Graduate CVs for non-graduate roles

[rog007]

It has been widely reported that many graduates are struggling to secure work. The UK job market has seen a notable decline in vacancies, driven by rising employer costs and changes to workers’ rights, making organisations more cautious about hiring.

What I’m increasingly being asked about is how to support those graduates who are also finding it difficult to secure entry-level, lower-skilled non-graduate roles, such as retail or warehousing positions, once they experience not being able to secure a graduate position. With that in mind, I wanted to share an observation that will be obvious to some, but continues to challenge many.

In short, graduates often need to downplay, or at least de-centre, their academic achievements and instead focus on clearly demonstrating their ability to do the job being advertised. This can be difficult, particularly when individuals are rightly proud of what they’ve achieved. However, from a hiring manager’s perspective, an academic CV can signal that the candidate is seeking a stop-gap role. Even when that may be true, employers in these sectors are often looking for reliability and longer-term commitment. I’m sure there are a number of hiring managers here who have experienced this. There will of course be some who are happy to hire graduates in a non-graduate role for the skills they can bring.

I hope this helps a few people navigate what is currently a very challenging market.

[fooman]

I get a few graduates applying for warehouse roles, some have been employed usually a stepping stones but that's ok. Agree though they should target CV for role in a different way to say a professional job.