After you leave college, the job market – and the career industry – can seem like a vast, wide-open ocean. While many people seem to brave the waves with ships that can take on the currents, as a new graduate you are left to fend for yourself with what seems like a small rowboat. However, looking at the bright side, this can make actually landing a job so much more rewarding.
The truth is that you do have to pound the pavement and triumph through thick competition, especially if you are trying to enter an industry where people are literally fighting to get in. With a few tips, though, you can go through this process a lot more efficiently. The key is to stay focused. Here are five tips for landing a job after college.
- Touch Up Your Resume or CV
Before anything, you want to make sure that your resume and CV is updated. Not only should you have recent and current contact information, like your address and phone number, you should also have your graduation status, degree, new references and you should list all of your internships and extracurricular jobs. For instance, if you graduated cum laude from New York University, you want to list that information.
- Get into the Mindset to Find a Job
In order to get a job after college, you want to get into a job finding mindset. This requires really focusing on the task at hand and leaving all the other stuff behind. Whereas you were really focused on your social life in college – outside of college you want to be very career oriented. If you aren’t, it will be very difficult to even get your foot in the door. Plus, it will be really hard to motivate yourself each day.
- Tap into Your Resources
Indeed, there are a lot of resources out there for finding a job. You could ask your professors for direction, or you could visit a job market. There is also the option of tapping into the resources of a recruiter. This can be a great way to line up a lot of interviews. The key is to score as many interviews as possible, because that will increase your chances of getting hired.
- Ask Your College for Help
Your college can help in many different ways. For instance, you could speak with a career counselor. He or she may be able to recommend some career avenues. He or she may also recommend a few follow up courses at an online school, like AU Online. This could help round out some of your knowledge about a certain subject. A college career center could also serve as a recruiter of sorts.
- Start Somewhere, Anywhere
On top of everything, it is important to keep in mind that you want to start somewhere – anywhere – when it comes to getting into the industry you want to get your foot into. Even if it means not getting paid as much, you still want to ingratiate yourself. In the end, in a competitive market, this may be the only way to get a solid job.