The biggest hurdle many graduates face is the requirement by employers that they have two or three years worth of relevant experience for even quite junior jobs.

These are some suggestions to help get you your dream job:

Find out where former students from your course have gone
If an organisation has recruited from your institution in the past, they may be open to an approach from you. Your university department should be able to help and the university careers service will have collected this information.

Positioning
Consider taking a lower level job in the right kind of organisation. You will then be in the right place for when the right vacancy occurs and you will be known and have proven yourself. Many new graduates do not go directly into what are seen as ‘graduate’ level jobs, but after two or three years have found themselves working at the right level for them.

Graduates often just try big-name companies when they leave university, attracted by their high-profile training schemes and strong presence at milk rounds. But the promotion prospects and job satisfaction at a small to medium-sized enterprise can be greater than in a big company and many companies in cutting-edge sectors like IT and biotechnology are too new and fast-moving to have turned into corporate giants.

Skills
All jobs require a range of skills that are not subject specific. Employers of graduates particularly seek the following skills or competencies:

• Good team player
• Time management skills
• Good communications skills
• Good IT skills
• Proactive use of initiative

Such attributes can be developed in many ways – if you have worked in a big sales environment, then you will have learned to deal with pressure and awkward customers. You may have chaired meetings, written memos and reports or designed publicity material - these are all forms of communication. If you have worked on a production line or in a warehouse, you will know about shift work and the need for everyone in the team to keep up to speed. If you have held down a routine job for a long period, you will also appear responsible and committed. If you have captained a sports team, you will know something about leadership, organisation and motivation.

Work Experience
School is not the only place where learning takes place. Education is often just the starting point and it is additional expertise that gets you a job.

It is impossible to overstate the value of work experience, whether paid or unpaid, in helping to develop expertise. In the environmental sector, it is not just the skills that you gain from work placements that counts in your favour but the commitment and motivation such placements demonstrate.

If you have not studied an environmental discipline at any stage (or even if you have), think about any voluntary or paid work experience you have. If you have helped conduct a survey, taken part in a traffic count, taken photographs for a publication, helped write a report - you may find that these skills give you an edge over other applicants.

Student Placements
One proven route to becoming a desirable and experienced candidate for employment is to undertake a sandwich degree, which includes a year spent in industry. The length of a placement varies but it is most common for it to last for one year, normally in the third or fourth year of a degree.

You will learn to link the theoretical knowledge gained during your studies to its practical applications, as well as developing the technical skills which are likely to be listed on a job description. It may also give you experience of subjects you have only studied briefly on your course.

As you start to identify with your new role as a professional, you will become more motivated and this will have a direct influence on your studies, with the likelihood of improving your final degree classification. Your awareness of your own strengths and weaknesses, together with your expanding knowledge of the workplace, will also help you formulate your career plan and begin a network of contacts for future employment.

When choosing a university, ask at Open Days about the support for placements offered by your chosen department. During your second year, you will make applications and secure your placement. This process will be a fairly similar to finding a permanent job, and it pays to thinking advance about the type of organisation you want to work in and what skills you will need. You will need an up to date CV and will have to look for jobs through your university contacts, newspapers and on employer websites. Some employers have a recruiting schedule which you should find out in order to meet their deadlines.

As a full time employee, you will have responsibility to do your work properly and responsibly. In most instances, there are no extensions allowed and incomplete tasks can quickly be reassigned. The realisation that you are both very important and yet seemingly insignificant can be quite daunting. A determined but flexible attitude will help you settle in.

Once you have started your placement, take every opportunity that is available. Ask permission to attend as many training sessions as possible, volunteer to attend conferences and see if you can help colleagues who write for publications. Don’t be afraid to assert yourself if you see opportunities for further development.

Graduate Schemes
There are some good graduate scheme that can help fast track your career.

One such scheme is Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, which enable recently qualified graduates (known as KTP Associates) to work in companies managing challenging projects central to the development needs of participating companies. You will benefit from business based training and personal and professional development, whilst managing a project within a company.

www.ktponline.org.uk/graduates