Endlessly applying to jobs for the first month after graduating from college and not going anywhere? We’ve all there. On average recent college graduates are taking around 6 months to find their first job. A vast majority of students also prioritize their post graduate life after graduation because adulting, juggling final exams, project deadlines, and a social life already takes up a huge chunk of a students life — this leaves little room to endlessly apply to hundreds of job listings that seem to rarely result in an interview. If this scenario resonates with you, you’re not alone.
Hundreds of thousands of graduates each year feel like they will not be able to find a job right after college. In fact, 66% of recent college grads don’t think that they will land a job that will fit their career goals. It would be a dream scenario to land a job at Amazon or Facebook as a specialist and grow into the CMO in 20 years with promotions every 3 years. But many students are fighting to get that first role, that first step that will put their career on the path they desire. Although searching for your first job out of college may be stressful, there are a few things that you can learn from this article on how you can prepare for the job market to best position yourself.
Like most you’ve probably been an incredible student, maybe you have a terrific GPA, and even went to one of the top Universities in your state or the entire US. You’ll probably hired within 2 weeks right? For most, no. Each applicant's journey will be different, some might have connections within a company to guide them into a role or submit a referral. Some might be looking for roles at a startup which can hire within 2 weeks, while a larger company can take up to 5 months to interview one candidate for just one role. Landing your first job after college can take time, therefore try to not put it off until 2 weeks post graduation, but rather begin seriously applying to roles 6 months prior to graduation. If you’re the right fit for the job, a company will eagerly take you on board even if you start in 8 weeks.
Many college graduates will only begin focusing on their career weeks after getting their diploma. This leaves you behind the eight ball in regards to interview prep, resume building, skill building and more. Although preparation for your new role and the application process will take time, if you’re one of those who has waited a bit too long to search for a job, now is a great time to dive deep into the topic of landing a job. Take online courses to develop skills, network, become prepared to tell your story and what type of role you’re looking for. Research the top questions to ask a hiring manager, and more importantly rehearse the top questions you’ll be asked by the hiring manager to increase your odds of success. In job applications, it unfortunately has become a numbers game. If you apply to more jobs then you will have more interviews. The more interviews you have the better your interview skills will become, and you’ve received more opportunities to move further in the recruitment process. If you’ve applied to 100 jobs per week for four weeks and have yet to book a single interview — think of how you can improve your resume, should you look at other roles, companies, or even sectors to begin accumulating experience? These are all important questions to begin getting traction on your applications.
Follow up with potential employers while you’re still a student to learn more about what they’re looking for, and what skills you can develop before graduating — and keep in touch! If you’ve already had an interview with a hiring manager follow up with great ideas based on your conversation on the value you will provide. If you don’t tell them, they will never know! Only applying to jobs on job boards is a common mistake most graduates make since they won’t be seen— reach out to your network, make yourself seen, and communicate to them how much of an impact you will be if they choose you to fill the role.
Having a degree, unfortunately, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready to get a job right after graduation. You should be, but employers are increasingly less interested in teaching someone to go from 0 to 1. Employers will take a chance on someone with little to no work experience, but this doesn’t mean that personal projects, websites you’ve built, or small business ideas that you have tried while in college can’t set you apart. From these experiences you have learnings, experience, and an ambition to try something with little to no knowledge. These actions actually show a lot more about you than you think — even if those ideas don’t turn into much, showing your employer that you have been playing with the tools that the job requires in your free time will drastically increase their interest in hiring you for the role.
If you’re applying for the role of a social media manager for a company, it may be a good idea to check their social media profiles out before conducting the interview. Although it is not expected, if you come to an interview having done some research on the company and even offer some suggestions this will lead to a much different interview result than someone who hasn't even looked at the company's social presence.
The same can be said for the requirements of the role. For example, if the “entry level” role requires 1-2 years of experience, but you have zero — going into the interview knowing this might pop up will leave you prepared with a list of reasons why you would still be a great fit for the job.
Having a degree, unfortunately, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re ready to get a job right after graduation. You should be, but employers are increasingly less interested in teaching someone to go from 0 to 1. Employers will take a chance on someone with little to no work experience, but this doesn’t mean that personal projects, websites you’ve built, or small business ideas that you have tried while in college can’t set you apart. From these experiences you have learnings, experience, and an ambition to try something with little to no knowledge. These actions actually show a lot more about you than you think — even if those ideas don’t turn into much, showing your employer that you have been playing with the tools that the job requires in your free time will drastically increase their interest in hiring you for the role.
If you’re applying for the role of a social media manager for a company, it may be a good idea to check their social media profiles out before conducting the interview. Although it is not expected, if you come to an interview having done some research on the company and even offer some suggestions this will lead to a much different interview result than someone who hasn't even looked at the company's social presence.
The same can be said for the requirements of the role. For example, if the “entry level” role requires 1-2 years of experience, but you have zero — going into the interview knowing this might pop up will leave you prepared with a list of reasons why you would still be a great fit for the job.
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