TARGETjobs Bloggers: October 2014

Friday, October 31, 2014

TARGETjobs Halloween special weekly round-up post

Happy Halloween everyone!

Before I start this week's round-up post, I wanted to share with you all the GTI Halloween office special, we decided to dress up for charity. Supporting both Macmillan and Style Acre by baking cakes and looking spooky!

Here are some of the images..

The GTI Marketing team


GTI Team London Office

Now, onto the career advice

Let's start our career roundup with this week's upcoming graduate job deadlines:

Graduate deadlines aplenty - don't miss out

General

If you're an international student in the UK and are hunting for a graduate job or want to gain work experience while you study, look no further. Check out our article here to find out more information.

Finance

The application deadline for Deutsche Bank’s global analyst training programme is Sunday 2 November. If you’re interested in this position, read more about it on the Deutsche Bank employer hub and peruse application form tips here 'Deutsche Bank application: don't let the word count limit you'.

Bloomberg’s graduate programmes are open for applicants at the moment, and the financial analytics behemoth is big on interviews. Find out how you can answer some of those tricky questions about why you want to work at Bloomberg, and get help on preparing for those wildcard current affairs topics.

Law

Whether you’re a law student thinking about the Bar or hoping for a training contract, it’s entirely possible that you’re just one day away from missing a vital deadline. If you want to know for certain you’ll have to read our law news update this week. Alongside BTPC scholarships and last chance vac schemes, we’ve got handy information for your commercial awareness. This week it’s the meaning of life sentences, and more news about the fallout on legal aid and judicial review.

Marketing

You may not reach out to employers on social media, but whether you’ve included a link on your CV or not, chances are they’ll go looking for you. Budding journalists or marketers will need to get their work out there on the twittersphere, make their opinions heard through the blogosphere and comment through the er….commentosphere. Confused? Well it’s probably best you get some help and read our guide to promoting your work through social media.

Retail

There are two stages to the Marks & Spencer graduate application process, online application and assessment centre. Have a read of our article 'The M&S graduate application form explained' to find out more.

Property

Thinking of applying for a real estate graduate job this year? We've put together a handy list of property graduate scheme deadlines. Check them out here.

Environmental advisers ensure that construction projects comply with environmental regulations and achieve the environmental targets set by clients. Have a read of our article 'Environmental adviser: construction job role'.

Other articles you may be interested in:

Insider story: how to get a job as a food technologist

How to answer Tesco's motivation for applying graduate application question

TARGETpostgrad

You can now start making your applications for teacher training courses beginning in 2015. Read our tips on how to write a great application - here.

That's all from me this week,

Enjoy your weekend!

Roxanne

Divya was a finalist at the 2014 Undergraduate of the Year Awards! She only applied for the practice and she now has an internship with EON!

I had just finished my winter exams and to be honest, all I could think about was relaxing with my friends and leaving my brain to rest for a couple of days. The deadline for the Undergraduate of the Year Awards was imminent and after debating with myself whether I should bother entering the competition, should I? Should I not? I took the plunge and started applying. At the end of the day, the worst thing that could happen was to be immediately rejected and even then it would be a good practice.

So I started the application, mentally exhausted from exams and not knowing what to expect. The thought of becoming Undergraduate of the Year sounded so unattainable and prestigious, I merely saw this as a practice run. The application process involved answering 3 questions about your thoughts on energy and a number of online tests. I have to say that the online test section was long but also quite entertaining, so don’t give up!

After submitting my application, I was informed I had passed the first stage of the process and would be attending an assessment centre at E.ON's Engineering Academy close to Nottingham soon after that. Both excitement and nervousness took over me, on one hand I was jumping up and down for reaching this far and to have the chance to have a “real-life” interview at one of the leading energy companies in the world, but also the thought of attending the assessment centre with all the other candidates was nerve wrecking. I kept reminding myself that this was an INCREDIBLE opportunity, a real life interview, so the more practise the better.

The assessment consisted of 3 tasks including a self-presentation, a role play and an evaluation task. I was nervous for my presentation but my interviewers made it as relaxed as possible. The day was tough but I was really lucky to spend it with the other candidates which weren't as scary as I'd imagined. There was no competitive tension whatsoever but instead there were a lot of good vibes and lots of cooling tower selfies.

After that, everything was a win-win, I'd gained experience from a 7 hour assessment centre with some of the brightest students in the country and I would be receiving feedback from my interviewers. So even if I didn't continue to the final, that alone was already a great achievement.

My surprise exploded when I got the very much awaited telephone call informing me that I had made it to the final 10 candidates and received my invitation to a lunch event at Canary Wharf with Sir Trevor McDonald! The day was incredible, the location, the atmosphere, the food. It was a moment to remember in every way. I met some of the other E.ON managers and shared a great lunch with them (as well as many pictures!) After our three course meal, the winner was announced. Unfortunately I didn’t win the competition, but what was to come made up for any disappointment.

I left that day with a big smile on my face and a huge sense of accomplishment. All of this was happening because I took a couple of hours back in January to complete the application, it would have been so easy to ignore, but I didn’t and there I was in the middle of Canary Wharf with an amazing experience behind my back.

The most important thing I'll take with me from this event is to believe in myself, you are the only one standing on the way of your dreams so just take a couple minutes and apply, because this competition can give you a lot of great surprises.

Through this competition I am now going to start an internship with E.ON, in the performance team which is exactly what I wanted to do! This competition has brought me a step closer to my professional dreams in the energy industry, something I couldn't have even imagined when I shyly applied thinking I wouldn't even pass the first stage.

So if you are reading this, if not you, then who is going to be the next Engineering Undergraduate Of The Year?

Divya Hariramani, Engineering Undergraduate of the Year Award Finalist

Mechanical Engineering, University of Nottingham

As Divya says, what have you got to lose! Applications are open now for the Engineering Undergraduate of the Year!

Tuesday, October 28, 2014

TARGETjobs Bloggers are now on Bloglovin!

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Friday, October 24, 2014

TARGETjobs weekly career's round-up

Hello everyone, welcome to this week's roundup post.

To start off this week's roundup post, here are the upcoming graduate job and internship deadlines:

Graduate job deadlines

Internship deadlines

Now, onto career advice

Finance

Barclays will be recruiting more than 250 graduates this year across four business areas:

Investment banking
Global markets
Business functions
Personal and corporate banking

If you want to increase your chances of securing one of these positions (for which applications close on 17 November), it’s essential that you fully understand your chosen business area and role. If you're interested in working within finance after graduation then have a read of our article 'Barclays wants graduates to fully understand their chosen business area and role.'

How graduates can demonstrate Barclays' five core values find out what those values are and how to meet expectations.

Law

Want an easier way to boost your commercial awareness? Spend a couple of minutes reading our law news update and get some tweetable topics to talk about next time you meet law recruiters. Find out which vac scheme application deadlines are coming up in the next week, what all the fuss is about the Criminal Justice and Courts Bill, which leading legal figure isn’t really a lawyer and see the competitions which could bag you a vac scheme or a cool £3,500.

TARGETjobs Law 2015 is hot off the presses and ready to pick up from your university careers service. As well as hints, tips and advice on making your pupillage and training contract applications, we’ve got areas of practice written by professionals to help you decide on your future career path. For those aspiring to the Bar, check out some of our new areas of practice articles below.

European & competition law: area of practice (barristers)

Admiralty and shipping law: area of best practice (barristers)

Human rights law: area of best practice (barristers)

Tax law: area of best practice (barristers)

Public law: area of best practice (barristers)

Company law: area of best practice (barristers)

Qualifying as a solicitor requires further study after your degree, but you don’t have to self-fund your LPC or conversion course – most City law firms will sponsor you. Research these sponsorship opportunities using our handy list:'Which law firms will fund your LPC and GDL course fees'.

Postgraduate study

Applications for postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) courses starting in 2015 open at the end of October. We’ve got an updated list of PGCE course providers online.

That's all from me this week!

Good luck with your applications, and have a great weekend.