Computer Science Graduate

jellie

Hey,
I've just finished a computer science degree and need to get myself a 'proper job', but im not really sure what to do about it. i dont feel we've gone into any 1 subject in enough detail for me to be qualified to work in it. i've done a good bit of programming but most programming jobs require experience and i dont think i could really handle programming full time anyway. I didnt apply for any graduate positions early enough so that rules them out. I've looked through most job websites online just to see whats out there but i dont seem qualified for any of them.
I'm a bit lost and dont even know where to start. any suggestions at all?
thanks

K!LL!@N

That's the whole point of the courses.
They don't teach you one particular thing, instead they give you a good grounding in the principles behind programming or whatever you might have studied.
The idea being that the these principles can be applied to any programming language.
If a place is looking for someone with lots of experience it's probably not worth applying for the job, but if they're looking for someone with year or so then it might be worth applying. Obviously you'd have to let them know that you don't have all that experience but that you're a fast learner etc.

Killian

cousin_borat

Have you applied for any of the graduate programmes or looked at gradireland.ie yet?The majority of grad programmes are closed for this year but there are still some recruiting.

BossArky

The purpose of College or University is not to teach you to be a C++ ninja or whatever, but to teach you how to learn

Check out jobserve.com

Create an online CV and just send your CV off to as many job postings as possible even if they don't seem relevent. Once you have your CV with agencies then they will have you on their databases and can give you a call if anything crops up. They will probably ring you for a 10 minute chat too to get a feel for what you are after. Initially you won't have a clue what to say to them, but after a few calls you will be able to bluff your way through questions such as

- what is your experience?
- what money do you want?
- what locations will you work in?
- what sort of industry do you want to work in?

etc, etc.

Try it out, if only for gaining experience into the first step in joining the world of work.

swiss

I'm in a similar position to the OP. I've finished a degree in Applied Computing since about two months ago, and everywhere I've applied to seems to want people with at least 2 - 3 years experience. At this stage I would be happy to take on pretty much any IT role to try to get that experience.

Does anyone know anywhere or anyone in particular who would be hiring an IT monkey such as myself?

Tobias Greeshman

@OP: Dont worry besides most companies wont be looking into recruiting until the middle/end of next month, when the summer comes to a close, this is generally the best time to look for work. Also apply to any half decent job on gradireland.ie, thats where I got my current job, and it was in late september!!

AARRRGH

Step 1.

Get experience.

Go to http://www.scriptlance.com

Do some of the projects for free. There are lots of 10 minutes jobs (script changes, small admin work, graphics, etc.)

Do about 5 jobs (or whatever you can manage) per week.

Step 2.

Create your CV with your new experience on it.

Write in detail. Don't be afraid to exaggerate a bit. Everyone does it.

Step 3.

Look for jobs.

http://www.jobs.ie
http://www.irishjobs.ie
http://www.recruitireland.com
http://www.staff.ie
http://www.employireland.com
http://www.cpl.ie (one of the only non-scummy recruitment agencies.)

Make sure your CV is PERFECT. No one cares about your job in McDonalds.

Write a PERFECT cover letter for each job you apply for.

I cannot stress the perfect cover letter and CV enough. I work for (one of the famous) online recruitment companies, and I swear, I have lost faith in humanity at how bad 95% of every CV/cover letter is.

Step 4.

Start your new job!!

BossArky

dublindude wrote:

Write a PERFECT cover letter for each job you apply for.

I disagree with writing a letter for each job. I have had one cover letter since I finished Uni 2 years ago. It got me a deadly job(IT too) in France. Finishing that job I used the same cover letter, with a few added lines to get my next (and current) job in London.

My point --> If you spend 10 minutes writing a cover letter for each job you apply for then you are not going to get the chance to send too many CV's out. Just go on to jobserve as I mentioned in my last post and spam any agency address you can find. It will be very hit or miss.... you may get one phone call per 50 CV's send, but at least you can add 50 target jobs to a basket in 1 or 2 minutes and click once to apply to them all.

I think this is a good approach for a fresh graduate because you don't have any intensive experience in one area... so your cover letter can afford to be a bit vague.

Also, if you are interested in working in a foreign country go for it now! You will always find it easier to get work at a later stage on account of this sort of experience on your CV and general life experience / broaden horizonz. Go for it now and don't be afraid to leave everything behind. You can always come back. Its not as easy to leave once you get settled in your own country.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

AARRRGH

Gotta disagree BossArky. If you cannot take a few minutes of your time to write (or alter) a cover letter to suit a job, then you aren't taking your job seeking very seriously.

But as you say, you like to "spam any agency" you can find. This is not quite constructive job seeking!

The cover letter and CV are more important that the interview. A general catch-all cover letter is so obvious to spot. You lose face.

Do you know most online recruitment companies will not forward your job application to the employer if your cover letter is not up to scratch (yes, online recruitment companies review each application before the employer sees it.)

BossArky

Hi dublindue, I'll agree to disagree so

When I had to apply for jobs upon finishing Uni, and before starting my latest job I would send an email with the following:

1) General cover letter stating qualifications, work placements / past jobs, main skills (elective modules in Uni final year or core skills from past jobs).

2) CV attachment in word doc format

3) Send the email to myself in the "to" field, blind carbon copy ("bcc") about 50 agency email addresses from jobserve.com or other such sites. i.e. they cannot see who else the email is going to... altho obviously they cop on that they are not the only one receiving it. (save these 50 or so email addresses in a text file somewhere so that in a month or two you can resend the same email to the same addresses to remind them in case they have overlooked you or forgotten)

4) In the subject field have something like "Graduate -- B.Sc blah blah, M.Sc blah blah".. i.e your qualifications. Thus the agency can tell from the email subject if they may find you useful or not.... or what exactly they can fit you into.

5) Optional - attach 2 or 3 references in a text file... probably best not to unless you are asked for it. (1 uni lecturer if you are a graduate, plus someone else)

At the end of the day, there agencies are trying to make money by placing you with a company and will try their best to do this if they see any opportunity.

Its a rat race, so if you've got the inside track you may as well use it. I have never received negative feedback about this approach and I have spoken to many many many agencies over my job searches.

Civilian_Target

Companies aren't stupid and know the kind of experience level they can expect from graduates. Personally, what I did was trawled all the software companies I could find that I would be interested in working for and sent away a CV and cover letter to each, or used their online application systems. Took about a week. Got a few interviews and finally a job.

If you're looking for companies and addresses to write to, the best place to start is the careers advisory service in your college. They may not necessarily be much good at career guidance but you'll be suprised by how many contacts they have.

BossArky

by the way when I say "spam the agencies" I mean spam agencies but with a focus... i.e. apply for 500 particular C++ jobs that you are interested in... or whatever area of SAP you are into, etc.

cornbb

I'm in pretty much the same position as the OP. Due to having too much fun at college, I don't have an honours degree, which doesn't help. I spent ages emailing/visiting recruitment agencies but the vibe I got from them was that companies tend to recruit inexperienced graduates directly rather than through the agencies. There's loads of good advice on jobhunting on monster.ie and all the rest of those sites, I'm sure you've found plently by now.

Thankfully, I've given up hunting for a proper job, now I'm going back to Uni to study for a M.Sc. Music technology instead Problem is, I'll probably find mysel in the same position in a year's time.

Oh well!

BossArky

cornbb wrote:

Thankfully, I've given up hunting for a proper job, now I'm going back to Uni to study for a M.Sc. Music technology instead Problem is, I'll probably find mysel in the same position in a year's time.

Oh well!

Hey I did an M.Sc Music Technology too in UL 2 years ago. Deadly course, lots of mad info that you can use to suprise people with Where are you doing it?