Hi Everyone,After a difficult final year for my degree I have recently graduated with a 2:1. I applied for a few consultancy positions in my final year but didn’t really have the time to give it 100% in terms of trying to get onto a Grad Scheme.I am currently trying to get a graduate position within a firm during what appears to be a relatively quiet period for graduate recruitment. What would you advise? Keep trying to get a junior position within a firm, perhaps not as part of a graduate scheme? Or, wait until the schemes reopen later in the year and begin applying then.For a graduate I have a decent amount of experience having worked for a Blue Chip company both prior to and whilst at university. However it would likely be a bit easier to use this to get onto a graduate scheme rather than to compete with people who have a similar amount of experience, but achieved after graduating. I am currently working at the Blue Chip company and have the opportunity to carry on working there indefinitely until I can find a position. Being from a non-technical background this would allow me to develop my technical skills more within a commercial context (programming languages, gain more experience of technical project work etc….). Is it worth waiting or should I just carry on plugging away at the job posting pages?

Most companies re-open their recruitment Sept/Oct so I would recommend just sticking it out (enjoying!) for a few more weeks. I was in the same position as you - couldn't really give it my all in my final year, got 4 straight rejections, got some great work experience and applied the following year. I ended up with 4 offers. Just remember that you can still apply to 'grad' schemes for up to two years after graduating so there's really no rush.

Hi JamesI'm in the same position as you although I havn't been lucky enough to get into a blue chip company. I really want to be a consultant but I don't have an Ivy league degree although I do have a 2.1 I'm thinking about doing some voul work for awhile then reapplying will the fact that I don't have A levels but a HND go against me?

I really dont know what consultancies are looking for to be honest Tony,I'm in a slightly unusual position I guess. I have an Economics degree (2:1) and good A-Levels (AAAB) but I'm looking to get into the technical side of the industry rather than the traditional Strategy/HR etc. side. I'm finding that alot of tech-consulting firms seem to be turning me down because although the commercial side of my skills and experience is very robust my technical skills perhaps arent the same as say a computer scientist. I am reasonably tech savvy in that I design and build websites in my spare time, however I can only think that I am being filtered out because my degree featured no programming components etc....Is this the case with the industry? Apart from a few of the 'best regarded' IT Consulting firms (Accenture, Deloitte etc) the rest seem to be purely focused on hiring graduates that have developed more tangible skills whilst at university. Are firms more interested in hiring individuals with tangible, technical skills such as experience of common coding languages (Java, SQL, PhP etc....) and platforms (SAP, Siebel, Oracle etc.) and training them up on the commercial side rather than people with commercial experience and skills and then training them up on the technical side?On the HND side of things I cant offer a huge amount of advice. However I read in my local paper today (okay folks not the ideal source of industry knowledge) about a girl that did an HND as a mature student without A-Levels in computing and later upgraded it to a full degree. She has just got a position with IBM Consulting so I guess it is possible.....