You finally made it! After four years (or maybe more) of working your butt off, you are ready to take on the world, diploma in hand—although, that may be easier said than done. If you’re like a lot of recent grads, the job offers probably aren’t pouring in right now, but you don’t want to have a long, empty period of time on your resume. So, what’s a collegiette to do?
While spending your summer catching up on the latest season of Pretty Little Liars may seem tempting, it won’t exactly lead you down the road to success. It turns out that all of the hard work and effort you needed to put in at college didn’t stop being necessary after you walked across the stage to get your diploma. In fact, the only way to remain a fresh and relevant job applicant during the months after graduation is to work even harder to get your name out there. Don’t know where to start? We talked to recent grads and career experts to find out some of the best ways to stay relevant while waiting for your big break.
Make your online presence professional
More and more companies are using sites like Twitter and Facebook to screen potential employees. Your information is a lot more easily accessible to employers, which can go one of two ways. Sure, the fast-paced nature of the internet makes networking with anyone and everyone easier than ever, but before you know, it your drunken Cinco de Mayo pictures from freshman year may come back to haunt you.
Lesley Mitler, founder of career coaching website Priority Candidates Inc., says that regardless of your privacy settings, there really is no way to be anonymous on social media. In fact, she recommends that recent grads use sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to their advantage when looking for a job by promoting a positive image of themselves. “Think about how you want to come across. If you want to come across as a business professional, only tweet about professional things,” she says. “Take your social life offline.”
Consider only posting information to social media that you would be comfortable with a potential employer seeing. In addition to this, sites such as Socioclean can help you review your social media profiles to weed out any not-so-suitable-for-work posts from the past.
Mitler suggests that a recent grad use their social media sites as a way to promote their professional brand, meaning the version of yourself that is presented in your resume. She says that the first step to positive branding is to have your name and headshot consistent throughout all of your social media platforms. If you have a common name, consider adding a middle initial to make yourself stand out.
[pagebreak]
Go on informational interviews
The idea of an informational interview may seem completely foreign to collegiettes who are new to the job search, but informationals are a great tool for networking and finding more about your industry. While an informational interview is still a professional meeting (that still requires professional dress, manners, etc.), the goal of an informational interview is not to ask for a job or internship—and it’s not a job or internship interview, either. Rather, the purpose is to gain knowledge, advice, and insight in your field from a professional or industry expert. Use these informational interviews to learn something from people who have already succeeded in the field you want to work in. You can ask him or her what their job is like, how they got it, what advice they have for recent grads like you to break into the field, etc.
Recent Temple University grad Cary Carr says that attending these interviews has really given her a leg up on the journalism job hunt. “I just met with editors from some of my favorite publications and got a better understanding of what I wanted to do after graduation,” she says. “It was really helpful because I received great feedback on what I could do to improve. Plus, they reminded me of how competitive the industry is and not to let the job hunt get my hopes down.”
These interviews don’t exactly fall out of thin air. The best way to go about setting up these types of interviews is to reach out via e-mail to people who you have worked with or who you’ve met at networking events in the past and asking them if they’re free any time in the coming weeks to grab coffee. If you don’t have the e-mail address of the person you would like to meet with, LinkedIn can be a great place to find that contact information. In addition, don’t be afraid to reach out to your role model in the field, if you have one, even if you think a response is unlikely. Most people are genuinely interested in helping out college students, so you’d be surprised who says yes to meeting up.
Once you score an informational interview, the hard work isn’t over. Not only is it important to be informed on current happenings in your industry to keep up with the conversation, but being knowledgeable about your field will also allow you to come across as intelligent and professional. Be sure to map out questions that are open-ended in order to keep the conversation flowing. If you need help thinking of questions, check out HC’s Complete Guide to Informational Interviews for some help organizing your thoughts.
After the interview is over, the first thing you should do is send a thank you note via e-mail followed by a handwritten letter thanking him or her for their time. If you are unsure of an address to send the letter to, ask for a business card during your meeting or check with their company’s HR department. Be sure to also send an invite to connect with your interviewee on LinkedIn a day or two later so you can keep in contact. Having your new job or skill updates show up on this person’s LinkedIn newsfeed is a great way to have him or her remember you in the future.
Stay up-to-date on happenings in your industry
After four years, you might think you know everything there is to know about your major of choice, but that’s not always the case. Gary Miller, senior assistant dean of academic advising at UNC-Chapel Hill, says that employers’ biggest pet peeves are new grads who haven’t done enough research on their company or industry. He recommends doing some digging to find out more about current happenings in your industry. “While your ‘school chops’ are still sharp, give yourself an assignment to do serious research,” he says. “It will not only make you smarter, it will make you a better candidate.”
Mitler recommends getting the latest information by following companies you are interested in working for on Twitter or subscribing to receive updates about your industry on Google News. In addition to getting the latest information about these businesses, she says that these sites can help you be the first to find out about job openings. “Jobs are often posted on Twitter before… [other places on] the Internet because people are looking for more social media-savvy [candidates],” she says.
Consider a remote internship
The need to pay off student loans and stay out of debt after graduation can prevent you from being able to commit to a full-time internship, especially since most are unpaid. Without a consistent cash flow, it can be hard to swing moving to a different city to intern for a summer, or even long morning commutes, in terms of cost.
However, particularly for those with creative arts majors such as graphic design, journalism, and communications, finding freelance work that you can do online and coordinate with your own schedule is a good way to keep gaining work experience without draining your bank account. Websites such as Internships.com are constantly posting information on internships that can be completed from anywhere around the world.
Hope Kumor, an English major from Temple University, says that having a remote internship is allowing her to gain experience while juggling a part-time job and planning her next steps, something that she says would be pretty difficult to do if she had to commute to an office. “Right now, I’m interning with TheCelebrityCafe.com and applying for paid fall internships with magazines such as Fitness, Weight Watchers, [and] Ladies Home Journal,” she says.
In addition, with the flexibility of her online internship, Hope is also able to work on sending pitches to other websites she would like to work for someday—something that she says wouldn’t be possible if she didn’t build her own schedule.
With these tips, staying relevant while waiting for your big break will be a breeze. Now get out there and show employers what you’ve got! In the meantime, check out 9 entry-level jobs you can apply for now. Happy job hunting!
Photo Credits:
Job Hunting
Social Media
Working Remotely