career tips

It can be a daunting prospect thinking about life after University. In amongst all the other pressures of university life, particularly the hard study of third year, focusing on graduate jobs tends to drop quite far down the pecking order

But it needn't be so stressful. There's plenty of small and medium commitments you can integrate into your university life to prepare yourself for the big wide world. You may even find that you're doing plenty already!

What's important is that you know how to position your activities to put yourself in the most favourable light. Let's get under way with...

Get a part time job

It may be that you have more pressing financial concerns for starting the job search early. While you may feel like a coffee shop job or spending weekends pulling pints isn't embellishing your CV at all, it can actually be a huge boost provided you know how to spin it.

The UK job market is one of the most competitive in the world, and is particularly difficult at the moment with hundreds of candidates applying for every job. You only have to look at the list of graduate jobs UK -wide presented by experts like reed.co.uk to know that there aren't enough jobs for all the applicants. However, that's not to say that you can't get ahead of the competition if you write a clever application and present yourself well at interview.

Here are a few tips:

1. Play Up Your Language Skills
Many British students only ever learn to speak English and do not have the advantage of learning another language. Having an extra language is a great benefit - if you do speak more than one, make sure that you draw attention to it

2. Have a Reason
Why do you want to live and work in the UK? Simply because it's a good place to live and most jobs pay quite well will not be enough. Make sure that you think hard about why in particular you've decided to come to the UK. One idea might be to try to tie it to your future plans. Do you always want to stay in the UK, or one day will you want to move back home and apply the skills you've learned in your country of origin? Signs of ambition and long term thinking can only help.

Are you a graduate looking for your first post-university role? If so, you're not alone. Thousands of graduates are currently on the hunt for graduate jobs. This means it certainly makes sense to do everything you can to stand out from the crowd and make you and your skills as appealing as possible to potential employers. Read on to find out about five career tips for recent graduates.

Be flexible

Some graduates have a very fixed idea of what they want to do, while others don't really know. Either way, it helps to be flexible. Many graduates look for London jobs, which is great as there is a wide choice in the capital. However, don't forget to look elsewhere in the country. In fact, the more flexible you're willing to be on location, the better.

Being flexible in what you do can also help. For instance, if you're interested in communications, there are lots of industries where you could look for work. When competition for jobs is so competitive, you can't afford to narrow your search too much.