Apply for jobs early, students told

Undergraduates should be planning their career path while they are studying for their degree, one recruitment specialist has advised.

Chief Executive of the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services, Margaret Dane, said the most organised and prepared students begin filling out job applications at the start of their final year.

Ms Dane noted that even those people in their first or second year of university should be thinking about their career and making their CV as 'impressive' as possible.

'Leaving the thinking and the action until the last minute is a recipe for poor applications, rejections and drifting,' she said.

Planning for the future will mean students 'already have an idea of what they want, why they want it and what they have to offer potential employers,' she added.

Graduate-recruitment schemes in the finance and accountancy sector received the highest number of early applications in 2007, the UK Graduate Careers Survey revealed.