Grad Students: How do we stand out from the next?

2009: Harry Potter Night

As a spinster old 4^th year student, I am forced to reflect back on my years at university and be slightly bitter about all the things I used to, and used not, to do. First year was spent in the students union and at any club promo night that offered me “free entry” and “shots for a pound”. I hate to admit it, I'd probably be dressed in neon and bouncing on the bouncy castle in clubs that was a bit of a hit back then. When I wasn't practising my downing sambuca technique, I'd be working 4 days a week to fund this lifestyle. As for uni, more than one lecture a day seemed like a hardship and was rather rare. So that was my life: a little bit of work, and a lot of partying.

2009: Geek Night

It was only when I started to think about what businesses I'd like to apply to once uni was over that I started to consider my CV. Competition will be fierce: we're all going to graduate with the same degree and the same qualifications. What will tell me apart from the graduate student next to me with the same 2:1? We need to show that we have excelled ourselves in other areas non-academically. We need to have something to show off about.

It all comes down to what your CV says about you. Think of yourself as a brand. What do your hobbies, interests and activities say about you? Whilst you have the time, get involved in societies and sports teams that you are actually interested in. Take the opportunity to become actively involved in something, not just jot your name down on the sign up sheet for the sake of it. Help to run events and take on the promotion of the societies activities. Consider your part time job as well: try and get something that will be relevant to your future. For example, hoping to get into tourism? Then get a part time job as a waiter in a hotel. Trying to get into marketing? Take a job that's customer orientated, or works with targets. Everything is a starting point. Its these little things that will give you something to talk about, and help to diverse yourself from the others.

It is now that I look back on the past few years, and there's a part of my that thinks I should have done that bit more when I had the chance to. Sure, I've been a fairly regular business society member, and for a year or two I was part of the cheerleading squad, but there was always that chance for me to do that bit more. Luckily I realised this before it was too late, and have certainly made up for it this year! Its just so happens it's the year that I have to spend Mon-Sun in the library. So take note all you youthful freshers, don't take all your spare time for granted. You've been given this time for a reason: use it wisely!

Recruiting the Next Generation

Hey everyone,
This article is a guest blog for The Urquhart Partnership! Urquhart Partnership specialises in Human Resources, Training and Recruitment and are based in Aberdeen and Manchester. Click on the following link to see it on their website:
The Urquhart Partnership: Recruiting the Next Generation


Recruiting the Next Generation


Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg had the vision of making the world a more “open” place, and he succeeded with millions of people now connected via the internet.

Facebook’s not the only site that’s caught on to the social media phenomenon; Twitter has caught on to it too. There are currently 483 million daily active users on Facebook, and Twitter in one month in 2011 recorded 460,000 new accounts being created per day in that month alone. Now we are able to search, connect and interact with people on a global basis, some of whom we have never met before.

The statistics speak for themselves. Social networking sites (SNS) have become a part of our daily lives, especially for Generation Y. Long gone are the days of traditional communication via letters and telephone, and replacing them are the terms “Facebook and tweet me”. Also, with the development of the Facebook and Twitter apps, we now have these social networking sites in the palm of our hand no matter where we are. That means constant access to what organisations are saying through social media.

This new communications media should not be ignored by companies, and some of the biggest employers have got it right with successful SNS marketing campaigns with the addition of incentives to encourage individuals to interact with them on these sites.

As a future graduate, I am subject to constant unsolicited emails about companies seeking graduates and bombarded with fliers and posters around university campus. It’s all very much the same; completely impersonal. Social media has provided companies with the opportunity to engage, interact and communicate with potential employees and stakeholders, removing the barrier of uncertainty. What better way to target individuals than through the networking sites where they are comfortable?

By companies being on Facebook, we are able to “like” and “follow” those that we are interested in. It is us choosing the companies, not the companies choosing us. If we have a question, we are able to ask them direct via a wall post or tweet, rather than having to hunt for an email address and undoubtedly not getting a response. Overall it makes potential employers a lot more reachable and friendly and we are encouraged to engage with these companies and are a lot more likely to consider them as a potential employer.

In order to attract the most talented candidates of this next generation, employers must make themselves known and have a dominant, communicative presence on social media, otherwise they will be left behind.

University: The Reality

As the end of my time at university draws close to the end, I am overwhelmed by the feeling that my life has flashed before my eyes. It feels like only yesterday when it was my first day at Robert Gordon University, lost in the business school trying to find my class and being faced with what seemed at the time a very complex theory model: the standard Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs of course. It is safe to say that during my first year of university, I lived in a bubble.

The idea of the potential opportunities that would arise throughout my time at university was intensely exciting. I would be immersed in new knowledge, learning theories and strategies that would change major global companies for the better. For my third year I'd embark on a years placement working on important clients heavily funded marketing campaigns and advertising, and for a while I genuinely thought I'd be begged by some advertising company in New York to do my placement with them. After graduation I'd be head hunted, given my own shiny office and probably an assistant to do my filing and bring me Starbucks.

Fast forward almost 4 years, and here I am in the library at 9pm, surrounded by about 12 rather large textbooks, a can of red bull, a large coffee, highlighters and my ever faithful laptop. I have been here for 12 hours and counting. Gone are the days of only coming into Uni to attend a lecture in which I would doodle away, partying and adopting the standard "getting by" approach. Today, even the mere thought of not attending a class or lecture causes panic and stress. Now everything we do is vital, and I have discovered that I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to coursework and exams. Who'd have thought it?!

The reality of the workplace hit me hard. Forget a fancy placement in New York, the recession was fierce on the employment opportunities in 2009, and that included placements. I didn't leave Aberdeen for my placement, and I certainly didn't get the chance to do marketing. As for graduate employment, it's safe to say that I shall not be offered a shiny office or an assistant, and highly probable that it will be me doing the filing and getting the coffees...

All this isn't a negative. Its most certainly prepared me for "the real world". My placement? I had the great opportunity to work within the accounts & finance department at GE Oil & Gas, making me more diverse and giving greater insight into the other departments of such a global company, something I wouldn't have been able to do if I had been on a marketing placement. As for graduate employment, the competition and decline of opportunities has only enabled me to become more focused and determined in what I want to achieve in my career. Nothing will be handed to us graduating students, a presumption almost all of us are guilty of when we first begin our university lives; we need to earn those chances and opportunities by developing ourselves academically and professionally. No one will do it for us.

As for the theories and strategies that I shall use to guide businesses to global success, well, that's still to be determined... 4th Year has certainly taught me a lot.