Consultancy at Deloitte

If you’re interested in becoming a consultant, Deloitte are running a case study event at the Careers Service to give you an insight into how they work with their clients. You’ll work alongside consultants from different areas of Deloitte’s work (eg. Technology Integration, Enterprise Applications, Strategy etc) on a realistic business scenario.

• Date : Thursday 19th November
• Time : 12.00-14.00
• Where : Careers Service, Crawford House (5th floor)

You’ll need to sign up in advance, and do some preparation by reading their website describing the range of consultancy work at Deloitte. I’d also get to the event in good time, as I suspect it will be very popular (and the first to get there get the seats).

Public Policy Competition

While you’re on the Deloitte website, you might also want to have a look at their Public Policy Competition. This is an essay competition, open to all UK students (it explicitly mentions Masters and PhDs) where you’re asked to tackle a great big complicated problem facing the Government (of whichever flavour) over the next 10 years:

“The current economic climate and an ageing population present significant challenges to Britain’s public services. If you were in charge of a government department dealing with these issues, what key changes would you implement over the next ten years?”

Come up with an answer in under 2000 words and you might be in with a chance (and no, I don’t think “I’d stop paying consultants” is going to get you very far…). You need to register by 15th January at the latest and the closing date for entries is 29th January. Prizes allow you to choose between work experience at Deloitte – or holiday vouchers.

UK and International Applications

Deloitte, like many other consultancies, are open to applications from UK and international students, subject to work permit restrictions. They are happy to consider those who can work in the UK through the Tier 1 (Post Study) scheme, so that could apply to most of our current postgrads. Their website clearly states their stance on work permits and it looks like the only area where they explicitly state you need a UK passport is for their “Enterprise Risk Services Technology (Security & Privacy)” roles.

UK and International Equivalent Qualifications

They also have clear requirements of the level of qualifications needed, including undergraduate degree level, and A levels or the equivalent qualifications which got you to university. Unusually, their website also clearly lays out the international equivalents – worth a look if you’re confused about how your non-UK school qualifications compare to UK equivalents, even if you’re not planning to apply to Deloitte. Just be aware that they do set the bar pretty high (especially for their consultancy roles) so other employers may not be quite so demanding.

Interviews & Assessment Talks

Quick reminder that I’m doing two more talks this week in the “Career Essentials for Postgrads” series:

• Interviews for Masters Postgrads – today (Monday 2nd Nov) at 1.00pm, LT 1.4, Kilburn Building
• Interviews for PhDs – Thursday 5th Nov, again at 1.00pm, LT 1.4, Kilburn Building

Next week is the last talk in this series, on Assessment Centres. As there’s normally a smaller audience for this talk, I’ve combined Masters and PhDs into one talk:

• Assessment Centres for Postgraduates – Monday 9th Nov, at 1.00pm, LT 1.4, Kilburn Building

Again, I’m aiming to make a version of the Interviews and Assessment Centre talks available on-line (audio plus slides) after the face-to-face talks.

 

FindAPhD Mug Shot

So, did anyone else get one?

Thanks to Andy from www.FindAPhD.com/www.FindAMasters.com for the freebie – and for producing a useful web resource which I do recommend frequently.

Their website is especially comprehensive for biological and chemical sciences but also has lots of opportunities for other subjects.

However, the one area which is less well represented is humanities PhDs, so I challenged Andy about this. He pointed out that for most humanities PhDs, you have to come up with your own proposal – so there are far fewer pre-defined PhD projects to advertise. Obvious really, if I’d only engaged my brain before asking.

Postgrad Study Fair – Weds 28th Oct

Tomorrow is the big Postgraduate Study Fair at Manchester Central (G-Mex as was).

Good reasons to go:

• You’re thinking about continuing with postgraduate study (for most of you, this will be a PhD – or maybe another Masters?)
• You want to talk to almost 100 exhibitors, face to face, about applying to their institutions, what funding they have, what their university is like etc.
• You want to investigate studying outside the UK – there will be representatives there from Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Germany and Ireland, in addition to lots from Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales and England.
• You’re interested in some professional study programmes such as News Associates Journalism training or MAs from Sotheby’s Institute of Art.
• You want to talk to careers advisers about where postgrad study might fit in your career plans.

Bad reasons to go:

• You’re looking for postgraduate jobs.
  This is about doing postgraduate courses. There isn’t a purely “postgraduate jobs fair” – all the graduate jobs fairs include jobs open to postgraduates.
• You need to talk to someone about a specific PhD or research topic.
  They’re unlikely to have your potential supervisor in attendance, but may be able to talk to you more generally about support for postgraduates.
• You’re looking for more of those freebies you picked up at the last two fairs.
  Hmm, these are universities, so you might strike lucky with the odd pen or cardboard coaster but don’t expect lavish giveaways (though I have heard that someone will have mugs which you can write on with chalk, like blackboards – but I’m not telling you who’s got these until I’ve been there first…)

Don’t Want To Work For Someone Else?

If you fancy being your own boss, there’s a new one day event aiming to help you, taking place in Manchester, with free places for graduates and postgraduates.

The thing I particularly like about the Flying Start “Make It Happen” programme is that it recognises that whilst some of you might want to set up your own businesses, others are more interested in self employment or freelancing – and they have follow on programmes for each of these approaches. In addition, they are offering 12 months mentoring support to help get you started.

The initial Manchester programme is on Wednesday 18th November at the Manchester Conference Centre (right next to North Campus) from 10.00am until 3.00pm, and in addition to Flying Start, they say there will be representatives from Business Link and HSBC. You have to sign up beforehand for a place. I suspect this offer will be popular, so if you’re interested, I wouldn’t wait too long to register.

Life Sciences – Careers Panel

In a slightly different sort of Question Time to the one in the news at the moment, there will be a Careers Question Time for life scientists next week. This is the chance to talk to life science graduates and postgraduates who have gone into careers in :

• Patents
• Pharmaceuticals
• Clinical science
• Science communication
• Clinical trials
• Medicine (as a graduate entrant)
• Business development
• Environmental strategy (come and meet Erica, former zoologist, who I met at Yorkshire Water)

It’s taking place on Wednesday 28th October, from 2-4pm, in Stopford Lecture Theatre 1. Come armed with all your career questions.

Massive Recruitment Fairs This Week

Our two big Autumn recruitment fairs are taking place on Wednesday 21st October (Engineering, Science and Technology) and Thursday 22nd October (Finance, Business and Management) at Manchester Central (G-Mex as it used to be called). Time is tight … but it’s a difficult job market, s0 should you go? Well, it all depends :

• Yes – if employers you’d like to work for are attending, and you haven’t already met them at a recent recruitment event. You can find a list of who’s attending on our website (Finance etc Fair attendees and Science etc Fair attendees).
  In particular, in a recession where it’s a very competitive job market, any extra information you can glean to add to your application is worth the effort.
• No – if you’re looking for a niche job with a small employer or a job in the non-commercial sector (though we do have some Government departments attending). It tends to be large recruiters who want several graduates/postgraduates who go to the expense of sending someone, so check first so you’re not disappointed.
• Yes – if you want to talk about jobs suitable for postgraduates
• No – if you are expecting lots of jobs and promotional material aimed at postgraduates.

Confused? You’ll probably be disappointed to find out that few exhibitors specifically mention postgraduates in the Fair Guide – but that doesn’t mean to say they don’t want to recruit you. Some of the biggest employers of postgraduates in the country promote their jobs at this time of year simply as “graduate jobs”, even though we know they’re very keen to speak to postgrads.  This re-inforces some research we did a few years ago at the fairs, when

• only 2 organisations out of 80 we talked to didn’t want postgrads
• but only 5 specifically targeted postgrads
• all the rest were perfectly happy to talk to you - but called all their jobs “graduate jobs”

They may have separate career tracks for postgrads, but many will bring you in on the same level as the undergrads. However,  time after time, we hear of postgrads whose careers rapidly outstrip their fellow undergrad new starters, as they prove what they can do with that extra maturity and experience.

If you are going to attend one of the fairs, you’ll get a lot more out of it if you recognise that you may not be able to talk to someone who can give you detailed info on the specific job you’re interested in. You’re much more likely to get to talk to a recent graduate who will tell you to “look on the website” for the specific vacancies. So what can you get out of them? Easy! You get to figure out whether you would want to work for an organisation by the way it treats its recent recruits (and with a bit of luck, the new grads will be unguarded enough to tell you the truth about what it’s really like at work).

I’d suggest asking about:

• What training did they get/do they offer?
• How do they get measured? (If you find out what the organisation values in its employees, could you realistically expect to deliver the results which will result in fast promotion or increased pay?)
• Do they know any postgraduates working for the organisation, & what jobs are they doing?
• What’s their boss like? (probably just for the new grads, that one!)
• What do they think is different about their organisation compared to their competitors

It’s all good material for that bit in the covering letter or during interview on “Why do you want to work for us?”. It’s so much more impressive to say “when I was talking to your R&D Manager …”, rather than “well, it says on your website …”, which every other candidate will have read.

And a final tip – if you get there earlier, you’re more likely to get a reasonable amount of time with exhibitors, you will get to talk to them before they get into their “fixed patter” mode (where they’re so tired, they just reel off the same thing to everyone they see) , and, of course, you should get the pick of the freebies.

Who Can Use Our Careers Service?

I’ve been asked to clarify who is allowed to attend the talks announced in the last blog post. So, you’re welcome to attend if :

• you’re a current postgrad at the University of Manchester.
• you’re one of our recent alumni.
  Did you realise we can still help you at the Careers Service if you graduated from the University of Manchester within the last three years?
  (However, these talks are aimed at those who are currently studying or have very recently finished. In the time available, I won’t be covering, for example, CVs where you have a few years work experience gained after completing your postgrad degree. Might be better to see us individually if you’re still eligible.)

I also won’t object if you’re one of our research staff (though you might be better to go to a session specifically designed for you – see your Faculty training team for information), or if you’re one of our current undergrads wondering what it’s like trying to find work as a postgrad (though you’d probably be better to talk to us individually).

If you don’t fall into one of those categories, unfortunately, you won’t be able to attend our talks or see us directly. However, there are other ways of getting career support.

University of Manchester Support For All
Obviously everyone’s welcome to read this blog (and our other blogs, such as our International Student careers blog), follow our Twitter feeds, and visit our website. You’ll find that some of the links (particularly for vacancy information or downloads) will lead you to a login page for University of Manchester students and alumni (just sign up for a careers account if you’re one of our alumni), but most info is open access.

Access To Employers
We run a massive programme of Careers Fairs in Manchester, open to anyone, which generally include talks and free careers advice, (though the advice service does get awfully busy). Some other employer events are also open to students from other local universities – see individual event details for information.

Vitae
We’ve also started opening some of our researcher events to other universities through the support of Vitae. Last year this allowed us to offer a number of places for PhD researchers and research staff at other North West universities to attend Pathways, our big annual career options event for researchers. Vitae also run a national programme of careers events and a great careers website, open to all researchers (including those at the University of Manchester).

Your Careers Service
In addition, most Careers Services are now very happy to help their postgrads. For example, I know that our nearest neighbours, Manchester Metropolitan University have handouts on CVs etc directly targeted at postgrads (and I’m sure they’ll see you individually), and our other friends at the University of Salford, not only see postgrads individually, but also have Fiona Christie (a friend and former colleague) leading  their work with PhDs. She runs events, services and a blog directly targeted at Salford postgraduate researchers.

Careers Talks For Postgraduates

Finally, we’ve got the dates, times and venues sorted for our careers talks for Postgraduate Masters and PhD Researchers (that includes EngDs and all the other professional doctorates as well).

• The Essential Guide To Getting A Job For Postgraduate Masters:
  • Date:  Monday 5 October 2009
  • Time:  13:00 – 13:50
  • Venue:  Mansfield Cooper G19
• The Essential Guide To Getting A Job For PhD Researchers:
  • Date: Thursday 8 October 2009
  • Time:  13:00 – 13:50
  • Venue:  Chemistry G54
• CVs and Applications For Postgraduate Masters
  • Date: Monday 12 October 2009
  • Time:  13:00 – 13:50
  • Venue:  Kilburn 1.4
• CVs and Applications For PhD Researchers
  • Date: Thurday 15 October 2009
  • Time:  12:00 – 12:50 (note: earlier time than other talks)
  • Venue:  Kilburn 1.4
• Interviews For Postgraduate Masters
  • Date:  Monday 2 November 2009
  • Time: 13:00 – 13:50
  • Venue: Kilburn 1.4
• Interviews For PhD Researchers
  • Date: Thursday 5 November 2009
  • Time: 13.00 – 13.50
  • Venue: Kilburn 1.4
• Assessment Centres For Postgraduates (Masters and PhDs)
  • Date:  Monday 9 November 2009
  • Time:  13:00 – 13:50
  • Venue:  Kilburn 1.4

It’s helpful if you can sign up on the website for the ones you’re planning to attend (so we can assess numbers). However, the first people to arrive get the seats, so even if you don’t sign up, you can still attend. See you there!

McKinsey PhD Workshops

I’ve recently spoken to management consulting company, McKinsey, and found out that they are running 1 day PhD workshops in September, in London (17th), Oxford (21st) and Cambridge (18th). The workshops are primarily aimed at PhDs from, well, guess where, but they are prepared to consider excellent applications from wherever they come*. In addition, they pointed out that if they find a fantastic applicant who can’t be accommodated within these September workshops, they may be able to direct you to other opportunities to meet up with McKinsey. The closing date is midnight, Wednesday 9th September and you’ll need to upload a CV as well as an on-line application.

As you’d expect from one of the world’s most high profile management consultancies, their standards are high.  “Just” doing a PhD is only a fraction of what you’ll need to impress them, but if you have academic and non-academic achievements which show that you’re something out of the ordinary, you could be just what they’re after. Just make sure you don’t sell yourself short with your CV – for consultancy, a one page stand-out CV is more impressive than two (or more) pages of waffle.

If you don’t get the chance attend one of these workshops, they expect to run a more detailed three day Insight programme in the New Year, which hopefully I should be able to tell you about in January.

* At the moment, their on-line application system allows you to choose your university from a drop down list which includes “Manchester Business School” and “Manchester Institute of Science and Technology U of” – but not “University of Manchester”. They’ve said they’ll change it, but in the meantime, just use your common sense and use whichever you prefer!