Mark Smith, one of our graduate members, shares his experience on how he relocated to seek full time employment.
Any engineering student graduating in 2009 would describe the job market as difficult at best. Despite being awarded an industrial scholarship for 5 years through university, my sponsor was unable to place any of its regional students upon graduation. This decision was taken late in the academic year, with the application process for most other graduate schemes closed, or heavily oversubscribed. Keen to start my engineering career regardless, my fellow sponsored students and I, faced an urgent search for employment.
Although sometimes lacking in experience, I believe that graduates do have some valuable attributes working in their favour. Graduates are driven, flexible, fresh thinking and not scared to challenge convention; traits that cannot always be matched by more senior colleagues.
Within days of my final exam, I took advantage of these attributes and moved to London in search of work. Here, I made note of every civil engineering and construction company that I came across; taking names from site hoardings, tower cranes and even vans. I would then write a personalised letter to a senior manager within the company, explaining my situation.
Within a few weeks I had received a job offer and relocated to the Northwest to work for J.Murphy & Sons Ltd. As workloads have shifted between regions, I have again relocated to Birmingham. This flexibility, and ability to adapt, allows companies to fully utilise their resources- making graduates an attractive option.
I would encourage any graduates currently looking for work that a flexible attitude will most definitely increase your employment opportunities.