If you’re a recent graduate, you’re probably getting bombarded with emails from careers sites reminding you that it’s that time of year – graduate program applications are now open.

After finishing uni, my ultimate goal was to get into a graduate program. The attraction was obvious – joining a reputable and established organisation where there’s a huge focus on learning and development, mentoring, great pay, and the opportunity to work with other like-minded grads.

But as ideal as a grad program is for a first job, the standard application process is, quite frankly, ridiculous.

Gruelling Is An Understatement

First step is the initial application. This is the easy part – filling out personal info and uploading your transcripts.

Then comes the time-consuming part – writing a “one page pitch” explaining why you think you’re a good applicant for this graduate program.

Next is the online testing that is somehow supposed to measure your literacy, numeracy and logic. These kind of remind me of those NAPLAN tests we used to take in primary school – super stressful and totally unnecessary. I have the utmost admiration for someone who can figure out that a white circle with three black dots comes third in the pattern after a grey square and a black hexagon with six white dots…

Sometimes companies get extra tricky and make you do a one-sided video interview where you have to read, interpret and answer interview questions on your screen, all while your wide-eyed and slightly shiny face is staring straight back at you on camera. I would have given anything to see a human face on the other side of that video but instead, I just had to watch myself struggle.

Then comes the final round (squirms uncomfortably). Panel interviews are basically just a bunch of scary older people interrogating you and asking why they should choose you over thousands of other candidates. In the assessment centres, you’ll find yourself in a room filled with high-achievers, finding it almost impossible to stand out to the assessors. Just remember that whilst all the applicants may be at par on paper, being yourself and showing your personality in those final rounds is absolutely key to securing the job.

At the end of this ridiculously drawn-out, sometimes six month long process, you’ll either get a call saying you’re successful or an impersonal rejection email.

Keep It Going

Use rejection as a springboard and push yourself with your next applications. Fear of rejection can be almost crippling, but you will never hear yes if you don’t put yourself out there.

Know your worth, feel confident that you’ve worked hard to get through uni and you are deserving of a position.

In a years time I hope you’re looking back on the stressful application process and laughing because now you’re in a great job. I know that was the case for me – after 47 applications and a lot of rejection, I managed to land a fantastic grad job.

Searching for that elusive “dream grad job” is hard but we can make it easier by changing the perception that there is only one way to get into a graduate program (straight out of uni). You CAN take an alternate pathway. A lot of graduate programs will take applicants two years out of university, so you can always reapply next year.

In the meantime, do what you need to do to get to where you need to be. Maybe you’ll find full-time work somewhere else and realise that a graduate program isn’t really for you. Maybe it means moving back home with your parents to save, doing post-graduate study, working an admin job, doing bar work, or going travelling. It’s all going to be of use to you. None of those things devalue your degree.

So whether you’re applying for one or many, whether you’re at the beginning of your job search or back again for another year, I encourage you to keep persisting. Your grad job is out there waiting for you – you just might have to take an unconventional route to find it.