FESTIVE SALES JUMP FOR ‘HOW TO GET A GRADUATE JOB IN A RECESSION’ – HAVE YOU GOT YOUR COPY YET?
Sales of How to Get a Graduate Job in a Recession – the book by this website’s founder Tanya de Grunwald – have jumped just before Christmas, suggesting that more graduates than ever are anxious to get their job hunt off to a good start early in the new year.
In previous years, sales of Tanya’s first careers book ‘How to Get a Graduate Job in a Recession’ dived in December, as graduates opted to postpone thinking about their job hunt until after the festive season.
But this year, something has changed – and sales have doubled since November. Does this suggest that graduates are less willing (or less able?) to ‘switch off’ their concerns about job hunting until January? Or perhaps they are asking for the book as a Christmas gift?
Last week we reported how young people are feeling the pinch this December, with many unable to afford Christmas presents for their friends and family – and struggled to find the funds for travel costs to festive gatherings. What do you think – are graduates more anxious this Christmas than they have been in past years?
*ARE YOU FEARFUL ABOUT BEING UNEMPLOYED IN JANUARY?
Will you be able to relax and enjoy Christmas this year? Or do you have niggling worries about finding work in the new year?
*DON’T FORGET!
How to Get a Graduate Job in a Recession is only £9.99, including free delivery within the UK. And remember, we’re so confident you’ll find it helpful that if you don’t land a job after reading it, you can return it for a full refund! The book has been on sale since June and we still haven’t had a single copy returned…
So for christmas I got… a job.
Thanks to everybody who read and responded to my posts at gradfog a) because the more I got frustrated and wound up, they got increasingly snarky and b) just for the moral support and knowing that there are a whole load of us who are all in the same boat. Thanks Tanya as well of course for her website and book 🙂
Congratulations, Jacob! Have a Happy New Year!
Well done Jacob – that’s great news! And I’m so glad you’ve found Graduate Fog and my book helpful, I’m so pleased : )
Tanya
Congratulations, Jacob! It must be a great to start the new year with such wonderful news, well done 🙂
As for me, I did actually take a break from both job applications and uni work (hello, dissertation!) over Christmas, so I feel slightly guilty now and decided to finish up an application tonight. I did exactly 20 applications between September and December – which sounds like a lot less work than it was – and found Tanya’s book really helpful, particularly the chapters on motivation and dealing with rejection, since those are topics that usually get forgotten in other careers guides. I’m also hoping to do some networking in the new year! So thank you, Tanya, for putting in all this work to help us grads! Happy New Year to everyone at GF 🙂
@Kayla, learning for the sake of learning
– to light up your soul – is your motivation. Dealing with rejection – your satisfaction in the knowledge that you have a unique insight into the field of your study will remain with you long after feelings of sadness due to job rejections. You go, girl!.
Well done Jacob. Is it a permanent job of a temporary contract? Is it the sort of role you were hoping for?
I found Tanya’s book good overall but the section on finding hidden vacancies stumped me a bit. I can be unworldly-especially for an intelligent person-so maybe it’s just me, but I found it hard to get where to find organisations or companies I’m interested in. Also what if you’re interested in a role that overlaps many different sectors, how do you choose which one to target? I also felt uncomfortable about joining linkedin when I don’t know many people professionally to connect to-but maybe that isn’t a problem, what do other people think? I’ve read about researching people in your chosen industry and “cold calling” them for careers advice/to make a connection before but I don’t feel able to do that-I’m shy and I’d feel ridiculous.
i also foun a job just before xmas,but there is one thing that unemployed people and graduates will have to learn is that there is not enough jobs to go around for everyone to have jobs, sorry harsh but true
Shucks! Can’t I have your job matthe? Congratulations!
Hi
My hobbie is economics and I always look at the ONS website, and even though the numbers are fudged, how many jobs that are in the Market are realised and the do not match to how many unemployed people there are.
Caitlyn. It’s a full time job in marketing which if I’m frank is absolutely everything that I didn’t want to end up doing. However, it’s a job which means a) I can pay my own way and b) stop being financially dependent on my family which I found degrading and embarrassing for them. Plus, being the adventurous sort I was never the type to stick around at home and had been trying to leave since I was 15 (8 years ago now) and this is the ticket out so I couldn’t be happier 🙂
As for your dilemma (sectors) honestly, I ended up targeting all of them which was long and painstaking but eventually led to some interviews. Linkedin is useful in some ways, but just like an online dating profile, you sort of have to have stuff to put in. However, I did use it to find out about my interviewers pre-interview. As for cold calling, I sent out lots of pleas and stuff, not many were responded to but the tiny few that did were far more thoughtful and useful than any generic advice a jobcentre/recruitment agent might give you.
@Jacob I’m really pleased for you. Thanks for the tips.
@ Matthew true but that sounds a bit harsh, especially from someone with a job. Would you have just accepted there weren’t enough jobs? What are people supposed to do, just give up? Not really an option, especially with the current political attacks on benefit claimants.
Hi
I totally agree with you it is harsh but true, it is this government that need to learn that there are not enough jobs to go around and stop attacking benefit claimants.
@Matthew, ah OK then. I think we can create more jobs though if we do the right things to get the economy going-not that I know what those things are!
To be totally honest we are always going, to have 4 times more unemployed people than jobs that are out their, being in the EU does not help the UK at all, and with everything been made on the other side of the world, them manufacturing jobs will not be coming back, fact !
Tbf maybe it doesn’t help us so much right now, but if early learning for foreign languages was actually emphasised a little more it’d mean we have pretty much the entire of Europe in which to look for work. It also opens up quite a lot when you’ve found that first step into a new job. I have friends who’ve moved from the UK to all over Europe, especially if they’re in tech firms etc.
Foreign language courses at undergraduate level is crucial to career development, whether you intend to move to another country or do business with another country from the UK. Sadly, some universities are short-sighted when it comes to career development and adopt an insular approach. The University of Derby had totally abandoned its foreign language courses by 2007/8, after a brief love affair with Europe when the single European market was first established in 1992. It stifles opportunities for postgraduate research as well as career opportunities in the Civil Service and International Business. When institutions constantly change direction, how are undergraduates meant to compete with their European counterparts?