Googling ‘how to get your first graduate job’ repeatedly? We’ve all been there. Getting your first graduate role is a rite of passage that can often feel really, really hard.
Here are a some useful tips to help those of you who are looking for your first role in the Creative, Marketing, Digital and PR sector.
How to get your first graduate job
Get in front of people online
Connect with people from the industry via Twitter and LinkedIn. Reach out and ask to chat, share your CV, get advice. People in the industry want to help and you will stand out if you push yourself out into industry before graduating. Try to get an appointment or even a Zoom call with a creative director, show them your work and be sure to follow up to ask if there are any placement possibilities. On placement make yourself indispensable, always think how you can make other people’s lives easier, and they will want you to stay! Here’s how to have a successful placement.
Take part in initiatives such as Two + Two
Two + Two is a yearly collaboration and competition hosted by Creative Resource. The event brings together marketing and creative students with a number of mentors from over 25 agencies, to tackle a brief in the name of a social cause. Participants have gone on to make great contacts and score excellent jobs and placements.
This initiative gives you the chance to understand which areas of the creative industry most appeal to you in practice, opens you up to some excellent contacts and the winning team are given the opportunity to have a placement at an agency. Previous agencies have included Havas Lynx, and 2021 winner Will Turner has shared a taste of agency life following his placement at advertising agency 21Grams.
Network
Take some time to research networking opportunities within your sector. Hop onto social media and check out groups for Graphic Design in Manchester, Marketing in Liverpool etc. and see what you can find. Do check out our Creative Resource events page where we share events we’re hosting, attending or think others should attend.
Meet other people and get in front of the people you want to speak to, without having to send that daunting email. Make sure you’re being yourself, that you’re having fun and remember everyone there is in the same boat. Whilst it is nice to have an aim as to who you would like to speak to, remember to try and branch out of your comfort zone and meet people who do different jobs and studied different degrees because this could lead to opportunities you had never before imagined.
It might be hard to do this initially, but it is important to try and go to events on your own. If you attend networking events with colleagues or friends, the tendency is to stick together, so whilst it is intimidating initially, it can be useful to go alone. This will be helpful because you’ll get to speak to new people and get those conversations
Make sure you follow up and keep those conversations going via email or social media platforms such as LinkedIn.
Talk to recruiters
Recruiters understand the job market and know exactly what employers are looking for. Join LinkedIn and connect with a few recruiters in your desired sector and ask them to keep you in mind for any graduate roles – giving them some brief details of your background and desired roles.
Attend portfolio review nights
Keep your eyes peeled for one of our Portfolio Review Nights, where over 100 students, graduates and people at the start of their careers through to midweight level, have their portfolios reviewed by creative professionals from some of the best northern agencies. Essentially it’s like speed dating for your career. You spend 5 minutes with someone from an agency talking through your portfolio and what best to do with it and then when your 5 minutes are up an air horn blows and you move onto the next reviewer. Over the course of 90 minutes you should be able to have your portfolio reviewed by several experts. We’ve seen some long lasting connections made, plus job and placement offers. Always one of our favourite nights.
We wish you the best of luck finding your first graduate role. If you’d like some help do take a moment or two to check out our latest vacancies or each out via our contact page.