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Target Your Search

Research the companies that interest you and tailor your applications to their specific needs and culture. Utilise job boards like JIM that specialise in jobs in Manchester.

Brush Up On Your Skills

Graduate schemes tend to prioritise relevant skills alongside your degree. Hone what you do with online courses or attend workshops as we know landing your first job can take time and many graduates can get rusty by the time they land their first degree-related position.

Network Like a Pro

Connect with professionals on LinkedIn, attend industry events, and reach out to alumni for advice. You’d be surprised at what building a network can do and the opportunities it can open.

Craft a CV & Cover Letter to be Proud of

Showcase your achievements, your work, and transferable skills. Keep your CV short, sweet and action oriented. Tailor your cover letter to each specific role (no getting lazy), highlighting your passion for the company and the position.

Practice Makes Perfect

Prepare for interviews by researching common graduate interview questions and practising your responses. Mock interviews with friends or career advisors can boost your confidence.

Manchester is a major hub for finance in the UK, with a significant presence of banks, insurance companies, and other financial institutions. Manchester is home to the largest regional financial, professional, and business services (FPBS) industry outside of London, employing more than 280,000 people. Many financial institutions have a ‘Back Office’ presence in the city as it is cheaper than London but with a just as if not more skilled workforce.

Spinningfields has become a hub for financial services in the city centre and hosts businesses like Barclays and BNY Mellon (Bank of New York). You can find their career pages linked in the previous sentence.

You can find links below to more financial job boards.

Your job title is your primary key word, it is what a potential applicant will most likely type into their browser, or at least some portion of the job title. Be mindful not give your job roles unnecessary names or titles that applicant won’t understand, or that isn’t search friendly, and be cautious with abbreviations. Beverage Dissemination Officer sound fancy but Bartender will outperform it every day of the week.

Obviously, there are exceptions to this as some specialist roles may require specialist titles that applicants looking to fill those roles will be aware of, such as in the Healthcare and Science sectors.

The next and true job title sin that is looked poorly upon by Google is cramming in information and incentives into job titles such as “cash in hand” and “sign on bonus”. This ‘clickbait’ treatment is frowned upon by both Google and most jobs boards; Google tends to penalise them, so you mainly see this tactic on social media or job boards that either don’t care for the behaviour or are too large to moderate the listings. Don’t be these people, it isn’t a good look.

The acceptable additions to job titles, that will benefit your listing are:  

• Who the position is aimed at such as Graduate, Entry Level, can help listing performance if stated in the title. 
• If the position is an Apprenticeship or Internship, you should state it in the job title. 
• If the role is part time of full time, it should also be found in the job description, and if the listing is set up appropriately in the ‘structured data’ for Google’s search algorithm. 

Here are some of the highlights of JIM in 2023

• 462 jobs have been posted on JIM between June and the end of 2023
• Over 1000 application clicks have happened on JIM in 2023
• Over 700 people found us through our jobs pulled and promoted by Google in 2023
• JIM had over 3000 visitors in 2023
• JIMs social following grew by over 40%