Page 4 | Computer Science Graduate looking for work

JobSearch2024 · 2024-08-04T08:01:39+00:00

DS has recently graduated with a 2:1 in Artificial Intelligence. He has been sending off loads of job applications and getting rejections or no response at all. He is getting somewhat despondent. He is going to book an appointment with the career advice service at the university he has recently left. However, there is currently a long wait for an appointment. Does anyone have any good ideas about where would be a good place for DS to look for jobs? He is currently searching the employment agencies online and applying for lots of different jobs. I just wondered if there might be any tips he hasn't thought of. Thanks for any pointers.

Original poster

JobSearch2024 · 06/08/2024 20:54

Beth216 · 06/08/2024 20:25

DS (ASD) applied for and got a comp sci degree apprenticeship so at a lower level to your DS, but he applied to about 20 or so different places so got quite a lot of experience form it. This is obviously at a lower level but still might be useful. He found that the stuff he did outside school was as important as his grades. Anything that involved working as a team was very important - did your ds do a group project as part of his degree? I know this is required with comp sci but not sure if it's the same for AI, if it is then talk it up on CV.

Any relevant groups he is involved with at uni - comp sci society doing hackathons or whatever they do? Make sure that is down. Any projects he's done in his own time put on Github, get him to build a website and put some of his cool projects on there or make one about something else he's interested in. If he's done any short courses in his own time that can help fill it out. Make very a big thing of his end of uni project using impressive jargon. When he writes about his job talk about communication skills, working as a team, any particular responsibilities.

He needs to sound like he's had a lot going on - just doing his course is not enough. Even if he does loads of stuff now to load up his cv he doesn't have to say exactly when it was done (although Github may have dates and give it away).

All these things will be even more important when it comes to interview and they start asking questions because they will want to hear about more than just what he has done on his course. It wasn't a thing for DS at a lower level but I would anticipate a question about leadership - did he by any chance get involved in any uni societies and take on any sort of leadership role?

When he gets to interview it's worth asking if questions are given in advance to neurodiverse candidates. Civil Service and anything government related are very good for this, lots of the big companies even though some say they are disability confident aren't. Good luck!

@Beth216 Thank you for all of this excellent advice. I have relayed it to DS.

OP posts:

RidingMyBike · 07/08/2024 09:25

I've been interviewing for entry level roles with a lot of graduates applying. Different area but I think the key things will still apply - has he fully understood the application process? Competition is very fierce. When shortlisting for interview we score against the essential and desirable characteristics in the person spec. For popular jobs it's likely we'll have several (or more) candidates scoring very highly. There are only x number of interview slots available, so only the x highest scoring applicants will get an interview.

What that means in practice is: put all the essential and desirable characteristics into a table or spreadsheet. Column one. Then in column two fill in how he meets that criterion, with an example. Make sure absolutely everything is covered. Depending on what the application form is like he'll then need to turn that into prose - the applications with short paragraphs or even bullet points were easiest to read! Bear in mind the employer may only have a minute or two to glance over each application in an initial sift.

The advantage of an unrelated job in a shop is that it can be used as an example for various softer aspects of the person spec eg customer service, working to deadlines, good timekeeping, following procedures, dealing with busy/complex challenges.

I've seen JDs include things like being prepared to wear a name badge - it sounds ridiculous but include a sentence about being happy to do this and an example of doing so. When I was a lot younger I'd have thought this was ridiculous and not included it, just assuming it was implicit but when you're being scored against the person spec absolutely everything needs to be included.

Leniriefenstahl · 08/08/2024 08:07

@JobSearch2024 my DS is in a similar situation, great degree in CS, suspect undiagnosed autism but he refuses to engage with any kind of diagnosis, no previous work experience. He’s applied for loads of retail posts, had a couple of interviews but no actual job yet. He’s realistic about getting something in IT, very much looking for junior positions, first line help desk, certainly doesn’t expect to walk into something.
He’s now looking at voluntary work, possibly with our local library and for a cafe that’s connected to a charity. Hopefully both will enable him to gain some level of customer experience. He’s getting pretty despondent too. He’s finally agreed to send me his CV so I’ll have a look at it and see if it can be improved.
Fwiw there’s a massive issue with CS graduates struggling to find work, so many people wanting to move into IT, doing Boot camps etc that lead to nothing.

Original poster

JobSearch2024 · 08/08/2024 22:12

Leniriefenstahl · 08/08/2024 08:07

@JobSearch2024 my DS is in a similar situation, great degree in CS, suspect undiagnosed autism but he refuses to engage with any kind of diagnosis, no previous work experience. He’s applied for loads of retail posts, had a couple of interviews but no actual job yet. He’s realistic about getting something in IT, very much looking for junior positions, first line help desk, certainly doesn’t expect to walk into something.
He’s now looking at voluntary work, possibly with our local library and for a cafe that’s connected to a charity. Hopefully both will enable him to gain some level of customer experience. He’s getting pretty despondent too. He’s finally agreed to send me his CV so I’ll have a look at it and see if it can be improved.
Fwiw there’s a massive issue with CS graduates struggling to find work, so many people wanting to move into IT, doing Boot camps etc that lead to nothing.

Edited

@Leniriefenstahl Thank you for posting your experiences. The best of luck to your son in his job search.

OP posts:

Bearpawk · 09/08/2024 20:10

Which uni did he attend and does he have good A-levels ? Lots of grad employers seek Russell group / top 20 and good A-levels.

Does he have a GitHub Portifilio online? LinkedIn profile ? Extra curriculars ?

Does he have his key skills listed (coding languages etc)

Leniriefenstahl · 09/08/2024 23:23

Ah well, that’s my son out, not amazing A’levels as Covid tuition was appalling and he got very little support with his dyslexia. Certainly not a Russell group uni 😳 has GitHub stuff, plus working on refining a project he started for his final dissertation.