Last year was a struggle. Amongst the self-pity and feeling that ‘I had definitely completed my part of this graduate bargain’, I was struggling to find a graduate job. My answer was to hide away, in an ScS warehouse, until the New Year... Fortunately, seven months on, I managed to convince the Chatter guys I was alright; but with the news that uni may not be worth it after all, I gave my bitter housemates the opportunity to vent regarding the six grievances that have made their own searches for a graduate scheme such a struggle.

Websites

Company Careers and Graduate sites are often the first port of call for guys looking to enter the world of work post-uni. Unfortunately, the ‘unique culture’ each business claims to have engrained within itself is few and far between. Lost beneath the vague corporate message seems to be the type of characters actually required, making it very difficult to understand what companies are looking for.

Graduate Fairs

The fairs seem to be regarded as a ‘must attend’ by employers keen on early undergraduate engagement, yet in our experiences, they have often been understaffed by poorly prepared employees who cannot always answer the questions you really need answering. Whilst the ‘freebie hype’ is undoubted, on most occasions, the guys didn’t get the opportunity to speak to grads in the roles they had applied for. The idea that they are a ‘must attend’ if you wish to gain graduate employment is scuppered by the fact that it is very difficult to network at such events and you garner very few worthwhile answers.

It is difficult to know where a company is based if the only communication you receive is ‘Nationwide’. Combined with the fact that there was no initial point of contact with a particular role, one of my mates was told they would be working in Manchester only for that to be altered to Milton Keynes as she advanced through the recruitment process.

Tests

With a report last year claiming that every graduate role receives 52 applications, it is important for recruiters to sift, that is the accepted norm... the grievance that my housemates have is that the online ‘competency’ tests are often pointless, not a guarantee of progression, and in any case are very easy to get a pal to do!

In our experience, recruiters claim to test everyone again at the assessment centre, but on more than one occasion, have decided to ‘select’ a small number of candidates for retesting without explanation... Why such inconsistency of approach?

Personality 

Creating a consistent tone/personality for a business is something I have had to learn quickly during my short time at Chatter. Rather inevitably, the grievances in this sense, should not necessarily come as a surprise.

‘Too corporate’, ‘no sense of community,’ and a ‘lack of personality’ were some of the reasons my mates felt disconnected from some graduate schemes... with a friendly atmosphere and passionate approach perceived to be one of the greatest draws.

Feedback

Rejection is inevitable. It is not the worst part of the recruitment process. What is? The indifference of the vast majority of companies to your applications.

You begin to lose count of the number of companies and schemes you apply for without receiving an email confirming receipt of your application. Some reply after three months, others never. Yet the lack of contact is at least consistent throughout the process.

One graduate employer openly stated their reluctance to communicate explaining to final-stage candidates, ‘We’ll call you if you’ve got the job... you might receive an email if you haven't.’  Whilst my housemates are now lucky enough to avoid being in the 40 percent of university leavers failing to get a graduate-level job, it is clear that the roles are just not there...When the roles are few and far between, I’m sure some of the graduate employers are likely to continue with this practice of sifting candidates with an inconsistent and faceless approach; leading to a lot of confusion... confusing enough for me is settling on one consistent accent.