Some people know exactly what field they are going into after they graduate. For others, it can be difficult to narrow down the choices available. Even if you know what area you want to work in, taking the time while you are at university to research your options will benefit you once you enter the world of work. Below are some steps you can take to make the transition into working life easier.
Create a LinkedIn profile
If you haven’t already got one, set up a LinkedIn profile to provide detail about your skills and technical / professional development that a one page CV doesn’t allow. LinkedIn has groups that you can join, which offer you the opportunity to ask questions for careers information and help. Note that there are some limits on how many groups you can join, and many will have entry criteria.
Register with your careers service
Book a 1-to-1 session for help in thinking through your options and in researching careers. Sign up to get bulletins on company/employer presentations, careers events happening at your university, and any workshops they may be running on writing CVs, interview skills etc
Visit your university’s autumn recruitment fair
You may not want to apply just yet, but window shop to see who is there, and who is interested in mathematicians. Do they offer internships? Are the people capable, enthusiastic, interested in you, welcoming ….?
Consider signing up with recruitment sites
Recruitment sites let you register your preferences and will send you news on new job postings. They have lots of resources to support you in making applications. Sites worth exploring include: Prospects, Target Jobs, Guardian Jobs, Gradcracker, jobs.ac.uk
Research organisations of interest
You need to read more than just the job advert. Check out the rest of the companies website. See if they produce an annual report, as this will talk about the organisations’ achievements and plans for the future. Check out cuttings services for press items from the last 6 months-couple of years. Research like this will help you to understand the organisation you are considering.
Practice psychometric tests
If you are considering the kind of organisation that uses psychometric tests, then practice is essential. These tests measure how much you can do in the alloted time, so knowing how the tests work will increase your speed. For numerical reasoning tests in particular, don’t overthink the questions – they are aimed at non-mathematicians. Skip questions you can’t answer quickly.
Follow instructions
When making applications, do as they ask. If there is an online form then don’t just send a CV. If they want a covering letter, it needs to be more than just ‘please find my CV attached’. For long text questions your answers need to be no less than 85% of the word count. If they have asked for a lot of words/characters it is because they want to know what you think on the subject. The answers you provide will be used to select who is invited for interview.
Stay positive
You don’t get feedback on a rejection from an application. If your careers service adviser didn’t check your application before you sent it, they might still be able to give a view on where it let you down. Graduate jobs get lots of applications, and an invitation to interview means that a company is definitely interested in you. You should always seek feedback from an interview, so make sure you ask for it; from the ones where you succeeded as well as the others. It helps to know where you did well, as well as where you need to improve.
Image Credits:
Featured image – Daniel Vegel via Central European University @Flickr
Main entrance of Career Exhibition 2008 by jobsdbmlaysia@flickr
