In their final year of study, many students find themselves having to grapple with one of the most stressful hurdles of their time at university: graduate recruitment season. This week, Craccum chatted to four students about their recruitment experiences.
Alan*, 24, Engineering
“So many application deadlines were all close to each other. I missed applying for a company I wanted to work for because I ran out of time and got burnt out completing other applications. I haven’t had to do psychometric testing, but had one application that required a CV, cover letter, one-way video interview, online skills testing, and online (Zoom) assessment centre with group activities and individual interviews. Still waiting to hear back.”
Janine*, 20, Commerce and Arts
“At first [recruitment season] was really fun, because you got to do lots of networking, meet heaps of people, go to lots of Zoom calls and all that fun stuff. And then you had to write the cover letter, which was a bitch. So once you’ve finally got the cover letter done and your CV is looking beautiful, you had to do fucking pyschometric testing, which is also a bitch. So I sat in my room for three hours crying over an assessment, thinking I wouldn’t make it to the next stage. 24 hours later, I got an email saying I needed to do the video interview. That was also extremely challenging, but it was definitely better than the first one. The other Big Four [firms], I never heard back from after I did the testing. So I’m fucking over it now, I’ve only applied for three jobs this year but it’s just a lot. Now I don’t want to do the mid-year [recruitment rounds] because I got an interview and didn’t get the job, so it’s a bit shit.”
Brianna*, 21, Arts
“Recruitment season was so stressful. I only applied for the Big Four, and thought I’d have no chance since I have an Arts degree. I had to do online assessments for all four, and for some companies I had to do testing as well as what they call an ‘online job simulation’. This took up hours of time and I hardly had time to study doing all of this testing. I got an interview at one firm and attended an assessment day at another, which consisted of interviews and case studies. I received offers from both and have accepted a role at my first choice firm. I’m so thankful I don’t have to do any more recruitment rounds because I basically had to put my life on hold for a full week, because all the applications and testing happen at the same time.
James*, 22, Commerce
“I applied for the Big Four, did all of their testing and they all rejected me. R.I.P. my career. Currently trying to muster up the strength to do this all again in the middle of the year.”
*Names have been changed to protect students’ identities.