Get More Job Search Tips and Strategies
College students feel that the world full of possibilities will open to them once they graduate. However, they feel disappointed upon facing the reality of the tough job market. The cut-throat competition makes finding a job difficult even for the experienced professionals. Hence, it is even tougher for recent graduates to land a job since they lack any prior work experience.
Unfortunately, having good grades is not enough. Employers look for overachievers with a strong understanding of the business world. Also, they want people who will blend in perfectly with the company culture. You must be thinking that it is a little too much to ask for from a person who hasn’t even started his/her career yet. Yes, it is but don’t lose hope. All you need to do is work on being and looking like a complete professional. Doing so will make you feel more confident about yourself and that’s something employers love to see in their candidates.
If you have recently graduated or are about to graduate from college and will soon start your job search, follow these tips to successfully land a job:
- CV is of utmost importance:
Freshers often worry about the length of their CVs since there is no job experience that they could write about. What they don’t realize is that employers prefer short and to-the point CVs that talk only about what’s relevant. Your CV can be low on word count, but it should be high on substance. But substance doesn’t only mean a real work experience. It includes academic projects you have undertaken during your college, extra-curricular activities you participated in, social causes you support and volunteer for, internship experience, projects you have worked on, etc. There is so much you can write about even when you lack work experience. Just make sure that your CV looks crisp and relevant. - Clean up your social profiles:
We all have profiles on various social media sites and some of us made these profiles even before we entered college. We often post our pictures, our friends, share stories of our adventures and even the crazy things we sometimes do. However, now that you are about to start your professional journey, you need to have a clean online presence. Employers gather as much information as possible about their candidates to make the right decision. So, check your profiles and delete everything that you feel could hamper your image as a professional. Advise your friends to do the same as it is important for their job search as well. This way you will also be able to keep your online profile completely clean.30 Highly Effective Strategies for Attracting Recruiters and Employers to Your LinkedIn Profile
- Volunteer/Intern to gain experience:
If nothing seems to be working, volunteer or take up an internship. Volunteering and internships are the best ways to build experience. You may or may not get paid for the work you do, but it will certainly add a lot to your skill set and CV. These are also the best ways to build a professional network as you will meet and interact with experienced professionals. Work diligently and form strong bonds with your colleagues. When the right time comes, you can even ask for their help. Ask them if they can refer your name for any job opening they know about. - Work on your communication skills:
Technical skills are important, but they are not enough in the corporate world. When you work in a corporate environment, you are required to work with different people who may have different ideologies. Sometimes you may be required to get people to agree on one thing to proceed with the work. There will be times when you may be required to convince clients and other stakeholders about something. For this, you need to have impeccable communication skills that will help you impress the employers during the job interview, so work on them diligently. - Apply to jobs you are most passionate about:
When we are passionate about something it shows in our actions. The same is true in the case of jobs. When a certain job profile doesn’t excite you, the lack of enthusiasm will be evident to the employers during the interview. No employers would want to hire a candidate that lacks enthusiasm for the job. Neither should you apply for such jobs in the first place. You can build a successful career only when your work brings satisfaction and happiness to you. Therefore, apply to only those jobs that interest you.
Most people go through a tough phase before beginning their careers and even though you may feel depressed at times, just know that this too shall pass. Once you have a job and your career is up and running, the tough time you are currently going through won’t even matter.
About Megha Raizada – Megha Raizada is a professional writer working with the premium job portal Naukrigulf.com. She has a keen interest in the global job market but also loves to keep a track of everything interesting happening around the globe. You can reach her at Twitter and Google+.
Picture Source: Pixabay
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