This is a guest post by Susanna Cha.
This is the question that I had been asking myself once I received three job offers after an extensive job hunt. Before going into this, I’d like to share the techniques that I used in finding a job.
My Background
I’m a recent MSc Marketing graduate and I therefore thought it was of importance to find a job whereby I can turn all of the theory I had learned, into practice. I knew that I wasn’t going to find a job that could offer me all aspects of marketing, so I decided on what I believed I liked the most and was the most interesting; direct and digital marketing. I decided to do an extra course next to my Masters education and received a certificate. The reason why I did this was because I knew this would have a positive effect on my CV. Having just a plain CV with your education isn’t that special, but listing extra educational achievements might make it stand more out I believed. I was taught during career courses that it is all about your unique selling point and it is important to know what your unique selling point is, otherwise you can’t “sell” yourself. I knew that along with the three languages I speak and the extra educational achievements, my CV would stand out a bit more than the general CV’s.
My Job Hunt
Once I graduated, the job hunt began. I was unsure if I wanted to stay in the UK or go to the Netherlands so I started applying in both countries. I subscribed myself to recruitment websites in the Netherlands and applied for three companies. Although I was invited for three job interviews at digital marketing agencies in the Netherlands, I unfortunately did not make it through to the next stage. I think this was because of my lack in confidence as I remember being so nervous.
Tip
I therefore believe that it is good to apply for many jobs at the same time even if you don’t necessarily want to work for company X. Gaining the interview experience will boost your confidence significantly so just use them as practise material.
After three rejections I got a bit nervous as I was unsure how long it would take me until I would have a job, but important here is to carry on hunting and not to let it get to you. I continued my search by using recruitment websites such as Guardian Jobs and also searched for digital marketing agency lists in the area where I knew I wanted to be.
Tip
If you know the type of role you’d like have and the sort of industry you want to work in, use recruitment websites and upload your CV. Also, use search engines and type in the kind of industry or companies and the area you prefer to work in. In my case this was “digital marketing agencies Leeds”. This is a good method to use for job hunting, as some companies don’t advertise their vacancies outside of their own website.
Then I looked on their websites to see if any of them were listing vacancies. This approach really helped as I had send out five applications and received three interviews. The interviews went well as I was more prepared for the kind of questions they would ask me due to the other interviews that I had in The Netherlands. Surprisingly, all three companies wanted to hire me so I had a tough choice to make.
The Deciding Factor
From the three companies that offered the role, it was easy to rule out company X as this company only offered me £15.000 per annum. Then I needed to decide upon company Y and Z. When I walked into company Y, I did not feel very welcome as the atmosphere was quite neutral. The interview itself also wasn’t great as both gentlemen who interviewed me seemed very serious and strict, whereas the people who interviewed me at company Z were laughing, making jokes, and showed some expression in their faces.
Company Y offered me £17.000 per annum plus bonuses and company Z offered me £16.000 annum. Also company Y was only a 10 minute walk whereas company Z was a 30 minute bus drive. On top of that, I knew that if I would chose company Z I would need to pay an £80 per month for bus tickets. The choice was not easy but I eventually decided to go with company Z due to the company atmosphere. Right when I walked in, the receptionist was very kind, make a quick social talk with me and offered me coffee, unlike company Y where I was not spoken to by anyone accept for the interviewers. This eventually made me decide to take the job offer from company Z.
Tip
If you find yourself in a similar situation and unless the salary differences are huge, I would suggest you to take a company’s atmosphere into consideration. Even if you receive £50 more per month, it is so important to feel welcome and to be happy when going to work. I believe I made the right decision as we are growing significantly with new people coming in every month. I hope my story will help you in the process of choosing one company over the other. Good luck with the job hunt!
About the author of this post:
This guest post was written by Susanna Cha who writes for Guardian Jobs including graduate and internship job opportunities in sectors including charity, finance, retail, local government, teaching and retail.
If you had a choice to choose between a better paying job or a better company culture – what would you choose and why?