The Sunday Times is running a series charting the trials and tribulations of a group of graduates looking for jobs in the current job market. One poor young man was forced to belt out Wonderwall in a first round interview with a telecoms company. Another walked up and down Fleet Street, London, for five days wearing a sandwich board advertising his eagerness to work. More worrying still, some 300,000 new graduates entered the market this summer and thousands of them are still jobless.

It’s a tough time for graduates, or indeed any young person looking for a new job. A degree is just one of the tools that helps in getting into your dream career, but it doesn’t guarantee you a job or success. Hard work, proactivity, persistence and a willingness to go above and beyond the call of duty can get you much further. For example, I started out as a receptionist in a PR agency upon leaving University – a job I did for well over a year. Nine years later I was appointed joint head of the technology practice at Speed. There are many different ways into the career of your choice. Graduate schemes needn’t be the end all and be all.