By Matt Miller
Special to Online Career Tips
Before any soon-to-be-college grads out there head straight for their parents basement, please know that despite what you hear about the job market and the unemployment rate and whatever else is abysmal right now, it’s actually possible to get a job — even a good one.
I didn’t go to an Ivy League school, graduate top of my class, or really have the best grades, but I was able to land my dream job before graduating college.
What it takes being able to harness the technology-based job seeking tools of 2012, along with understanding the traditional, time-tested skills of working hard and meeting professionals in your field.
Here’s how I did it:
Find Something You Want To Do
Logically, the first step in getting a job is actually knowing what you might want to get a job doing. Crazy, right?
It’s a bit surprising how many students go to college and complete a few years before even declaring a major. I was lucky enough to know I wanted to write since I was a little kid.
With that goal I was able to take steps early to learn about how to find a job and what to do to prepare for post-graduation. College doesn’t last forever (well, at least it’s not supposed to). Really, it’s shocking how fast you’ll be wondering what to do with that diploma.
Have a goal of where you want to see yourself after college, then talk to the right professors, get involved in applicable extra curricular activities and start building those experiences and skills early.
Be Willing To Work For Free
Internships, paid or otherwise, are without a doubt the most important thing a college student can do to become a valuable potential hire when entering the job market — sometimes more important than actually going to class.
Yes, they can be stressful and sometimes even a little bit degrading, but these types of positions are the only things that show you have some real world experience and you can work in a professional environment.
The key is do as many as you can — the more on your resume the better you look, and once you’re there be prepared, happy even, to do the grunt work with a smile. You will show people in your chosen field that you’re a hard worker, which translates to a good reference down the road and possibly even a job where you’re interning.
Sometimes you might have to work so annoyingly hard, like one close friend of mine did, that you refuse to leave. It actually worked and the company had no choice but to give him a job.
For a lot of people working for free might not be an option, but you have to make it work. Keep in mind that if the company you’re interning for isn’t paying you, then no one can complain about your hours. Tell them your workday must be flexible around any other jobs.
Don’t Sacrifice A Social Life
It seems a little counterintuitive to the last points, but it’s important. While working a job, going to school, doing an internship, extra curricular activities etc. it’s easy, very easy, to go insane. So, make some time for relaxing.
College is, if anything, partly a lesson in socializing into adult life. Learning how to meet people and carry an intelligent conversation, are tools needed to be successful in most jobs. These social skills are also what employers are looking at when you walk in for an interview. Personality can go a long way, and it helps to not become a burnt out shell of your former self before even entering the job market.
Start A Professional Social Media Life
Social media is still a fairly new medium, and us Millennials are the first generation who MUST use it to get a job.
Obviously, the first and easiest step is to create a LinkedIn account. The second and less followed step is to actually use it.
There are too many young people out there who create a LinkedIn and forget about it. With every new internship, job or accomplishment, your LinkedIn should be updated. A half-finished or lacking account just represents you poorly. Make sure it’s always ready if someone seeking a new hire happens across you.
Professionalize your Facebook. This is tough, but it’s got to be done. At the very least maximize your privacy settings and untag or remove any pictures, posts even likes that might make you look bad.
Create a Twitter account and start following people relevant to your chosen field. This is part of building a personal brand and joining the conversation and community you need to be involved with. For anyone going into journalism, marketing, advertising, public relations or communication of any kind this is imperative.
Be diligent about finding people you’ve met or worked with and keeping in contact with them through Twitter, LinkedIn and email (not Facebook, though, that’s kind of weird). Check in with a quick message every once in a while to keep those relationships strong.
Google yourself. Make sure the results are positive, because chances are potential employers will be doing so too.
Listen To Jay-Z Before Your Interview
I played Jay-Z in my car for a solid hour before walking into my job interview. Why? I wanted to listen to something that exuded confidence.
What I’m saying is really prepare yourself for your interview, everything down to your mindset when you shake hands with the interviewer. A job interview is like a verbal test, so treat it as such and study. Be so prepared and so confident they forget your fresh out of college.
Pour over the company’s website. Read everything that tells you what it is, what it hopes to accomplish, the people it hires, what customers expect, any recent company news and its history. If the company has a Twitter and Facebook look at those too. Get to know what the tone of the company is and how it connects to the public.
Have three questions ready to ask whoever is interviewing you and have three strengths and three weaknesses in case the question pops up. Also, have some good ideas prepared of what you could bring to the position. If you know the name of who will be interviewing you, Google his or her name and try to find this person on Facebook and Twitter. Yeah, it feels a bit creepy, but it’s good to have an idea of who the person is and what they do in the company.
The real key thing in an interview is that they are looking for someone whom they would want to work with and be stuck in the adjacent desk every day. So, relax and show some personality and have some confidence (hint: listen to Jay-Z). A good friend/mentor of mine reminded me before my interview that the person sitting on the other side of the desk doesn’t want to watch you fail.
Comments are closed.