{"id":1872,"date":"2021-08-05T10:33:03","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T10:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/?p=1872"},"modified":"2025-11-12T12:07:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T12:07:52","slug":"top-tips-for-finding-your-first-job-after-graduating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/2021\/08\/05\/top-tips-for-finding-your-first-job-after-graduating\/","title":{"rendered":"Top tips for finding your first job after graduating"},"content":{"rendered":"

Your university years will pass by faster than you think, and before you realise, you\u2019re a couple of months away from graduating! It\u2019s not always easy to immediately figure out what you want to do after graduating, and for most people, it takes them a while to find the \u2018right\u2019 job for them. As someone who just graduated with a Computer Science degree and found my first full-time job as a software engineer in the finance sector, here are some things from my experience that I wish I knew before job hunting:<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. It helps to take some time to narrow down your search, if you don\u2019t exactly know what you\u2019re looking for, <\/strong><\/p>\n

Most job listing websites have a filter that can specifically\u00a0 help you do this. Look at the different sectors and industries out there, and figure out which ones excite you the most. It\u2019s helpful if you can use keywords relating to the roles you\u2019re interested in. I was mostly interested in roles within technology, so I used keywords like \u2018Software Engineer Graduate\u2019 in my search, and set up email alerts for when new jobs relating to the keyword are posted.<\/p>\n

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\"\"2. Ideally, you should try to keep an open mind when searching for jobs. <\/strong><\/p>\n

You might not get the perfect job the first time around, but it\u2019s the experience and the steps you take to get where you want to be that counts. Be open to roles that don\u2019t exactly meet your requirements but are still related to what you want to do. I personally didn\u2019t think I would be working in finance in the beginning, but there are lots of software engineering positions within the sector that would allow me to get the same valuable experience I would\u2019ve hoped for.<\/p>\n

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\"\"3. Gain experience where possible<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you are in first or second year, it\u2019s a good idea to try to take on internships over the summer to find out what might be right for you and build up your CV at the same time. Alternatively, working on your own project is also experience that you can put on your CV as well. This gives you a chance to try different things to find out what you like and don\u2019t like. Having these experiences, whether within university or outside will also help you through the interview process and give you something to talk about when answering questions.<\/p>\n

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\"\"4. Take time to do your research<\/strong><\/p>\n

You will find that company research, searching for roles, and interview prep will take more time than the actual job application, but these are all important in a successful job hunt. If you have the chance, talk to recruiters, employees, and graduates that are working at a company you\u2019re interested in. Ask about their experience at the company and what their day at work might look like. This is the best way to get to know the company better and to find out what the job entails, as well as getting tips for their interviews.<\/p>\n

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\"\"5. Be organised and keep track of your applications<\/strong><\/p>\n

It can get very overwhelming if you apply to multiple jobs at once, and it\u2019s easy to forget which stage you\u2019re in once you\u2019ve applied for a job. One of the best things I did to keep my applications organised was to make a spreadsheet with all the jobs I was interested in, including details such as the position title, deadlines, application status, and links to the application so I could easily access them. This will save you a headache and make the process much easier to deal with.<\/p>\n

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Those are all my tips for finding the right job for you after university. I want to emphasise that this process is different for everyone and it\u2019s okay to not immediately know what you want to do. Take your time to do your research and explore different options. Good luck and all the best in the search for your first job!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Your university years will pass by faster than you think, and before you realise, you\u2019re a couple of months away from graduating! It\u2019s not always […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1226,"featured_media":901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,3,57,90],"tags":[35,6,36,67],"class_list":["post-1872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-careers","category-informatics","category-tips","category-undergraduate","tag-careers","tag-informatics","tag-tips","tag-undergraduate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1872"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2663,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1872\/revisions\/2663"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.kcl.ac.uk\/nms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}