I am about to graduate in June 2010. My plan is to enroll in a PART TIME taught master’s programme so that I can do a full time job in the relevant industry.
I need to apply for my choice of masters programmes BEFORE June, and in my application I need to confirm if I’m applying for a full time or a part time programme.
I will apply for a full time if I don’t find a job, and for a part time if I do find a suitable job.
So that means I am gonna have to start looking and applying for jobs BEFORE June i.e. before graduation!
Is that common? Or will the employers just laugh at my application? I am scared to send off my job application to companies coz even if there are vacancies, they might reject me on the basis that I’m just a student!
I did 6 months internship with Roche Pharma so I’m hoping that would stand by me in term of experience but I’m still wondering if its a good idea to send off ur application to employers even before u have an undergrad degree??
For a better advise I have some question as follows;
1-In which discipline you are graduating?
2-What is your priorities? You need a job to support your family 'or' your family is financially strong?
3-What are your future plans? where you see yourself in coming five years?
^ Fahad, I am in my final year of BSc. Pharmaceutical and Forensic Analysis so I have career options in both the pharmaceutical and the forensics sector. As far as I know, there is no concept of forensics in saudi arabia so I am concentrating on the pharmaceutical/chemistry/laboratory type jobs.
Secondly, I want to do a job because I am a career-oriented woman and my parents have always encouraged me to become something in life, to be independant, to make a place for me in the professional world etc.
My future plans.. hmm.. In five years time, I'll have my masters degree. I'll probably be married but still working. Within the five years, I hope to be promoted atleast twice. If I haven't already secured a permanent position, I'll probably be very near to it.
Basically, I see myself doing well in the chosen discipline.
But my question is: Is it considered dumb or stupid to apply for a job even before u have a degree? What will the companies say when they recieve my application? Or is it a common practice? Do people usually start approaching employers in the last few weeks of their final semester? Or do they wait until after graduation?
Ok. I think you should apply for an internship first in any multinational pharmaceutical company in KSA. When you will get your degree you can request for permanent position, remember don't discontinue your studies your aim should be to get your master's degree.
When you will apply as an internee. It never considered dump.
Applying in KSA is a different situation I dunno why I mentioned it.
Thanks for answering my question about whether it is ok to apply for a job before graduation.
Ok so I will start sending out job applications about 2 months before graduation. I have decided that even if I don't get a job by the time I graduate, even then I will apply for a part time masters coz u never know, I may find a job later on.
I started applying for jobs few months before graduation. My 1st interview was a week after my graduation....so my advice would be its never too early.
in the better universities in US the career efforts start at the beginning of the last year with career fairs on campus, companies coming to interview and students sending resumes out. It was not unusual for people to have job offers in hand by march for may graduations.
It was definitely the case for MBAs where a massive majority of the graduating class had job offers in hand months before finishing up.
I would suggest you start applying, and just put degree expected and date in there. hiring managers and HR folks are used to that
Huma,
as X2 said above, it's fairly common for graduating students to land jobs before they graduate. This is especially common in business schools (BBA, BCom), as well as many other depts.
The key, as X2 pointed out, is to indicate on your resume what your Expected graduation month/year is going to be.
Also, since your situation at the moment sounds pretty fluid - with multiple options available but course not well defined, I'd advise that you apply for a full-time graduate program if you're still deliberating options by that time. The reason I say this is because in my experiene, it is much easier to switch later from f-t to p-t than the other way around. Universities typically budget for f-t students and their allocation can be redistributed if someone switches to p-t status, but depts find it difficult to accomodate f-t students if they haven't allocated funds and resources to them already.
Ok so I am satisfied that its ok to apply for a job a few months before graduation. So that's that issue sorted.
Lucid, about ur advice on FT/PT graduate courses... I would like to correct you when u say that I have "multiple options available with course not well defined". My undergraduate degree has qualified me as both a forensic and an analytical scientist so the career-path is well defined, but because the pharmaceutical and forensics sectors are so vast and broad, there are a lot of different options available for us in those two sectors because they are so huge.
Its true when u say that its easier to convert from FT to PT rather than the other way around, but I am still going to do a part time because I would like to do a FT job ... I'm a non-EU citizen in Ireland which means LOADS of fees!! I really dont want my parents paying for my masters, I want to support myself this time... so hopefully I can get a FT job, earn valuable experience, make some money to pay off my fees and at the same time, earn a masters degree...