Want a graduate job? Then be prepared to have more tricks up you sleeve than Derren Brown. At least that's the experience of Charlotte Frenchman, who has jumped though as many hoops as the average circus performer to secure her first role.
Class of 2009 graduate Charlotte recently blogged about the gruelling lengths she had to go to to impress employers before eventually securing a marketing job. She wrote: "I've taken spelling tests, grammar tests and psychometric tests. I've presented to camera, written news articles, prepared a sample PR strategy and been asked how I would maximise the profits of a cinema in one day. I've been asked what animal best describes my personality and what I would say if the interviewers told me I hadn't performed as well as they had expected."
Phew. If you ask me, it seems a bit too close to an episode of The Apprentice. And while you might have never applied to become Lord Sugar's lackey, sorry, apprentice, you could still find yourself participating in it – well, a version of show-style contests, anyway. That's because Lord Sugar's particular brand of screening candidates is becoming increasingly popular among recruiters.
Take 'The Eventice', an Apprentice-style series of challenges for event management students, where victory led to a job for one entrant. And then there's L'Oréal, which last year ran a virtual business game where applicants were given avatars and faced online tasks.
So, what does all this mean for the good old CV and covering letter formula? And, if you are about to embark on a full-scale graduate job hunt, what can you expect and, indeed, what do employers expect from you? To give you a helping hand, our experts will be offering tried-and-tested advice about graduate jobseeking as well as discussing what the class of 2011 could face in the ever-spiky graduate jobs market this year. Join our live Q&A on 27 June from 1pm until 4pm – advance questions welcome below.
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Our panel:
Orla Meade is Unilever's graduate attraction specialist in the UK and Ireland. Orla is responsible for the company's graduate recruitment through its Future Leaders Programme.
Suzanne Collier is a Guardian Careers contributor and founder of bookcareers.com. Suzanne has been helping people develop their book publishing careers for more than 20 years.
Gareth Pritchard is an executive director of Centiq. Gareth's current areas of responsibility include apprenticeship training and graduate recruitment.
Anna Tayler is a career consultant at the University of Salford.
Simon Reichwald is director of Bright Futures - a company which helps students make informed career choices, network with employers and develop employability skills.
Sophie Adams is a recruitment manager at John Lewis.
Steve Thompson is senior careers adviser at Aston University Careers and Employability Centre. Steve is link careers adviser for undergraduates in Aston Business School and the School of Languages and Social Sciences.
Alysha Morgan is part of the GO Wales marketing team at Swansea University. GO Wales is a project that helps students and graduates in Wales through a range of services including paid 10 week work placements, voluntary work experience tasters, funding for graduate training and two training academies.
Phil Edleston is managing director and co-founder of Dylan Marketing Recruitment.
Dr Lynne Powell is a senior lecturer in Organisation and Human Resource Management at Newcastle Business School (NBS). Lynne joined NBS in 2003 following a career in human resource management and development within the public sector.
Andy Byrne is a careers adviser at Liverpool John Moores University with specific responsibility for the Faculty of Technology and Environment.
