Are you graduating or have you recently graduated from college? Congratulations! Now, how can you get a job? Your new degree is no guarantee, but these 5 job search tips for new college graduates will help you get a great job fast.
Police Your Profiles
Whatever social media profiles or apps you have, clean them up and ask your friends to help. You don’t want potential employers to see anything that’s too controversial or questionable to them. They will look for you online, so try to make sure they find things that make you seem professional.
Get On LinkedIn
LinkedIn is the best social media for business networking. Set up your profile with a business-appropriate photo and industry-relevant keywords in your headline and summary. If you’re not sure what those should be, start checking out job descriptions for those positions you want. Start joining groups of professionals in your career field (not job seeker groups). Not only can you learn a lot and start participating, you can also often find job openings posted within the group.
Network
Networking is a big way that people in all industries get jobs. Who’s in your network? More people than you think. Your network is everyone you know at school, your professors, people you’ve worked on other projects with, your friends and family, your parents’ work colleagues, your friends’ parents, and anyone else you can think of. A job search should be an all-out effort. Everyone should know that you’re looking for a job and they should know what kind of job you’re looking for.
Networking is a skill you need to develop and nurture throughout your career. It will help you in countless ways. See these 4 Easy Networking Tips.
Turn Your Resume Into a Marketing Document
Any part time jobs, internships, volunteer stints, job shadows, or even (in some cases) large group projects can go on your resume. Think about the things you accomplished in those activities and quantify them on your resume. Did you supervise others? How many people? If you waited tables, how many tables did you average per shift? If you worked in retail, how much did you sell? Wherever you worked, think about what you did and ask yourself: how many, how much, how often, or how long? See more about how to quantify your resume. If your GPA is very high, you might include it but if it’s not so impressive, just leave it off.
Don’t Restrict Yourself to Posted Jobs—Find Hidden Jobs
Hidden jobs (jobs that aren’t currently posted publicly) make up the majority of job openings at any given time. How do you find these jobs? You skip job listings and online applications and go straight to contacting hiring managers. When you contact people who could be your future boss, you’ll have a better chance of getting interviews.
See more about how to find unadvertised jobs and get interviews.