another role you previously hadn't considered
help you develop relevant skills
and knowledge and serve as a
stepping stone in the right
direction for when things pick
up, as they always do.
We all hate rejection. It never
feels nice, but unless you're
incredibly lucky, you will
receive several both now and
throughout your career.
Try your best not to take them
personally. On this occasion,
someone else was a better fit
and you might have dodged an
 unhappy experience!
Thanks for listening to this
session. We hope this has
given you some ideas about
where to search for job
 opportunities, the different strategies you can use and 
how to remain positive during
the job search. You can
 access further support with this through our Finding Jobs 
 pages on the Careers Service website, and we can also 
offer you support with
finding jobs and making
applications via MyCareer.
