Hi! I’m Tim Mickleburgh. I’m a BSc Accounting alumnus from the University of Manchester. Here are my tips for securing a graduate job.

CV

Make sure that your CV is structured clearly, written concisely and no more than two pages long. Start with an eye-catching professional summary followed by sections that showcase your work experience, educational history including qualifications, grades and awards, and extracurricular activities such as positions of responsibility, societies and sports teams.

Psychometric Testing

The psychometric test will comprise questions that test your numerical reasoning, logical reasoning and situational judgement. My advice for performing well in the psychometric test is to spend lots of time doing practice tests on Graduates First which you can access for free via the university’s careers service.

Interview

The interviewer will probably ask you about why you have applied for the position and why you want to work for that company. They may also ask competency-based questions to explore your previous experiences. Remember to smile and be enthusiastic throughout your interview. Be sure to rehearse your answers to all possible questions and learn your responses off by heart. Also record your interview in a well-lit area with an appropriate backdrop where you won’t be disturbed if it is a remote video interview.

Group Exercise

The assessment centre will normally include a group exercise with some of the other candidates. It’s important to stand out from the others so make sure that you are vocal (but not domineering) and demonstrate leadership by building on the ideas of others and pulling others into the discussion.

Presentation

You may be required to give a presentation. I had to do two presentations: the first was to demonstrate my understanding of the company and its industry and the second was to tell the assessors more about myself. Don’t put too much text on your slides and showcase your professionalism by speaking without a script or cue cards in front of you.

Good luck with your graduate job applications!

Written by Tim Mickleburgh, BSc Accounting alumnus

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