Graduation case study: 'I nearly gave up hope before finally landing the position I wanted'

THE best advice for anyone graduating this summer and looking for a job is to be patient, persevere and never lose faith in yourself, according to Chris Scott.

He should know. He graduated at the depth of the recession last summer from Napier University in Edinburgh with a degree in business management, and tomorrow he starts a new job as a financial analyst.

In the meantime, he has worked, gaining useful experience, paid off his student overdraft and continued applying for career posts, despite setbacks and disappointments.

Chris said: "I applied for jobs in my final year at university but wasn't successful, so I started working for a pensions company. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but I knew it would be good experience working in the financial sector."

His pragmatic approach paid off. Tomorrow he starts his career as an index analyst with an Edinburgh investment firm, monitoring stock markets.

He advises this year's graduates to be patient if they don't get their dream job straight away.

"It is very difficult on the jobs front at the moment. The important thing is to go on believing in yourself. I was lucky as my family were very supportive.

"Even so, there are times when you begin to doubt yourself and wonder if you will ever get the sort of job you hoped for. I even came to question whether there had been any point doing a degree at all, when so many of my friends with good qualifications were earning the minimum wage clearing tables.

"But you have to go on having faith in yourself and not give up. If you remain positive, you should get there in the end."

Working also helped Chris get to grips with his debts. He had a student loan as well as an overdraft with Royal Bank of Scotland when he graduated. He has cleared the overdraft, and is now paying back his loan.