You may think that art students are all on a different wave length to the rest of us…or at the very least under the influence of a substance or two… and now it seems that this attitude is being taken onto their job hunt as they remain completely unfazed by recession.  Some would call it burying their hands in the sand, some would call it stupidity or some would call it faith in one’s own ability, but whatever you call it, it seems that art students attitude towards graduating and finding a job has remained almost completely unchanged according to Andrew Dickson, whilst writing on the Guardian Culture Blog.  Good old Andrew attribute’s their relaxed attitude to the fact that many art graduates have always expected high possibilities of unemployment, for example two thirds of Equity’s (the actors union) members are normally unemployed at any one time.  Perhaps this is the way forward?  Don’t worry about finding a job and live for the moment?  Or, if like me you’re far too anally retentive to let such thoughts enter your mind you should check out these videos.

Tags: art, receesion, students

What do you do when you’ve got a quiet afternoon?   Well, sometimes I pop down to the club for sherry and peanut butter snaps, or I’ll take a power nap or occasionally I’ll indulge in some classic erotic literature, but not the folks over at GTI Recruiting Solutions.  Nope, they decided to take it upon themselves to find out what graduates think of online job applications.  They surveyed 1300 students to find out exactly what you guys think. The majority of comments from students were positive.  It’s generally accepted that online applications are the standard way to apply for jobs with students and graduates claiming that it is faster, easier, fairer and more convenient to apply online than via traditional paper applications.  57% of those survived appreciated the fact that you could save applications and go back to them at a later date, but the objections related to the additional length and complexity of some online applications. The recruiter with the best application process was Deloitte, but honourable mentions also go out to:  Allen & Overy, Barclays, Boots, Civil Service, Ernst & Young, IBM, KPMG, Lloyds TSB, Marks & Spencer, NHS, Procter & Gamble, PriceWaterhousCooper, RBS and Sainsburys.  These applications were rated so highly as the applications were seen as easy to find, complete and navigate through. Another plus arising from online applications was the speed with which applications were dealt with and that fact that more often than not applicants got a response even if it was a polite rejection with only 12% of students experiencing absolutely no contact at all with regards to their applications from recruiters.  For more information on the survey hit the GTI site or some more application advice check out these videos.

Tags: Interviews, Job applications, online applications

A third of graduates are disenchanted with their jobs.  A third!  The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) and Graduate Prospects have spoken to 24,500 graduates to find out that 1 in 3 graduates have quickly fallen out of love with their jobs and a further third think that management ‘stifles innovation’, thankfully my management techniques involve being in the office as little as possible so I’ve never been accused of such stifling. Mike Hill the chief executive of Graduate Prospects puts this figure down to the fact that employers are promising graduates too much when they recruiting: “Don’t promise graduates the world and not deliver. Be honest. Don’t just take an HR representative along who gives a glowing overview of what the job about. Take graduates who can give real picture”.  Mike makes good points that you should think about when you go along to any interview, make sure that you’re as happy with the offerings from that company as they are as happy with you.  Most graduates are reasonably happy with the conditions of their first jobs with 68% happy with their training, 58% think that they are well managed, 69% feel secure in their job and 79% are confident about their employers future despite the recession.

Tags: Interviews, job satisfaction, Jobs

I have a secret to share with you: DON’T LIE ON YOUR CV.  I know it seems like common sense but my bestest best friend, Chris Cater, deputy founder of the Graduate Recruitment Bureau say so and his as much as recruitment expert as I am vaguely senile. Chris was commenting on the latest Department of Work and Pensions survey which revealed over a quarter of people have lied on their CV. Now as a graduate you’re employment history and experiences maybe a little patchy, but that’s ok.  You’re expected to have years of experience steering the ship, you’ve been drinking far too much at university for such activities.  Employers have a finely honed nose for bullshit these days so you’re best off keeping it straight and telling the truth.  Any graduate recruiter will be more interested in what you’ve been doing at university to care if you once double the daily sales record at Greggs.  Still worried about CV writing, well check these videos out, they should help you a long.

Tags: cv, CV writing, Interviews, Jobs, Recruitment

There’s good news on the horizon for my Twittering friends.  If, at this very moment you’re facing your book and my-ing your space you’re more likely to find a job.  Yes, yes it’s true and my good friend Harvey Nash from Work and Pensions has some research showing that a quarter of employers now use social networking sites in the process of recruitment.  Now on one hand this is fantastic news if like me you’re the model facespacer and your profile is recruiter friendly, but if like Johnson you’re facespace is dedicated to documenting your deviancy, you may want to reconsider its content.  Especially as 44% of recruiters believe that social networks will play a larger and larger part in the recruitment process. It’s not all bad news if your MyBook is beyond saving and has become a festering den of sin.  My other good friend Shafiq Lokhanwala, chief executive officer of Nuview Systems has started to warn of the potential legal pitfalls of using social network profiles by employers to influence their recruitment process.  As Shafiq cautions the recruitment industry, a ClickaJob spokesman said “Like it or not, it’s a fact of life that you’re entirely responsible for what you say and do”.  The whole sphere of social networking and recruitment is obviously still very much in its infancy and we’re working the bugs out, but for all those graduates out there it might be worth checking your profile is not open to everyone.

Tags: Facebook, MySpace, Recruitment, Social Networking, twitter