Graduate recruitment agencies: Using recruiters to find your first role

When you are searching for your first role after university, it is sometimes difficult to know what employers are looking for in an application. Developing your CV for each role and highlighting the skills that showcase your suitability for the job is a skill in itself. Therefore, it is important to spend time on each application you write and get to grips with why you are applying for a particular position.

At Michael Page, we know exactly what our clients are looking for in a suitable candidate. This means that we can give you a unique insight into how you can best structure your CV and application so that you stand out from the crowd.

The graduate job market

The recruitment market today is candidate-led, and we are facing a skills shortage in most sectors. The graduate recruitment market is no exception, with hard to fill graduate roles spreading from both the property and construction sector to the engineering and manufacturing industry, and more.

Graduate roles can be difficult to fill because businesses are often seeking a specific skill set. In a market where there is a skills shortage, employers are needing to look at transferable skills and consider an applicant’s potential in a role, rather than looking purely at existing technical skills and experiences. That is why it is important to highlight your skills according to each role that you are applying for. Outline your transferable skills in addition to your hard skills, as this will highlight the type of person you are and give the hiring manager an insight into your personality.

Key times to start your job search

When you are beginning your search, you should consider that it can take up to one to two months, and sometimes longer, to secure a role. Therefore, after your exams are finished you should aim to begin your search and start writing up your applications.

The benefits of exploring the market

Regardless of your degree title and area of study, it is worth considering your options when it comes to the industry you are entering into. Of course, some degrees are less flexible than others, but if you study a broad subject with no clear career path, speaking to a recruiter may highlight some options that you didn’t think were available to you before. Having your degree not only shows your subject knowledge in a specific area, but it also shows that you are capable of learning in a certain way and at a certain level. Some roles don’t specify what type of degree you need, they only state that you need one. This is why you should be exploring the market and looking at what skills you have and what job roles you could apply them to.

You may have already decided what kind of job you want, and going for that is important, but keep your options open to ensure that you are broadening your horizons as much as possible. At Michael Page, we have produced a range of salary and skills guides for each of our core sectors, by browsing our industry-specific content, you can view these salary guides and gauge what types of starting salaries you can expect to procure from the top job roles that we recruit for.

Not only can we offer insights into salary trends for your chosen sector, but we can also offer the expertise of specialist recruitment consultants that work solely within their market and recruit for roles for a wide variety of clients. Getting in touch with one of our recruiters will help you to build a lasting professional relationship that is directly linked to potential opportunities for the future. We can help you to take the steps you need to boost your career in the long term.

If you are interested in reading more of our informative advice content, click here. Alternatively, if you are interested in beginning your job search today, follow the link to our jobs page.