Hey Rachel,

I was in your shoes a few years ago, I really wanted to have a job lined up right after I finished school and I did! This is how I did it but I'm not sure if this applies to anyone else:

1) I started applying and interviewing around this time (Feb)

2) I accepted a job offer around May (like month or two before my graduation date) and was able to work out a deal with my employer where I would work part time while I was still in school and transition to full time once I graduated. I applied for a full time position but told them I couldn't start right away and they understood and gave me part time position.

Overall it doesn't hurt to look now because it gives you interviewing experience. Even if you got a job offer but for some odd reason, they're not willing to wait for you to finish school, at least you have interviewing experience. One door closed is another one open.

Recruitment process really depends on the size of the company, in general, the bigger the company, the longer the process. In my experience, it averages to about a month. My friends who now work at the big tech companies (Google, Dropbox, etc), it took them 3 months.

I also would not recommend talking about salary until you get a job offer. It gives you more leverage when you wait because at that point, they already want you and are more willing to do anything to get you on board. If they ask early on what is your desired salary, just respond with something like "I'm negotiable depending on the range that the company is offering. My priority is to find the right fit and if extended an offer I'd be more than happy to discuss it".

Typically, for a medium to large tech company, the process could take anywhere from three weeks to 3 months. Most companies are starting to ramp up their hiring and and onboarding plans starting in March for college hires. I've typically seen the college hire process take around 2 months. However, I would recommend that you attend college career fairs and portfolio reviews; you'll get to meet prospective employers and also get practice doing quick interviews.

It never hurts to ask about salary or welfare questions. Perhaps don't lead with those questions, but don't only ask those type of questions. Good questions to ask is about their company's facilitation of career trajectories, opportunities for further education, mentorship, etc.

I don't think its too early to start, and your questions would be perfectly acceptable during the QA.

Be yourself. Don't be afraid to expose your weak spots in Design. When it's graduate level, they don't expect you to be the "bees knees" of design, they want to know what areas you may be lacking in and how they could help you excel.

Companies of medium size usually get around 10-20 applications for Graduate levels, and even more if they're marketing it. Be patient.

if I ask salary and welfare stuff

First ask when it is appropriate to ask.

In fact, ask plenty, and listen plenty. Don't pad your resume. Be ready to defend everything in detail. If something ever feels wrong, trust your instincts. Good luck.

Hey Rachel, I'll do my best to answer your questions:

Is now too early to apply if you'll only be available in June? There's no absolute answer for this, it really depends on the company you'll go for :).

To give you a few insights though, hiring is expensive for an organisation and hiring the wrong person creates a lot of damage. From personal experience, if the right fit for the position is found, they will be willing to wait an extra month or two (which is really not a long time). However, it happens that the need for a designer is immediate because of a specific project that needs to happen asap, in this case, they will prefer someone who can start immediately.

Bottom line is that when a company recruit, they have specific needs to help them achieve the goal they plan on their roadmap. So that's something to take into account when you apply and the type of questions to ask during the interview (Why are you recruiting now? Which skills do you value the most? What are the team structure? What are the company focus area for the coming year? etc.) and for you to also understand if this place will match your expectations.

About the salary, I personally don't like asking in the first interview. I usually go on https://www.glassdoor.com to get a benchmark (especially for big companies).

For me, the way it goes is first contact, if it goes well, they will ask for a in-person or at home design exercise and if this goes well, now is the right time to discuss salary and benefits. But others probably have a different experience and perspective.

Hope that helps and good luck in your search! :)

Going to interviews will give you more interview experience and put you in front of people, this is good experience and since you are early, you have the luxury of time since there is no urgency to get the job.

The length of the process might depending the company and how they recruit but just take it one step at a time and be the best you can be at each stage, again this is just experience gathering. If you don't have all the information about the job, you should definitely ask them what is in included in the offer, they will naturally know this means the salary, benefits etc, there is not point in asking about working hours and basics and they will provide an offer at some point anyway.

Only ask about this things when it feels natural to do so, but you should really concentrate on finding out whether the type of work is matched to what you want to do and the company is one you want to work for, if they see that you are interested in the company and nature of the work, this information will soon be presented to you. Be ambitious about what you want to do, and do for them, rather than what you might get from them.