If your cap and gown are retired to the closet, your diploma is behind glass, and ramen noodles are no longer a viable meal option, then you must be a recent graduate. Once the post-graduation dust settles, the next step in life is starting a career. In order to get the real world ball rolling in the right direction, here are 6 career tips for recent graduates that’ll help you with everything it takes to land your first job.
1. Put Your Résumé to Work
That 8.5 by 11-inch document known as your résumé is probably one of the most important parts of landing your first job. Because your résumé is literally your first impression, it not only has to teeter on perfection—it needs to work for you. To accomplish this, think of that all-important document as an unfinished novel.
In other words, editing your résumé is a never-ending job, especially considering the fact that the professional world frowns upon grammatical errors. Once you ensure syntactic perfection, also make sure your résumé is up to date. This means keeping all your education, work experience, accomplishments, and the accompanying dates current. Remember, a good résumé is always read, but a great one will land you an interview.
2. Get Social With Your Networking
Social media is a great way to network with friends and family, so it’s no wonder that social sites are also an effective approach when it comes to networking professionally. Get out there and let the social media world know you’re a recent college graduate who is ready for a new career.
With social media, you can advertise your skills sets for the job, qualifications, and even post a PDF of your flawless résumé for the entire digital world to see. Just remember, if you’re using existing social accounts, clean up your act. This means deleting any pictures or comments you might consider questionable. Better yet, just start new accounts from scratch and consider them your professional approach to social networking.
3. Interview Like a Pro
Did your perfectly written, up-to-date résumé land you an interview? Of course it did, so now it’s time to nail your interview and lock down the job that’ll inevitably lead to your long career. When it comes to interviewing advice, don’ts are sometimes just as important as the dos.
With that in mind, the best advice for any inexperienced interviewee is to have a good answer for every potential question. Some answers will come easier than others, but anticipating questions before the interview will help you sound that much more prepared when the interview is in full swing.
4. Put Passion First and Money Second
It might not seem like the best approach to take in the short run, especially when you keep coming up dry with the job search. But, if you are looking to find jobs that will lead to a career, then do it for the love, not the cash. That is, don’t just settle for a high paying job that makes you miserable day after day.
Ask anyone with long-term experience in the work force and they’ll tell you: a job that makes you happy is worth more than a huge paycheck. Seek out jobs that you’re passionate about and choose a career path that enriches your life—you can’t go wrong.
5. Make a Post-Grad Budget
One of the biggest stressors during your post-grad career search is staying afloat financially until you find your first job. That’s why coming up with a reasonable job-hunt budget is so important. Not only will a budget help you stretch your money while you’re searching for work, it’ll also take the desperation factor out of the equation.
Think about it. If you’re stressed about finding a job because of other financial obligations, that stress will filter down through everything, including your interviews. Keeping a reasonable budget during your job search will keep you calm and also give you the opportunity to turn down jobs that aren’t necessarily the right fit.
6. Be Patient
A final word of advice for all those post-grad wanderers in search of work is patience. Preparation in combination with experience and a modest living will eventually lead to the right job—it might just take a little longer than you think.
By following the advice above, your post-grad job search will lead to a successful career.
