It’s job search season, and this time of the year can be stressful. If you’ve been having difficulty landing a job position, don’t give up yet. Use these five tips to conquer your job search and continue pushing through!
Network With Company Alumni
At a crazy time for job applications like this, networking with alumni who work at your top companies is crucial. MSU alumni in particular are always eager to help out current students by answering any questions they may have about their position and the job application in general. Most of the time, if you’re able to develop a good working relationship with the alumni, they could have the opportunity to put in a good word for you when you apply to the company.
Attend ALL Career Fairs
I cannot stress this tip enough. It is so helpful to attend every single career fair you possibly can in order to scope out all possible job opportunities. Even if the career fair doesn’t have the companies you’ve been eyeing, it can still be great practice networking and working on your elevator pitch. Plus, you never know if you end up getting a unique opportunity to work with a company you don’t know much about initially!
Revamp Your Resume
A big part of moving forward with the interview process is “beating the bot.” Since almost all companies run your resume through a system rather than actually reading it the first time around, it’s important to make sure your resume is worded the best it can be to showcase your previous experiences. I use the WHO Method to craft my resume, which words your work experiences in an efficient manner that stands out to employers.
Develop Your Own Cover Letter Template
Cover letters are a great way to showcase your interest in a company for a specific position outside of just submitting your resume. Therefore, it can be really beneficial to submit a cover letter for each position you apply for. However, this can get really time-consuming, especially when you’re applying to countless positions. A great way to save time is to use an existing cover letter in order to change it up a bit to develop a template cover letter. This way, all you have to do is change up a few sentences to best fit the job description you’re applying for.
Practice Interviews
Practice interviews, just like looking over sample questions, prepare you for actually performing well in the actual interview. Knowing the answers to these questions is just half the battle. The interviewer will definitely be examining elements such as your eye contact, tone of voice, and overall confidence in your answers. Some ways you can practice running through an interview include recording yourself, reaching out to an individual in your college’s career center, and through Interview Stream. Interview Stream is an excellent tool that MSU’s Engineering Career Center (The Center) offers for students to utilize pre-made interview sets that allow you to record your responses and send them to staff members for feedback.
These five tips definitely helped me along the job search process, and I hope they can for you too! Remember that we’re in a unique time where it’s been more difficult to land a job position than in the past. Don’t let this discourage you from giving up. Keep pushing through, and know that everything will fall into place.