Aptitude and ability tests
Personality tests
Prospects:
Really useful summary of psychometric tests and lots of useful links.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Tests_and_exercises/Psychometric_tests/p!eLagFgF
Target Jobs:
Links to section on psychometric tests which has a lot of resources on why tests are used, the different types of tests and some examples.
http://targetjobs.co.uk/job-hunting-tools/psychometric-tests.aspx
Read the advert
Employers list their requirements because they are looking for candidates who match what they need. You have to make it as easy as possible for them to see that you are what they are looking for.
The job advert will normally list what the role involves – think about the skills which would be needed to do well in the job.
Treat it formally
Grammar is critically important
Be clear and to the point
plan your answers, think about how you structure your response
Most sites run sessions which time-out after a while of not using the site. This can be extremely irritating – spend a while writing an excellent answer and when you hit ‘submit’ the information is lost!
Some parts may be time restricted
You can use Word to copy the questions from an online form and work on them later
Check over it once you’re done and take the chance to have someone else have a look at it. Get some advice from your careers service by printing off your application or the questions you’ve written in Word.
SelectSimulator
If you would like to sign up for it, SelectSimulator lets you create a mock application form and gives advice on each section as you build it. http://www.selectsimulator.com/
Prospects:
Single page which clearly describes the sections you are likely to find in an online application form and what you should be thinking about in each section.
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Job_applications/Application_forms/p!egFlab
Target Jobs
http://targetjobs.co.uk/general-advice/articleview-15a_13.aspx
Get:
Application form advice
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/job-applications-forms
Quick list of Do’s and Don’t
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/job-applications-online
GRB:
Description of application forms with some example questions
http://www.grb.uk.com/making_applications0.0.html
Power Words
Application form is the recruiter’s first impression of you – the language you use and the tone you set will make a difference. Two links to examples of power words below. A word of caution, be careful how you use these techniques as they can make the application look a bit insincere or over
Talks about what you should be thinking about to make sure your application or CV has a really positive impact
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Job_applications/Power_words/p!eklfXef
List of words to which strengthen your point
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/job-applications-power-words
Comprehensive advice
Good resource with LOTS of information so if you can afford the time it is worth exploring the stuff these guys provide:
http://targetjobs.co.uk/general-advice/interview-techniques.aspx
Interview preparation
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Interviews/Preparation/p!eplFbj
Making a good impression
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Interviews/How_to_impress/p!elpgeg
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/interview-job
Types of questions you can expect
http://www.prospects.ac.uk/cms/ShowPage/Home_page/Applications__CVs_and_interviews/Interviews/Interview_questions/p!ejimac
http://www.get.hobsons.co.uk/advice/interview-sample-questions
Ease of Use 6/10
Variety of Jobs Available 10/10
Industry Specific Jobs 6/10
Spamming 8/10
Advice Available 5/10
And now for something completely different. Whilst most recruitment sites are focused on targeting the biggest, best and most established companies, enternships.com takes aim for the rising stars, and therefore offers unique opportunities to ambitious students looking to make a real impact in the business world.
The site is easy to sign up to, as long as you have a CV in PDF format, but lacks a comprehensive search function, meaning you’re probably going to have to spend a while trawling through the small print looking for an opportunity that suits you.
The world really is your oyster with this site, with placement and job listings from a variety of exotic locations from Paris to Johannesburg, I almost expected Antartica to be listed, but cold weather fans will be disappointed to hear that this was the only continent without representation here.
One small point to note however is the lack of salaried placements available, whilst this can partly be attributed to the economic climate, the very nature of the start up companies the site targets suggests that this is a permanent feature, and if you want to reap the potential rewards of being an integral and valued member of a small business, you will have to be willing to put the hard yards in and take a (financial) risk.
Did you find a job/placement through the site? Was this review helpful? Tell us about your experiences below..
Overall rating 7/10
Ease of Use 9/10
Variety of Jobs 6/10
Spamming 8/10
Advice available 10/10
Industry specific jobs and advice 9/10
A website dedicated to placements and internships, ratemyplacement.co.uk can be extremely useful to graduates researching top end companies or considering an internship before jumping into a job or industry they are unsure about.
There is plenty of industry specific advice available, especially in sectors such as investment banking and accountancy, where “gateway guide to the industry” articles list everything from the recommended books to read beforehand, to the questions you need to be able to answer at the interview.
Other industries are covered but the advice offered is more generic, basic two paragraph stuff offering an overview of the industry, but despite this, the comprehensive database of reviews will probably provide the answers to whatever it is you are looking for. Based around a starred rating system for 15 questions, the reviews are easy to read, easy to compare and easy to find, which is essential, as there are more than a thousand recent reviews!
As well as being a fountain of knowledge with everything placement related for all the top companies, the site also advertises placements. Unfortunately the range of placements on offer in no way matches the review and advice side of the site, meaning that unless you broaden your search to “any industry anywhere”, you might end up as one of the 40 000 graduates estimated by The Guardian as without a job this summer!
How do you rate ratemyplacement? Was the advice offered accurate and helpful, or did you experience something different? Perhaps you found a placement through the site? Let’s hear your views….
Overall rating 8.5/10
Ease of Use 3/10
Variety Of Jobs 1/10
Industry Specific Jobs 0/10
Spamming 6/10
Advice Available 0/10
A homepage packed full of advertisements and news, at first glance the site looks like the many other graduate recruitment sites out there. However, on closer inspection, the news section is 9 months out of date, and in relation to the job advertisements, this is recently updated!
Out of the 139 jobs listed, 139 were listed in 2007. But look to the positives, you are pretty unlikely to get a bucket load of emails about new job listings that aren’t relevant! In fact you would probably be more likely to find something useful through clicking on one of the many flashing banners around the edge of the site, but even some of these are broken links.
The website does however offer the saving grace of a “help centre”. But unfortunately the help only stretches as far as applying to the site and uploading your CV, without even a whisper of how to create a good one, or any help or advice on specific industries or recruiters.
Without a doubt the most unhelpful website reviewed so far, but then again maybe you are one of the lucky 139 to land a job through the site? Or is an overall rating of 2/10 too generous? As always, we want to hear your views.
Overall rating 2/10
Ease of Use 8/10
Variety of Jobs 5/10
Industry Specific Jobs 2/10
Spamming 7/10
Advice Available 10/10
It is proclaimed as “The UK’s leading recruiter of graduates” and it takes a fairly hands on approach to online recruitment. Not only is there a call-back service offering CV advice, but they also arrange mock interviews at their London and Manchester offices in order to prepare you for the real thing.
They have qualified advisors on hand to help you out over the phone or by appointment, and appear to take genuine individual care over careers. There are several videos on the site advertising exactly what they do, as well as top 10 CV tips and more generic advice relating to interviews and applications- all good stuff, but nothing industry specific or straight from an employer.
In fact the range of jobs advertised on the site is very limited; my search for “any job in any location” returned a grand total of 22 results, half of which were “executive” sales roles. There are the usual alerts to your email address and mobile, which can be blocked if necessary, and the site itself is easy enough to use.
I would therefore recommend it only insofar as a starting block, if you are looking for some advice from a qualified careers consultant, or having trouble getting your CV to stand out from the crowd, this could be the site for you. For anyone already competent and looking for their dream job, I suspect you will just have to keep looking.
But perhaps the top employers are only revealed to you in person? Have you found a fantastic job through this site? If you have experienced this application process or have any comments about it please post them below.
Overall Rating 6.5/10
Ease of Use 4/10
Variety of Jobs 2/10
Industry Specific Jobs 8/10
Spamming 6/10
Advice Available 0/10
“Winner of the Best Job Board- Recruiter Awards for Excellence 2009”. It sounds pretty impressive, and it still is 2009, so surely here is the perfect place to find the perfect job? Well not quite.
The site itself is split into several different individual sites, just4graduates, just4engineers, justsalesandmarketing, just4finance….you get the drift, which, irritatingly, you have to register for individually. This makes the already arduous process of signing up even more frustrating, but then you have probably heard the phrase “nothing in the world worth having comes easily”.
Unfortunately, unless you are looking for an engineering job, you are probably going to be disappointed.
There are very few jobs listed for popular industries such as finance, marketing and management, some jobs are listed under the wrong heading (you are more than likely to find at least one engineering job wherever you look) and changing between these sites is a hassle.
However, engineering is the sites speciality, and there are at the time of writing several thousand engineering jobs advertised with some of the biggest employers. So if this is your chosen path, I would advise you to take a look, but for everyone else, I personally wouldn’t waste the time.
As always we want to hear your thoughts and experiences, is the review fair? Have you had a good or bad experience with just4graduates? Post your comments below.
Overall Rating 4/10
Ease of use 6/10
Spamming 7/10
Variety of Jobs 6/10
Industry specific Jobs 6/10
Advice Available 9/10
Vibrant and clear this is a very pretty and well presented site. Signing up, like on many grad sites, takes a little while. You enter your personal details, your interests and activities as well as which sector you would like to work in etc etc and after half an hour of giving the finest details about your life you are finally able to access the site’s variety of tools. Unlike some it does give you the option , to say whether you want regular emails from them detailing available jobs etc – therefore limiting the amount of spam, spam, spam, spam, eggs and spam that you receive.
It is also, in my opinion, one of the best sites on the net for advice and tips on recruitment. It offers interactive support on CV, assessment centres, cover letters as well as the different stages of the recruitment process. There is also the “Prospects Planner” tool which helps students to identify their key skills and different industries that they might be interested in.
However if you are actually looking for a job, this site does lack variety of jobs - your bg standard grad opportunities are there – if you are looking for a job in Management or Finance there are opportunities there however if you are more interested in the charity sector, PR or Marketing, as well as more Arts oriented opportunities the site does not offer much.
The functionality of the site is not that brilliant. It is not the easiest site to use either, as it often is not working and when it does it is more complicated than other sites to use. I think that it is unfortunately trying to do too much – which leaves you unsure as to what you can do on this site and what its main use is.
Overall – the best site I have come across for jobs, and at least it doesn’t clog up your inbox too much. However if you are looking for opportunities there is more variety on other sites.
Overall rating: 7/10
Ease of use 9/10
Spamming 8/10
Variety of Jobs 4/10
Industry specific Jobs 7/10
Advice Available 9/10
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