This is a new trend among graduates but one that is on

This is a new trend among graduates, but one that is on the increase.MarchMore job offers."Insight into Management" courses run by some careers services.If you are interested in a career in the media, consider applying to do some work experience during the Easter holidays.AprilLook out for those employers that have Easter vacation courses.MayYou can't afford to miss regular visits to the careers service bulletin boards: job vacancies should now be advertised weekly.JuneSummer fairs commence. Recruitment events are particularly worthwhile at the universities of Bristol, Brunel, Cardiff, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham, Reading and Ulster.Don't miss out on the mini-milk rounds.JulyIf you haven't got a job offer yet, don't panic. An ever-increasing number of graduates don't even have time to start thinking seriously about jobs until they've got their studies out of the way.Ensure you keep up with careers service vacancy lists, specialist journals and newspaper advertisements. It's important that you remember to look at local papers (including the freebies). These have become more relevant in recent years as companies decentralise and begin to recruit locally.Start to make speculative applications to employers who might be interested.Chartered accountants commence recruitment for the next year..

Ever wondered how the BBC found its latest director general? How the army attracts enough raw recruits to turn into blue-berated peacekeepers? How supermarkets source their shelf-stackers and cashiers? The answer is advertising. While some jobs are still filled through word- of-mouth or headhunters, companies who want to be able to choose from a broad field of candidates - and maximise their chances of getting high- calibre applicants - choose to advertise positions, from chief executive down to trainee. Which is where recruitment advertising agencies come in - a fast-growing industry attracting a fast-growing number of graduates. Barkers, one leading recruitment advertising agency, launched its first graduate training programme in 1997. Martha Lukasiewicz was accepted onto it with an English degree at Liverpool University. "I had been thinking about going into advertising for several years, but I had never thought of recruitment advertising, because I did not know it existed," she admits. Now she would encourage anyone keen on a career in advertising not to restrict their job search to consumer advertising agencies "You're not pigeonholed.

You're involved in the work from the first call from the client right through to sending the finished artwork to a publication."She adds, "You get a really broad range of experience because you deal with lots of different accounts in different industries. In my role as an account co-ordinator, I get involved in account-handling as well as all the different parts of the industry. I do some research and I deal with the media and with production."At first glance, recruitment advertising may not appear to be as glamorous as consumer (or "product") advertising. There are fewer TV campaigns, so opportunities for hanging out with actors on shoots are limited. "It is about 200 per cent less `sexy' than consumer advertising," admits Stephen Halford, managing director of Barkers But, he insists, it is at least as interesting. Conveying a serious message, dealing in matters which actually affect people's lives, makes for stimulating work. "It has real social value: seeing an ad for a job can change someone's life." Recently the agency worked with the Metropolitan Police on a campaign to persuade people from ethnic minority groups to join the force "You're dealing with complex issues," Halford emphasises.

"It's not just boxes in papers."In addition to creating advertising campaigns, recruitment agencies will often produce recruitment videos and brochures, design Internet sites, and even conduct first interviews by telephone. An account handler - who draws all these functions together, ensuring that everything from web site to brochure keeps to the same theme and branding - performs a role similar to that of management consultant, but with a creative twist.Be warned, however, that the unpredictable nature of the product - people - means that deadlines are even tighter than in consumer advertising. "In product advertising you can work out your strategy for the year. Recruitment advertising is much more immediate," explains Karen Skewies, a director of TMP Worldwide, the largest recruitment advertising agency in the UK "Someone resigns, the job has to be filled There's a very fast turnaround. Sometimes the deadline is today."Graduates going into recruitment advertising need all the qualities necessary for account handling in consumer advertising: dedication, good communications skills and persuasive powers.