The summer before you enter your final year is your chance to do some all-important career planning and prepare for when employers open up their opportunities in the Autumn. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you haven\u2019t already, try to establish which industry sectors you might like to work in; the Gradcracker Toolkit<\/a> is a good place to begin. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Explore our Company Hubs<\/a> to identify which employers you\u2019d particularly like to work for. Here you can often find out when an employer intends to open to applications. Give yourself ample time to look into the company, decide whether it\u2019s right for you, and gather the information you need to put together an impressive application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before September comes around, make sure you are following the companies you\u2019d particularly like to work for once you graduate, and are receiving their graduate job alerts (you can manage your Follow list and update your alert preferences in your Dashboard<\/a>.) This will ensure you don\u2019t miss out on any graduate opportunities when applications open in the Autumn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most university courses begin in September and October, which is also when employers start to open their graduate and undergraduate vacancies. This means that, if you\u2019re hoping to secure a job for when you graduate, you can apply to opportunities from the moment your final year begins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s best to start applying as soon as possible. The more tailored and thoroughly researched applications you send out in the first few months of the academic year, the less pressure you\u2019ll be under when you get into the thick of your final projects and exams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At Gradcracker, we refer to the 31st of January as \u2018Deadline Day\u2019. From January through to April many of our employers start to close their recruitment campaigns, especially their graduate programmes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019d keep an eye on which opportunities are closing from January onwards \u2013 and remember, you can order your Job Search results on Gradcracker by \u2018Deadline\u2019. This will enable you to prioritise your applications and will make sure you don\u2019t miss out on any ideal opportunities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Many opportunities are still to be found from May to July, though these are more likely to be individual jobs as opposed to programmes. (See my article on the difference between individual graduate jobs and graduate programmes here<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n\n\nSeptember starts with a bang<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Deadline season<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Over the summer<\/h3>\n\n\n\n