It’s #TipTuesday - my (not so new) little mini series where I share little things that can make a big difference in helping you to secure as many interviews as possible and stop you from getting lost in the mix.
Tip number 4 is about how to structure your CV when you haven’t got much experience (i.e. for entry level or graduate roles).
I’m not going to lie to you, it’s tough out there. Everyone seems to be looking for a fresh grad with 10 years’ experience and you’re sifting through job ads like poor Winona here.
Here’s what I know to help you navigate through one of the most difficult stages of your career:
1) Hands down the most valuable things you can do to land your dream graduate role are sandwich years and internships / graduate programmes. If you’ve done these, highlight them right at the top of your CV above your education. If you haven’t, I would seriously look into it. Roughly a year of experience through a either a sandwich year or internship is what employers are looking for when they’re asking for experience in entry level / grad roles.
2) Keywords (see #TipTuesdays numbers 3 and 4) are still important – what tech have you used / studied? List out everything you can, including personal projects.
3) Showcase your portfolio by adding links to your CV
4) Participate in the tech community – twitter, LinkedIn, https://buff.ly/2A0lKXV, etc (Tae'lur Alexis is an incredible example of this - https://buff.ly/38QbVbl)
5) Contribute as much as you can (https://buff.ly/1QxPHQb)
6) Don’t underestimate the power of networking – I heard of one lady who wrote a list of the top companies she wanted to work for after graduating and reached out to friends and family asking if any of them knew anyone working at any of those companies. She was able to set up 20 or so coffee dates in her final year. This Forbes article also offers some good tips - https://buff.ly/2RzZoDg
Hope you found this #TipTuesday helpful. It’s a bit of a difficult topic and I don’t specialist in graduate recruitment but you guys requested so I’ve done my best.
Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments and what you’d like advice on in future #TipTuesdays!
If you’ve missed the rest of my #TipTuesday series, you can find them all here:
Week 1 - https://buff.ly/30vh5Xk
Week 2 – https://buff.ly/38PB32i
Week 3 – https://buff.ly/37DCgcw
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