Bootcamp is a supercharged skills session that lasts for 3 days. Its purpose is to get students to experience what its like to be a consultant.

It includes a high-pressure business game called the Juice company, lots of networking with Accenture people, a psychometric instrument called the Hermann Brain Dominance Instrument and much more. It is a precursor to an assessment centre (if desired and approved).

This was the most interactive Careers adviser experience I have ever done. It was at an oak-paneled manor house in rural Oxfordshire- which sylvan setting is the very one they use for the students.

Accenture are upping their recruitment targets this year (240 and rising).

Quite a lot of the Accenture staff I met are working part-time, back from Maternity leave, joining after gap years travelling or working for charities. One Technology consultant was doing 3 days per week because he was caring for his ageing parent.  This last little snippet – gathered while chatting and waiting for a bus, did more than anything else to impress me. A serious business which takes its people seriously.

Bootcamp is not easy to get on to but well worth the effort.

www.Accenture.com/Bootcamp

Do we subscribe to the Hesketh Brown view? Add up the numbers of traditional graduate jobs. Subtract that figure from the number of graduates, so that the resultant (very large) figure is a kind of graduate disappointment gap.

Or do we take the more comforting Purcell Elias view that graduates do move into satisfying work with a salary premium, even though this process is a slow gradual one?

And what of the latest findings that suggest a significant minority earning under £20000 at the age of 30?

Throw in the findings of the increased prevalence of the quarter-life crisis – young people in their mid to late 20’s experiencing serious anomie about their purpose and their roles.

And for good measure what about all those young males in the same age group who have mysteriously vanished – according to the last Census.

And what about the continuing crisis in the recruitment and retention of teachers, nurses, radiographers, social workers etc – graduate professions with a shortage of graduates?

The simple truth is that the existence of more graduate is bound to change a labour market which is in any case undergoing massive changes.

Low pay and lack of job security affect many graduates in many different occupations. Many of the staff working in Higher Education are a case in point – particularly contract researchers. Workers in the media endure similar conditions – check out the salaries of trainee reporters on a local newspaper. Advertising Agency creatives frequently spend long periods on unpaid ‘placements’ in the hope of securing a permanent job. Jobs in Think tanks, Charities, Research bodies are frequently preceded by spells as volunteers. Do students undertaking degrees in sculpture, theology, performing arts, philosophy, classics,  calculate a generous pay-back on their investment? It seems unlikely. Furthermore many students choose courses like this despite ‘advice’ from parents, teachers and other professionals.

If a student wishes to base their choice of course on job or even money prospects then there is ample scope for that in UK Higher Education. Thankfully there are  students  who factor a wider range of elements into their choice making: intellectual curiousity, a wish to understand society, global politics, environmental protection, an urge to make music or visual art.

The question of course is whether they will feel able to make such choices when they will be incurring large debts by so doing. It may well be that Higher Education choice becomes a more pragmatic process

CV data can be handled in 2 different ways to create subtly different effects:

1. Chronological

Mckinsey and Company         1/07 – 5/07     

Worked in the research and information department on a business project. Acquired research skills and was trained on Reuters and Bloomberg information systems. Worked closely with the management consultant commissioning the project and shared responsibility with one other person for its content and viability

Legal Technologies   1/05 – 12/06

Work included document indexing and discovery on a case for a multi-national company                                                                                                           

NEC Corp, Japan           10/03 – 10/04

Teaching and recruiting students for an English Language school in Kobe. A key aspect of the job was promoting the company and persuading prospective students of the strengths of the school. Strong organisational skills were required to co-ordinate lessons and structured paths of learning for students                                                        

Prior to going to Japan I completed some short assignments in several companies, including:

J Accountancy Services         May/June 03

Assisted a team of accountants by dealing with tax queries and doing various administrative tasks. Gained an insight into a high-pressure environment and developed my communication skills, as enquiries were dealt with mainly by phone.

Natwest Bank             March/April 03

Gained wide-ranging office experience and increased my knowledge of computer applications.            

2. Skills-based

Communication

• Acquired clear, structured, precise communication skills as a language teacher and customer services assistant.
• Learned to listen carefully to diagnose problems and speak persuasively to market and promote services

Teamwork

• Worked closely with other staff in support of professionals to complete a number of businesses, marketing educational and legal projects.
• Demonstrated the ability to adapt to different groups, promote corporate objectives, take and share responsibility. 

Information and Research

• Have briefed myself on a range of business areas using both the skills and knowledge of professionals and information systems such as Reuters and Bloomberg’s.
• Have mastered document indexing and a range of IT systems used in banking.
• Have taken joint responsibility for the content and validity of an important business research project

Business Awareness

• Gained insights into the operations of a number of major business professions including consultancy, accountancy, banking and law.
• Worked for several blue-chip organisations and absorbed their methods and procedures.
• Achieved success in the handling of existing customers and the winning of new ones in a tax consultancy and a language school

One key issue here is the role of ‘advice’. In advice the professional does not play the role of impartial facilitator. In ‘advice’ the practitioner offers ‘judgements’ based on knowledge of the matters under discussion. ‘Advice’  comes from an expert witness – one in our case who has made it his or her business to gather relevant information and assess it in order to relate it to the client. Some of our clients need and require this – and some complain when they do not get it.

It is a legitimate need and students are entitled to expect it to be met within reason ( No I have no idea of the job market for Circus performers).

The debate about advice and guidance is similar to the debates about teaching and learning. All professionals agree that the key element is ‘learning’. Teaching is hard to assess unless you place it against some template of learning. However, this should not detract from the way that ‘teaching’  can dramatically improve the quality of learning ( or dramatically damage it). Advice is a kind of Teaching process. It does not steer the client step by step through a series choice points ( helpful though that sometimes be) it invites the client to climb to a constructed eminence to view the future or a map of it. ” Applications to big 4 accountancy firms do not require you to have A-level mathematics – so you should not rule it out for that reason” So there’s a statement of ‘fact’ and a ‘should’. Risky things to offer: what if the fact were not true, and what is the force of ‘should’? Risky things but taking those risks is what the CA should be prepared to do. The clue, by the way, is in the job title.

Graduate Application to Medicine and Dentistry at King’s: Notes from talks 19 April 2010

Graduate Screening scheme: Medicine 5 year programme

• Must be predicted a 2:1 (no point applying without this)
• Also need passes in A or As level Chem and Biol.
• Only need to provide 1 reference
• No need to add GPEP as one of UCAS choices as automatically considered for this at interview
• Last year: 84 applications: 29 offered interviews and 16 offered places (0 offers made for GPEP)

Graduate Screening scheme: Dentistry

• 30 places available on the GED programme
• Unlike medicine GSS, need to add GEP programme as one of your 4 UCAS places
• Last year: 26 applicants through GSS: 17 offered interviews and 12 offered places so far
• Reference is very important for dentistry GSS
• Academic grades also important – either consistently good or steady improvement
• No longer require students to demonstrate manual dexterity

Admissions Office:

5 non-academic criteria measured:

• Community activities (contact with general public important)
• Scholastic activities (mention any academic achievements)
• General activities/interests
• Paid/voluntary work
• Work shadowing/observation

Each of these are given a weighting: desirable, very desirable or compulsory (although admissions officer did not state weighting for each of these)

GPEP Medicine

• Selection for interview is primarily through UKCAT score

Last year (2009) there were 1,600 applicants for 24 places

I have one student waiting for a QQ, but there are 9 other students visible. They are at the far end of the room in a CV session with Evan. Our info room is increasingly becoming a seminar room.

I totally approve of this. Finding stuff out is increasingly an activity on the web that students are familiar with,  though they do it very badly – ie randomly – taking a lot of unnecessary time.

But having the careers room as more of a  learning centre -this is surely the way forward.

And wait, in come Jeff Riley and has a quick word with Evan’s group and tells them there is an employer session about to begin with Linked-In. 2 of the group go off to the session, 2 more sign up for qq.s

The last thing is a bit of a disappointment. The sessions are meant to cut down on the 1-1′s. Of course what we know is that they actually build the demand.

Used a nice exercise for E/I/ Gave 2 sweets to each participant and said you must put a sweet in to middle of table to make a point. Only 2 sweets each

Then gave a bunch of sweets in the middle and got people to add discussion by taking a sweet.

Phase 1 – forcing you to be I, phase 2 allowing you to be E.

For S/N they gave out a picture in an envelope. In pairs one person had to describe the picture to the other then show it – and see if they recipient had got it. Were they surprised?

Apparently they are going to do an advanced course which refine the concepts – such ideas as the shy ‘E’.

Tim – Barclays Capital: While this might seem obvious, it will really make a difference.

With more information than ever at our fingertips, there’s absolutely no excuse for not brushing up before the big day.  You should look closely into the job and the employer, including things like ethos, structure, areas of expertise, challenges and current projects.

Tim also highlights the importance of doing your homework: “Be thorough and look through any publicly available material, particularly about the key current issues for the organisation you’re applying to. I look for candidates who have studied Barclays, have done their research, and are sufficiently knowledgeable to ask basic questions about our business – though I’d never expect them to be experts. ”

Be honest

This rule, adds Tim Ritchie (Barclays), also goes for the interview itself; “I think one of the biggest traps people fall into is to start talking about things or get sucked into a discussion topic which they don’t understand, and that’s a slippery slope – if you don’t understand something, say so, don’t pretend you do. Be open and honest about what you know, otherwise it can lead to a disappointing outcome”.

Ask questions, but only if you’re genuinely interested in the response

This one speaks for itself; we’ve all had that moment where all eyes are on you as the inevitable ‘any questions?’ is uttered, but as Robert suggests, it’s important to ask about things you really want to know, rather than asking for the sake of it, or worse, asking things you could have easily found out beforehand; “one of the elements that frustrates me time and time again is where interviewees have the opportunity to ask a sensible question, but then simply do not listen to the answer, and no conversation or reaction flows from it – it looks too much like ‘going through the motions’.”

In other words, if you can’t think of a good question, don’t ask a stupid one.

Avoid clichés and get to the point

Don’t tell them your weakness is that you’re a perfectionist; they’ve heard it hundreds of times before. Try instead to think of a genuine weak point, but talk about it a positive light – difficulty designating jobs to others, for instance, can show a commitment to following your projects through to fruition and is something you can easily change moving forward.

If you start to repeat yourself or feel like you’ve given a bad answer, bring your answer round to a natural close, take a deep breath and move on.  It’s only human to make at least one mistake when being questioned under-pressure; stay focused and don’t let it ruin your chances.

Be yourself

Interviewers aren’t just looking for experience and academic credentials – they’re looking at you as the whole package, so don’t be afraid to show a bit of your character. “Focus on enjoying the interview process and remember that it is your opportunity to promote yourself”, says Robert, “and also your opportunity to find out – to the extent possible – whether you would fit into the firm.” If you’re light-hearted and funny, then let it show; smile, feel free to laugh if the interviewers make jokes, and make light of yourself if you fluff up a question.

 “You may be tempted to try to live up to an image and to leave your personality at the door, but you’re not likely to be very successful” says Tim, “it can be helpful to show a bit of humour, personality, and even – to a degree – own up to a weakness, in order to get the interviewer to engage.”

And finally…

We asked our experts what qualities they think are essential for top graduates to stand out at interview. Here’s what they had to say:

“IMPACT

The subject/research idea that you are proposing needs an original angle. You need to think of the impact it will have for the field (‘impact’ is a  buzz word – I think this is something that supervisors have to demonstrate when they decide to support a student’s proposal).

INTERDISCIPLINARITY

For example, might the research be useful for other academic areas? (mine might be used for 16/17 century English Literature and Drama, but also on Gender Studies, Literature and Medicine, and Psychology.

TIMELY RESEARCH

As early as possible, google universities and research academics to see who might like/support your idea. For example, York is the place (I believe) for Medieval English, Warwick for Shakespeare. You need to do this as early as possible as academics are so pressed for time, and under lots of other pressures at the moment.

THOUGHT-THROUGH PROPOSAL

The proposal needs to be confident, i.e., this is the idea; this the current field and level of research; this is the ‘gap’ I have identified; this is why my research will be valuable, etc. You have to demonstrate that you know your field, and that, to the best of your knowledge, no-one else is working on this topic and – if they are – then this is your particular angle. “

“Clinical psychs tend to work in a job clearly labelled as psychology. Health Psychologists, if in the NHS, are more likely to have a job which uses their psychology skills and knowledge, but is part of a multi-disciplinary team. The career structure is less obvious in health psychology, but currently, there are opportunities out there, and we have a good grad employment record. Clinical psychs are more likely to do severe/enduring mental illness on a 1-1 or small group basis. Health psychs could be working 1:1, but might also be working to plan community/population level interventions, or even in research. HP is less associated with severe mental illness, and more around promoting and supporting positive health behaviour change, or promoting positive adjustment to physically demanding health conditions.”