While many people agree that attending college and earning a diploma or degree is the right step for their future, they don’t always know what to do after graduation. Finding your first job in your industry of choice can be difficult; you have no relevant experience and very limited connections, if any at all. However, you don’t have to do it alone.

How Your School Can Help

Your college or university can do a lot to help you find a job. There are resources available both during your student days and after graduation. While you are still a student at a campus, you can take advantage of career counselling, resume editing, interview coaching, and even on-campus events that bring potential employers to you. After graduation, you can use your alma mater as a resource for networking, job postings, and training opportunities.

There are many people, activities, and resources available to you as a college or university student that you should make use of before graduation. Building relationships with your professors enough to earn a great reference will have employers viewing you as a dependable and dedicated individual. There are also career counselors on campus that are trained to help you learn how to find a job no matter your target industry. Plus, there are regular counselors on staff to help you stay motivated after rejections and manage your stress. Interview coaching and resume help are also offered on nearly every college campus to set you up for success immediately after graduation. Many schools will offer practice interviews, and they will teach you how to be confident and prepared. Last but not least, career days on campus should be taken advantage of. These fair-type events bring employers to your campus, allowing you the opportunity to learn about your industry and make some connections. Sometimes, you’ll even find the right job at these events.

If you are looking for a job after graduation, there are many on-campus resources that are no longer available to you. However, that doesn’t mean your school still can’t help you. As an alumni, you will be presented with countless networking opportunities. Joining up with other alumni, college staff, and professors on services like LinkedIn can make a big difference in your networking success. Plus, college events will be held that all alumni are invited to; this is a great way to cement relationships initiated online and to expand your networking circle. Colleges will also often have a section on their website dedicated to job postings. You can often sort these by industry to have the best success. Last but not least, your school can offer training opportunities to you remotely. Webinars are popular, but you can also receive in person, 1 on 1 training in areas such as job searching and leadership. These will look great on a resume and will offer you additional skills to aid in your success.

Perfecting Your Resume

There are many things you can do (and not do) to help your resume stand out and present you and your experiences in a positive way. One of the biggest things that will generate interest in your resume is the use of action words. Using verbs like designed, managed, analyzed, and enhanced will improve the opinion an employer has off you and will make your contributions to a company very noticeable.

Highlighting your achievements is another great idea on a resume. It doesn’t have to be lengthy, but identifying how you as an individual have impacted your previous employers in a positive way goes a long way towards encouraging a potential new employer to hire you; they can see your worth. Similarly, using numbers to display your impact on a business/company can be a valuable tool to show new employers that you understand what matters to them.

A few final tips include keeping the resume to a single page, being honest about your work history and skills (lies and exaggerations will always be found out, and for some employers this will be a fireable transgression), and proofreading multiple times. There is nothing worse to a recruiter than reading a resume filled with typos and grammatical errors. These mistakes will give them the impression that you are careless and don’t pay much attention to detail, two qualities they are most certainly NOT interested in. If you need to, have a family member or friend read it over, and you can also read it out loud and backwards to ensure each word is perfect.

Job Search Skills

Searching for a job can be difficult, but there are some tips you can follow to make the process easier. First of all, getting on LinkedIn is almost a necessity. Many employers use LinkedIn as their first source of candidates, so if you aren’t on there, you can’t ever be selected, can you? Increasing your visibility in the professional sector can only help you in the long run. Making an effort to ingratiate yourself into a company you want to work for can also set you apart. Schedule interviews with potential peers for information about the company, and visit the recruiter to ask some questions. Getting involved in this way will set you miles apart from standard online applications.

Nailing the Interview

The interview is arguably the most important part of the employment search process, because this is the step that lets the recruiter get to know you and decide whether you are a good fit for the role or not. It’s important to start off with a solid handshake because this indicates your level of interest and confidence. Practicing your elevator pitch is also a good idea, because nearly every interviewer will ask you to describe yourself. Having a confident, eloquent delivery that is compelling and inspiring is a sure fire way to generate interest in you and a desire to make you part of their team.

If you need help finding a job after graduating from college, the friendly and knowledgeable staff at Bredin College are a great resource for you.