The Graduate Job Search

It is something familiar to the vast majority of students and graduates. You are approaching the end of your degree course and you suddenly hear the words ‘job applications'. It can often be a daunting prospect starting your graduate job hunt, particularly if you are unsure of exactly what kind of role you would like to work in. But where do graduates actually look for jobs? When it comes to the process of job hunting for a graduate role, what does it actually involve?

A recent graduate jobs survey for Total Jobs suggests that the majority of graduates looking for jobs in London. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise, seeing as London is the location of many large corporations, as well as public institutions, both of which are popular options for graduates. The South East is the second most popular location for graduate job hunting, suggesting that the country is ‘bottom heavy' when it comes to roles desired by graduates.

Interestingly, 74% of graduates are willing to relocate for their new job, which suggests that they are willing to go where the work is even if it isn't in their first choice location (after the South East, ‘anywhere' is the most popular choice of location). 38% of graduates would be willing to move internationally for the right job, while 31% would be happy to move anywhere in the UK. Just less than a quarter (23%) wants to stay within 50 miles of where they currently live.

Patience is Key

When it comes to the amount of time spent searching for a job, the most common answer (19.52%) was that they had been looking for a job for longer than 12 months. This sounds a little worrying, but the next most common answer (18.07%) was from graduates who had found work within 1-2 months of starting their search. 15.66% of graduates found it took them 6-12 months to find employment. These are interesting statistics and they suggest that job searches are intensely personal; how long it takes to find a job depends on the individual and the circumstances affecting them at any given time.

Graduates also found that they had to apply for many jobs before they were successful in obtaining one; 64.9% said they had applied for 11 or more jobs. Many also found it difficult to get interviews. One thing that's clear from all of these statistics, though, is that graduates are certainly determined to find work and even when they take knock-backs, they keep on trying. Hopefully prospective employers will see this as a good thing when they find themselves interviewing graduates for a job.

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