graduate

You've probably heard all the statistics and stories about how competitive the jobs market is at the moment but when it comes to that first interview, the right preparation can take you far. Be ready for a new opportunity with a combination of thorough research, self-analysis and determining what employers are looking for.

It's a good idea to put in some study time on the company itself. The interviewer won't require you to know everything, but will expect that your interest in the post goes beyond the salary. Find out a basic overview of their structure and history with web tools like company house webcheck, look at promotional literature or their website and check out any articles in the media about the brand.

Now turn your attention to your assets versus their needs. Go over your own experience and then look through the job description and person specification, noting down by each point the skills on your CV which will show that you have what they want.

This done, you can think about specific questions they might ask. Many interview questions are competency-based, meaning they will be looking for examples from your life, which demonstrate your suitability.

Finding a job at the moment is as tough as ever. Whether you're looking for something part-time to help you through uni, a full-time graduate position to start your career, or even just an internship, it can be a struggle.

To help you, we are starting a brand-new series of weekly posts rounding up some of the very best jobs in London around at the moment. So, without further ado, here we have this week's jobs on offer (27th February - 5th March).    

Part-Time Jobs

In today's business economy, nothing can be more important than a skill such as the mastery of social media. When a person can communicate effectively using Facebook or Twitter, he or she can attract thousands of new people to a business's products or services. Businesses now have a growing demand for qualified individuals who have social media expertise. If you want to make yourself stand out in today's competitive job market, then developing skills in being able to use technology will help you land your dream job.

Take Social Media Courses

Online colleges now offer social media courses for individuals. You do not have to enroll in a degree program to take one of these classes. You may find that taking only one or two specialized courses gives you the knowledge that you need to master the use of social media. You can also contact students who have taken particular courses to find out whether they had a positive experience in taking the course. If you are truly concerned about the material that will be covered in a social media course, then you may also want to get in touch with a professor before the start of the semester.

Under new rules proposed by the British Foreign Office, coming into effect on July 9, up to 5000 students a year could be denied entry to the United Kingdom under student visas.

The move, designed to discourage bogus students from entering the United Kingdom, also means that only the brightest and most accredited people will gain access to the country in order to study.

Some figures have shown that if the new rules were in place during 2011, up to 45% of applicants from Burma and 38% of applicants from Bangladesh may have been rejected.

Under current rules, it is the understanding that even if the UK Border Agency have serious doubts about the credentials of a client, they are unable to refuse them entry into the country. This now means that foreign students who are wanting to enter the United Kingdom to study now have make sure that they are able to prove their willing to study with institutions.

Opposition to the Changes

Critics of the new scheme, including over 70 university chancellors, have however, warned that the crackdown could force foreign students to go elsewhere in the world to study, causing the loss of billions of pounds to the economy of the country.

We've known for a while that the jobs market has been challenging for graduates, but figures recently released shed some more light on the situation of ‘underemployment'. This is where graduates are employed, but in jobs for which they don't technically need a degree.

For the graduating class of 2010/2011, over 10,000 of them are in posts that fall into this category - such as customer service roles, cleaning, carrying out odd-jobs, and labouring. This is almost double the number of grads who found themselves in ‘elementary occupations' five years ago, further highlighting the fact that recent years and economic struggles - plus growing numbers of graduates competing for jobs - have made things tougher for those after graduate level employment.

However, at least we can take some comfort from the fact that these graduates are still in work. It's thought that 9 per cent of the 2010/2011 class was unemployed six months after graduating from university. This is roughly the same amount of graduates that were unemployed the year before.