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You’ve passed your final exams, met with your guidance counselor, and it’s finally starting to sink in … you’re graduating soon.
You know you’re walking away with college experience, a degree, and some tools that will help you thrive — but you’re still wondering how it will all pan out.
Will you find a job right out of college? Will you be stuck on the job hunt for a while? And what about the pandemic? Will it halt your ability to find work?
These concerns are valid and normal — but luckily, there are ways to set yourself up for a successful career post-graduation.
Regardless of whether you found someone to help with term paper or did it yourself, it will teach you a lot and help you in the future
Let’s take a look at four tips you can use to help you thrive in your future career.
How do students feel about job opportunities post-graduation?
According to a recent study by StuDocu, 64% of U.S. students, 40% of German students, and 43% of Dutch students are afraid of career and employment setbacks.
Students fear they’re entering a job force with reduced job opportunities and a shrinking market. They’re worried they won’t be able to find a job matching their professional skills — or even find a job in general.
Not only have these stressors sparked fear, worry, and stress, but they’ve also been keeping students up at night.
But it doesn’t have to be this way.
While it’s true that the job market has changed, it’s also true that there are still plenty of career opportunities out there. From remote and hybrid work opportunities to booming markets in essential goods and services, the pandemic has opened new markets and boosted some existing sectors, too.
Companies create onboarding swag boxes for their remote employees.
(Image Source)
With this in mind, let’s take a look at four ways you can set yourself up for a successful career — pandemic or not.
Here are four tips to keep in mind as a soon-to-be college grad:
1. Get Creative With Your Resume
Apart from including the college you attended, your graduation date, and your major and minor, consider adding some additional skills you have learned along the way that they might be looking for in the job ad.
For example, you might have used a Gantt chart as a college student to track your individual project tasks. Mention that in the CV! It lets the company know that you’re organized and responsible, and you will see things through to completion even without having previous job experience.
Nelson Sherwin, a manager at PEO Companies, says getting creative with your resume is one of the best ways to capture a hiring manager’s attention.
Sherwin recommends using QR code links or building a for-hire website to showcase your product, services, and/or special skills.
With the best QR code generator, you will be able to get analytics on how many people scanned your QR code.
He says:
“Say you’re making mobile websites, apps, etc. How cool is it to be able to have the person scan the QR code directly to be taken to your product? I think using them to link to a portfolio or a specific product you want to showcase would be really cool. Or otherwise, if you’re doing something super creative, like building a website or a graphic created specifically for your resume, create a HIRE ME website or something silly like that. That would catch my attention.”
Or you could also try something simple, like adding a logo to represent your brand. A free logo maker can help you with that.
These small details help you stand out.
2. Learn How to Budget, Invest, and Pay Off Debt
Improving your financial health before getting hired at a job is essential to managing money effectively — and making your new income work for you.
From student loans to credit card debts and covering daily living expenses, it’s not uncommon to fall into debt while in college. After graduation, you’ll need to make smart decisions to get out of this debt. Start by repairing your credit score if it’s suffered through your college years.
Then, take a budgeting class, sign-up for a reputable ‘how to get out of debt’ course, and meet with a trusted financial advisor to learn how to save and invest your money.
Most graduating college students are old enough to buy stocks and investment products, but be sure to check with your state to double-check — especially if you’re a young grad.
For instance, you usually have to be 18 or older to open a brokerage account, but some states won’t let you invest until you’re 21.
It’s also worth meeting with your guidance counselor to find out if your college provides any free money management resources. You might consider writing a financial aid appeal letter to your college, you just need to describe what type of aid you are asking for and why you believe you deserve that aid.
3. Conduct Informational Interviews
An informational interview means interviewing someone in a career position that interests you to find out more about their job.
In an informational interview, you can ask the interviewee about their salary, job duties, day-to-day responsibilities, and any other burning questions you may have.
Effective informational interviews also help you understand exactly what steps you need to take to land your dream job. They can clear up any confusion about job requirements, certifications, and any experience you may need to have before you can apply.
Gathering detailed information from professionals is especially helpful in fields that are new, innovative, and growing so fast that the process of learning them never stops. Such are the fields of sales, technology, and digital marketing.
For example, a few years ago, no one could have imagined that predictive lead scoring would gain so much attention. However, the growing popularity of the CRM field has made it one of the most common data-gathering methods.
It’s important not to think that innovations are only about business or marketing. They are also related to such traditional and sensitive fields as medicine. Recently, brands that offer medical products and services online have actively appeared on the market. Most importantly, they inspire the same level of trust in consumers as offline pharmaceutical companies or face-to-face specialists.
If you look at the website of one of the most successful brands in the field, Hims & Hers, you will find that many people are happy to use online depression medication and have confidence in the brand. No one can predict changes like these or give you comprehensive information about them except professionals working in the field.
So it’s always a good idea to interview them, as long as your goal is to establish yourself as a young professional in a particular occupation and keep up with all the innovations.
Are you wondering who to interview? Refer to your network, alumni directory, and LinkedIn connections.
When asking someone if you can interview them, be brief and exact. What kind of questions are you going to ask them? How much time do you need? Will it be an in-person interview or a video call?
At the interview, be sure to take notes or record your session, so you don’t forget any important details.
Use the insight you gather from your interviews to:
- Make sure the job is the right fit for you
- Understand any specific terms or language you should include in your resume
- Practice for future job interviews with dream employers
- Understand exactly how to prepare for the job
4. Upgrade your knowledge with free online resources
If you’re studying marketing, literature, or journalism, and you want to pick up some relevant skills prior to applying to your first job as a content writer or journalist, try reading some relevant blogs on the subjects, attending webinars, listening to podcasts, or explore Youtube tutorials on those topics.
Then apply these newly learned tactics by writing some articles yourself using a free AI blog writer. This way, you will boost your resume with real examples of your work and show that you’re comfortable with trying out new tools! Two in one!
For those interested in pursuing a career in finance, there are several online resources that can help you gain the necessary skills. One popular option is investopedia.com, where you can learn about financial concepts such as financial statements, valuation techniques, risk management, and portfolio management. If you are looking to specialize in a particular area, you can also explore certifications such as Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), Certified Financial Planner (CFP), or Financial Risk Manager (FRM) to enhance your career prospects. If you are wondering how long it takes to study for the SIE exam, it generally depends on your prior knowledge and experience in the finance field, but it generally takes several months to years of preparation to pass these exams successfully. Aspiring finance professionals can leverage these certifications to enhance their knowledge, skills, and career prospects in the competitive field of finance.
For developers, you can try out codecademy.com, where you can learn seven different languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript, jQuery, Python, Ruby, and PHP. If you already know the basic languages, you can learn more advanced tasks like building a website, making a Rails app, or using APIs to make new applications and plenty of other dev things.
If you’re more inclined toward web or graphic design or want to strengthen your CV for that first job in a marketing department as a social media manager, try playing around with free online design tools! Create high-quality photos, designs, or web mockups and showcase them in your portfolio.
If you don’t speak a second language but you want to broaden your access to the job market, try learning a second language online! There’re plenty of online language apps out there where you can pick your preferred language and start learning for free. Duolingo is my favorite of them.
5. Build a name for yourself
More and more employers are looking for candidates with a strong online platform and social media presence.
Having a platform where you can share your special skills, work, and experience shows employers that you take your reputation seriously.
When building a name for yourself online, it may feel overwhelming. To beat the overwhelm, focus on one or two key things.
For instance, you may decide that you flourish most by networking at a co-working space or growing your Instagram following. Or you may decide you’re better at networking on LinkedIn and managing an email newsletter.
Whatever you choose, be sure it’s authentic to who you are and clearly displays what value you bring to the table and your goals.
Get creative with your business cards and include a QR code in your online portfolio. This will make it easier for potential employers to see what you’re working on and set you apart from the competition.
Finally… put these tips to the test!
Preparing for the job market post-graduation can feel scary and overwhelming. But remember, there are still an array of opportunities out there for you.
Now that you have read these tips and learned something new, it’s time to take the next steps.
Find a suitable job ad, analyze the company, write the cover letter, optimize the resume to address their requirements, and click apply.
Start by google-ing “jobs near me hiring now” and find the first 10 job ads that you want to apply to. Embrace yourself because this will be a longish period of trial and error, and you will need to have a bigger sample material (job ads) for testing and trying things out.
The easiest positions to get employed without previous working experience are junior content writers, virtual assistants, freelance transcribers, link-building and SEO trainees, social media newbies, or tech and coding internships, among others.
Ready your resume for submission and make sure it is optimized for the job you are applying to. Use relevant keywords that apply to your skillset but also match the requirements and qualities the company is looking for in their new employee.
After preparing your resume and cover letter, you may either need to fill out an application form on their website and attach your external documents, or you’ll have to send them an email.
If they have a form asking for the same information you already have in your resume, avoid copying and pasting directly from your resume into the online application because that can lead to formatting issues.
Instead, answer each question by typing it out mindfully and shaping your answer to the needs of the company.
Good luck!
Feature Image Credit: Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash