As Spring looms ever nearer, we are fast approaching that transitional time of year when another batch of collegiettes is preparing to depart university and enter the job-hunting fray. While Her Campus McGill cannot stress enough the importance of starting to think about this transition before graduation (see tips on how to effectively do that here), the truth of the matter is that the whole notion of leaving school and attempting to forge a career part is overwhelming. Because we understand that feeling, and know that baby steps can help soften the blow, here is some advice on how to begin to prepare yourself and your resume before jumping head-first into the job hunt.
1 – You don’t have to have your whole future mapped out, but something you should definitely make time for at some point in between Reading Week and finals, is a general narrowing-down of what you think you might want to do. This might seem like a contradiction to the notion of taking baby steps to avoid feeling overwhelmed, but honestly, having endless options and no sense of what you want to do professionally will be far more overwhelming and stressful when you graduate, than the time you can take to preemptively think about things you do and don’t want in a job or to determine a career field. You will also be making things easier on yourself when it comes to both tracking down job listings and tailoring your resume if you have a slightly more specific field of interest.
2 – Highlight your education. Be it high school, university or a specialized college program, you’ve likely spent a significant proportion of your life working towards a specific educational goal. Not only does that act itself deserve to be acknowledged (and praised!) for the general skills it will have given you, but the specifics of whatever you’ve been studying will hopefully relate to the jobs you’re seeking, so it’s important to let employers know what you have to offer. Also, do not discount schoolwork when it comes to listing relevant experiences; be it a specific research project, lab assignment, or marketing analysis, there is a good chance that one of your academic assignments or endeavours is relevant enough to your job search to warrant highlighting it on your CV under education.
3 – Prioritize when listing your work experience and volunteering. Not everything you’ve done from high school marching band to volunteering with Cause for Paws is relevant to the position for which you’re applying. By being selective about the experience and skills you list on your resume (without leaving large time-gaps in employment), you leave yourself leeway to expand on additional skills in your cover letter without repeating the points on your CV and you steer the reader’s attention to aspects of your resume which will directly affect the tasks you would be performing under them.
4 – Whilst it has become common knowledge that you should never include your age or photo in a job application (obviously excluding career fields like modelling and acting), that does not mean you shouldn’t consider including unique personal details which might be of use to potential employers. Citizenship is one of those handy factors to consider including, if your ideal job involves travelling or working outside of where you currently live or if you have multiple citizenships. You might be applying for a position in a different country to the one in which you currently live and maybe you were actually born there; however, unless you specify, how are potential employers to know you wouldn’t require a visa to intern for them? Additionally, if your longer-term living destination is up in the air (as it is for many students upon graduation), listing both a local and a permanent address in your contact information can be practical, particularly if your parents’ home is your temporary back-up plan in the event that no job presents itself immediately.
5 – Do not be afraid of rejection. It will not be enjoyable, but for the majority of us, it will happen. We’ve all heard stories of people applying to over 10, 20 or 100 jobs before finally finding one; not receiving a response about the first job, or even the first 20 jobs you apply for is not a reflection of personal failure, but simply of the contemporary climate of employment. If there is ever a time to learn and grow from disappointment, rather than letting it bruise your self-confidence, it is this moment, where graduation meets real life. So pick yourself up, dust off your resume and turn your attention to the next 20 job postings; perseverance is key.
Photos retrieved from: Chandler Confused and Rory Newspaper.