Jobs In Africa and Middle East

The Global Career Company organises a range of international careers forums in London.  You  have to apply to attend and your interests and expertise will be matched with companies attending.  The Global Career Company says that many companies will be giving job offers at the events.

Careers in Middle East – click here

Careers in Africa -click here

The deadline for applications is April 30.

Jobs for Greek speakers

Advert from Gumtree.com

The Company:

Our client is a UK based international company currently recruiting for a Greek speaking Customer Service Advisor based at their Southern European offices located in Surrey. This is an excellent opportunity to work for a market leader within its sector.

The Role:

The role will be based at the heart of the company’s Customer Services Department. Daily tasks will include:

- Dealing with inbound telephone enquiries, queries and complaints.
- Dealing with inbound email enquiries, queries and complaints.
- Dealing with electronic transactions.
- Providing excellent customer service.
- Assisting and escalating queries and complaints to relevant departments.
- Dealing general administration duties required within the role.
- Assisting other team members where necessary.

Candidate Profile:

The candidate will need to be numerate and have a good general standard of education. The candidate will also require telephone based customer service experience and be IT literate. Is it likely that the successful candidate will have the ability to deal with complaints and queries in a positive and professional manner.

Salary/Additional Information:

Candidates must be fluent in Greek and English. The salary for this position will be £18,705. An excellent benefits package is also offered. The working hours for this role will be 40 hours per week between the hours of 8.00am – 11.00pm Monday – Friday. The need to be available to work on bank holidays and public holidays for which you will be given time off in lieu is also necessary.

Please send your CV for the attention of Laura to l.zapala@betrecruit.com or visit www.betrecruit.com for further information.

Zara (China)

PLEASE NOTE THE DEADLINE FOR CVS HAS CHANGED TO MONDAY FEBRUARY 23

You may remember that Zara (China) attended the campus last term. They are continuing to expand and are looking to recruit staff. Any student interested in an interview with them should email me your CV no later than Friday 27 February. Zara will consider the applications and invite students directly for interview.

Has my future been credit crunched?

 

Storm clouds over the City

For many students and graduates this is a time of significant uncertainty. The newspapers are full of gloomy headlines and the effect of the financial crises is clearly global.  In this short series we will try to explore how the credit crunch might affect your career prospects when you go back home. We will consider graduate prospects in the USA, South America, Australia, Middle-East, Africa, China and India.

So what does a bank closing mean for you? What is getting a job in a recession like?  We cannot cover everywhere with this short series but please do post comments and your experiences no matter where you are from. Your experiences can be very valuable for other people and might dispel some of the myths of the current job market. You might also find this article from the BBC about the last recession in the UK (not career specific). This series is not going to concentrate on just careers in the financial sector but the current turmoil has ramifications across each economy.

For those who aren’t sure of what the Credit crunch is (or are too afraid to ask!) there are some basic guides here and here. Or ask an economics student. Essentially it is a sudden loss of the availability of credit and banks start to worry about liquidity. Credit becomes more expensive and institutions struggle to finance their business.

Careers in the UK

The introduction of the 2 year Post-Study Work immigration status gives international students the opportunity to work in the UK and gain valuable experience. However you must be realistic. Applying for the visa does not guarantee you a job. All it does is allow you to join the Home and EU candidates in applying. You must keep your expectations moderate.

Also bear in mind that at the moment there are few experts. The pace of change in the economy is causing uncertainties. Employers recruiting this week may not be recruiting next. Some employers may keep recruitment at a very low level until they are sure of their requirements. Please also note that the information below was correct at time of writing but may become obsolete quickly.

I wanted a job in banking but there’s no point now.

With that attitude, perhaps. It is certainly easy to think that and the media keeps telling us about job losses in the City and banks cutting staff. Clearly there are some jobs that are going to be harder to get into than others – no change there then. And yes, if you want to be involved in Short Selling then this probably isn’t your time.

But banks are still recruiting. Merrill Lynch is currently advertising graduate roles in sales, trading and structuring, IT and capital markets. Barclays Capital and UBS are actively looking to hire analysts although there are suggestions that positions might be deferred for a year (i.e. successful applicants will not start work until Autumn 2009). The situation will continue to change and each company will evaluate its own requirements and yes there will be fewer jobs than before but that does not mean the sector shouldn’t be considered. Perhaps think about different roles within banking. There is a perception that smaller investment banks such as Jeffries, Houlihan Lokey and Gleacher Shacklock recruit only from the top Oxbridge colleges. The reality is that yes, some employers do tend to recruit only from a select University background. However by looking through staff profiles on these bank websites you often see greater diversity than you would expect. They are always worth trying but just be aware that they may not have policies on recruiting international graduates.

Banking? Maybe I meant the “City”.

Often people confuse banking with the “City”. The City has many different types of institutions within it. So what happens during a financial downturn like we are facing now? In fact, who “benefits” from a financial downturn? The big one surely must be in financial regulation. The UK’s Financial Services Authority is currently recruiting through its graduate schemes – Graduate Development, Legal Development, Management Accountancy and Actuarial Development.

Consultancy / Professional Services

Professional Services are involved in much of the mergers and acquisitions currently taking place. PWC have not decreased their graduate intake this year and in some business areas may look to increase opportunities. Both PWC and E&Y have a strong on-campus presence this year. With many of these organisations the roles available may be different from before but that just reflects the current market. For example, Ernst & Young are very keen to encourage applicants to their non accountancy roles and are running a session on campus to discussion those career options. For those still interested in accountancy, there may well be options to work with some of the mid-sized City firms such as Moore Stephens and CRA.

Other roles in the City include insurers Lloyds of London who are continuing to recruit for their graduate programme. And of course, all of these organisations rely on the efficient exchange of information. Thomson Reuters have been recruiting in journalism, finance and IT. Their competitor, Bloomberg, are also advertising roles for graduates.

Are you surprised?

If you think about it, there is logic to these companies continuing to recruit at graduate level. Graduates are cheap. Yes the salaries may be excellent graduate salaries (and they often are) but compare that salary to that of somebody in middle or upper management and it doesn’t take long to see where cost savings can be made.

So things are not as desperate as you might think. There are still career prospects in the financial sector but we have to accept that the roles and priorities have changed for the moment. Competition for jobs in the City is always high and the current situation could increase that.

There are several useful online resources that can help you find out more about different business environments. Efinancialcareers tries to keep up to date with events in the City. The Telegraph newspaper has an awkward online version of its finance careers guide and Careers Tagged is a new resource with substantial information about a range of career options.

Ways in

The conventional route into the City is through a graduate training scheme. However these can be costly for employers and, in the current market, they have limited opportunities. There are often other routes in and you should consider if they are appropriate for you.

Get Qualified First!

It may be possible for some graduates to secure positions in accountancy by undertaking the qualifications first. This can be a costly experience and there may be issues with immigration visas. The different qualification routes have varying requirements so it is worth looking at the ACA, ACCA , CIMA and AAT. You can dramatically increase your employability by undertaking these qualifications with the potential to enter City firms at a level higher than most graduate entry.

Internships

Some banks are not currently recruiting because they have offered positions to last year’s interns. Whilst this should not be your expectation there is little doubt that interning can boost your potential. Interns are favoured by regulators and companies because they can try out prospective employees without having to commit to recruiting them. There are internships at many City firms despite the financial crises. Even small Investment Banks like Gleacher Shacklock and Greenhill have a number of internship opportunities. However you must be applying now for internships in summer 2009. Internships are advertised on company websites and careers websites.

Speculative Applications

A speculative application is where you send a CV and letter to a company in case they may have a suitable job. It can be more effective than you think. Sometimes companies are reluctant to advertise vacancies online because they may get hundreds of applications for one job. Speculative applications are often kept on file and referred to. To make this work your CV and letter must be extremely effective, targeted to a specific job in a specific company. You can take advantage of market intelligence to increase your chance of success. If it looks as though a company is going to pursue a new business area then perhaps you can market yourself as being a useful part of that process. Some companies do not accept speculative applications and state it on their websites. You should respect that.

So, not as bad as you thought?

If you are thinking about a career in the City, be it in a bank, regulator or wherever, you need to be clever – not just academically but also in how you go about developing your own skills and making yourself slightly more employable than the many others who might be interested in the same job.  The key task whilst at University is to build up your knowledge of the sector beyond your academic requirements. Many organisations recruit from most degree backgrounds so you don’t have to be an economist to apply. But they all expect you to know something about what they do. What do the different roles mean? What makes one company different from its competitor? You need in-depth knowledge and, quite frankly, if you had to read the links above to find out about the credit crunch, things aren’t looking good!

The next article in this series will cover MENA.

Due for publication w/c November 3 2008

 

The Hidden Job Market

I have been asked my some students what we mean by “The Hidden Job Market”.  My colleague Emma Baker and I will be running a session TODAY at 2.00pm in the careers centre about this.  This workshop is open to all students and might be very useful for international students who may not be aware of different forms of job hunting technique in the UK. As we move closer to a recession candidates have to be very clever about finding vacancies and often they are where you least expect them. Intrigued? Come along to find out more! You do not need to book – just turn up.

Event Today: Finance evening

ALT1   5.00pm   Book in the Careers Centre ONLY

This session is designed for those who are interested in working in the City or financial sector but may not be sure about the sorts of opportunities open to them.  The event will include presentations from ACCA, Baker Tilly and UBS. This event is open to all students but you must book in the careers centre if you want to attend.

- presentations by ACCA, Baker Tilly, UBS

Careers in Accountancy

Did you know that you don’t need a degree in Accounting & Finance to become an accountant? Many employers recruit accross all disciplines. The ACCA is one qualification route and is recognised internationally. They have over 296,000 students registered across 170 countries. With offices and centres in nearly 80 countries and global partnerships, wherever you go ACCA is there to support your career.

The ACCA website has now got a section specifically for international students.  This includes case studies of international students studying for the ACCA and information about employers in the UK. Well worth a visit!

Updated database of friendly employers

The Careers Service has updated its database of employers based in the UK who are interested in international students.  This newer version is more user friendly than before.  Students can search the database for internships, work experience or graduate jobs. The list has been updated to include banking, IT, finance, accountancy, media, PR, advertising and other opportunities. It is a great place to start when looking for potential employers.

Fantastic jobs for Indian students

For those of you who haven’t seen it, International Job Online is the online international jobs website from The Careers Group, University of London.  The site is still young and yet already has had hundreds of jobs for RHUL graduates to apply for.  RHUL students may be interested in the large number of IT (software development and IT enabled particularly), banking and consultancy roles already advertised for students interested in working in India  There are also jobs for RHUL graduates now living in India – walk in jobs accross many sectors.  International Job Online is the most developed University jobs site in the UK and students from external Universities are already taking advantage of the many jobs on offer.  There are currently over 350 jobs accross many sectors and countries including volunteering and internships to full time careers. Well worth a visit!