How to get through a job application

Now that we’ve come to the second half of the school year, this must be on many of our minds now and some of us might be curious as to how the entire process is like. I haven’t applied for any graduate jobs (mainly because I’m not graduating anytime soon 😧) but in general, they are similar and the process is roughly the same!

Step 1: Application stage

This is the part where it’s the most tedious because you have to spend loads of time searching for companies which interests you and are offering positions right now. Generally it’s much easier to find graduate schemes compare to internships and placements because most companies are always on the lookout for fresh talents graduating in the year. Unfortunately, the toughest part isn’t over even when you found a company because now you have to deal with the long long application form which varies between companies.

Usually, you will have to create an account with a job portal which works with that company and that’s where you will apply for the job. After creating an account, you will be brought to the application page, where you will be tasked to fill in a pretty standard form with your name, age etc. However, some company have one of their screening process right here, they would have a few questions relating to the company/field/job and it’s best if you give your best answer because this is what they will use to filter people they want out.

Some helpful websites for job vacancies are:
MyCareerCentral UEA - Wide range of jobs and huge amount of resources to help you secure that dream job
https://mycareercentral.uea.ac.uk/students/login?ReturnUrl=%2f

Indeed UK - One of the biggest job sites in the UK, but be prepared to look through hundreds of postings because the list is endless
https://www.indeed.co.uk/

RateMyPlacement - Although they have placement in their name, they do alot more than just placements!
https://www.ratemyplacement.co.uk/

GradCracker - This is more for STEM students and they have lots of opportunities for them!
https://www.gradcracker.com/

After applying for all the jobs you want, you can just kick back and refresh that email page 50 times a day waiting for the “Dear John, thank you for applying to…” header to pop in your account.

Step 2: Online assessments

Congratulations! This means you have successfully made it past the first stage of the process! Take a breather and let’s proceed on to the next step.

This is where most of the applicants gets rejected because what follows is a couple of tests designed by the company to look for the right kind of person for the job without having to speak to every single applicant. It usually consists of either: a Numerical test, where there are simple questions based on statistics they’ve given you; Behaviour test, where they give you scenarios you will face in the workspace and many responses are given and you are to rank or choose between the ones you will definitely do and the ones you will never do, or both of these tests. In my opinion, the behaviour test is usually the hardest because technically, there is no right answer so the best thing to do is just to answer accordingly to your own actions so that the company would be a right fit for you.

Some company might even take this step further and gives you grammar tests, vocabulary and even career specific tests where your knowledge in your field would be vital to passing it.

Be proud of yourself for making it this far because usually at this stage, there will only be about 20~30% of the applicants remaining from the initial amount of applicants.

The following steps are usually vastly different from company to company but you are bound to face one of them (or all of them!) after the online assessments before the final interview.

i. Assessment Days

This is a really good aspect of the process because technically speaking, it’s a very long interview, which gives you plenty of chances to present yourself and your abilities to the people working there.

It usually starts off early at 8/9am and might go on for the entire day or minimally, half a day. Usually, you will start off with a job related activity where you have to a task that you will be doing in the future within a given timeframe. Next it will be followed by a quick lunch or break time where you will have employees chatting with you over a simple sandwich and coffee. Make no mistakes, this WILL be part of your assessment. It’s informal, yes but do remember that you are there for an assessment and even lunch would show how you are as a person and this is much more important than just being able to do the task right. Finally, you will end of the day with a group activity, where you will be allocated to a group with other applicants and there will be a topic of discussing and you will be required to complete a task as a group. Typically, you will be each given a different solution to the same problem and you will have to present your solution to the group and explain its merits and drawbacks. Don’t be too controlling of the conversation because it’s not only important to lead, but also important as well to give others a chance to speak and yourself a chance to listen.

One thing about the assessment days is that it would be best to stay overnight at the city you are applying to so that you don’t have to have a long commute in the morning right before your assessment day. Fortunately, most companies does give some form of compensation for your trouble and usually you can get a refund on your spending on accommodation and transportation.

ii. Telephone interview

The name says it all, basically it will be an interview over the telephone so you can essentially do an interview in your pyjamas and on your bed.

However, it’s slightly harder to excel in a telephone interview because it will be hard to build rapport with the interviewer due to the fact that you cannot see the other person. On the other side, you can prepare notes to look at and this might help you to take off some pressure from answering questions. 

iii. Video interview

This is a new kind of application process and not many companies have adopted it. It’s interesting and similarly to the telephone interview, there’s an advantage of having your notes with you while you do the interview. It will usually start by giving you a chance to check your microphone and camera to make sure it’s work, then between each question, there will be 30 seconds of non-recording for you to think about your answer before pressing the record button.

The drawbacks of this kind of interview is that it’s really hard to be expressive in your answers when you are talking to your computer so try to be more upbeat so that you can appear more energetic in the video. Remember to look at the camera directly because this would mean that you are more focused and not easily distracted. If you do have notes, paste them directly behind the webcam so that the angle can fool the person watching it that you are actually looking at the camera. Another tip that will help you appear more focused is to stick a picture of someone's face directly behind the webcam and you can pretend to 'talk' to the person in order to appear more enthusiastic. 

Last Step: Final interview

Give yourself a pat on the shoulders, you’ve made it! Yes, you’re still not done and you’re still not officially employed but by being selected for the final interview, it shows that you have what they want! My lecturer once told me “If you made it to the interview, it means that you are already qualified for the job”, which is true!

Research, research and more research! Make sure you know everything about them, how they operate and the ways they conduct their businesses. You might never know what kind of questions they will ask you and you do not want to be caught off guard by something that you could have found on their website!

Do mock interviews at career central! They are super friendly, extremely helpful and would not hesitate to assist you further should you need the help! They will conduct interviews with their staffs and then they would give you feedback based on that and what areas you can perform better.

Relax and be yourself! This is one of the areas that most applicants fail to perform at. They get overly nervous, stammer during the interview and forget important information they spent hours memorizing for the interview. Just be confident, answer questions calmly and it will all be good!

I hope this would help you in the scary process of applying for a job! We are all dreading it but once you see “Dear John, we are pleased to invite you on to our team at XYZ company…”, it’s all worth it!

Eugene Zhang Yuting
Singapore Ambassador