“Be open minded. Stay motivated. Keep applying.” Alphonse Engama
Hear from Alphonse as he recounts his journey from graduating in June 2020 to securing a full time role with the help of Graduate Mentor in January 2021.
We caught up with BSc graduate, Alphonse Engama, to share his journey from graduation to employment during the pandemic.
“I left Nottingham Trent University with a 2.2 in Construction Management and found the job market really tough. I must have made over 30 applications using lots of job sites and LinkedIn to search for relevant opportunities in the Construction sector but I was having no success. In October 2020, I decided to register with GRB – a recruitment agency for grads – and apart from jobs and advice they alerted me to Graduate Mentor.
It sounded interesting so I visited the platform and found a Construction expert, Dave Smith, and set up a mentoring session. He spent an hour on the phone with me giving me some brilliant advice. We had four more follow-up emails and by the end he had redone my CV, told me to be open minded in my job search and to not be afraid to call companies directly. He really gave me the confidence to keep going and that I would find work.
I started making applications during November/December and got an interview with the NHS Facilities division who offered me a full-time job. I started in January 2021 and can now add this experience to my CV and move forward in my life. My tips to other grads are, be open minded – stay motivated – keep applying. It worked for me and I am grateful to Dave Smith for helping me out.”
