Trick or treat?!  

As Hallowe’en’s witching hour approaches, it’s time to gather around the flickering fire and chill your blood with some truly ghastly horror stories, courtesy of our resident ‘ghost writer’!

Our first tale of terror…

You’re on your own. There’s no one around – the house is eerily deserted. The night has fallen and, as the wind whistles down the chimney, you feel the icy hand of fear clutching at your heart. You’re all alone and fearful for your future.

All your friends are busy applying for graduate jobs, but you’ve not even started thinking about life after uni. Argh!

How about another spooky story?

They stare at you with a keenness in their eyes that makes your heart beat faster. The trickle of sweat pricks your forehead and you breathe harder, not knowing what to do or say. You fear them, convinced they’ll pull you apart mercilessly. How can you escape?

The interview panel are asking questions you don’t have the answer to – can you talk about a time when you’ve had to use creative thinking in a problem solving situation? Argh!

Finally, a last frightening fable…

You’ve become one of them – a zombie-like creature, following the same remorseless path, sleepwalking into a nightmare you can’t wake from. You feel like you’re shuffling along with the rest into a future of imprisonment, to which there is no end.

You don’t want a 9 – 5 office job. You want to do something different – an alternative career. Argh!

Okay, so these aren’t exactly Paranormal Activity, Scream or even (let’s face it), Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, but they are common scenarios that can be unnerving. The good news (like the welcome light of morning after a dark and stormy night) is you can do something to avoid these situations.

If your friends are applying for jobs before you, don’t panic. You can start exploring what types of jobs you might be interested in. Try the Get Ideas page on the Careers and Placements website. The Look for Work section will also point you in the direction of vacancy sources and give you advice on making applications.

You needn’t feel unprepared for job interviews – there’s lots of information in the Look for Work section on preparing for interviews and assessment centres. If you’ve got a job interview coming up, you can book a practice interview appointment and get the chance to try answering some questions. Alternatively, try the interview simulator in the VLE’s Interview Guide.

Not every student wants to work for one of the big graduate recruiting companies. Many work for small businesses, work for themselves or find alternative careers. We can help you explore other options.

So, don’t worry if you hear a creak on the stair tonight when the house is still – it’s not a fearsome graduate recruiter coming to interview you.  It’s just the house settling after everyone’s gone to bed.

Either that or it’s Count Dracula paying you a night time visit!

BOO!