I don’t know about you, but I am sick and tired of everyone asking what I’m going to do after I graduate, which is in the spring of next year. You’re looking for a big girl job – where do you start? And how do you actually get hired? Here are some tricks I’ve learned through my own experiences looking for jobs – which, granted, I’m still in the process of – and through a career development class (CAS 492) I took this past semester.
Your Resume
First things first: making sure your resume is perfect…or as close as possible. This is the most important step. This is key because before any real person reads your resume, robots are going to see it, as your resume most likely will run through an automated system where it scans key words and phrases. Using career specific jargon within each section without using too many words to busy the page will be key.
Your resume should have at least five sections: name, contact and basic information, education, experience and skills. From what I learned in my class, you should have all of your “soft skills”, which are your non-technical skills, written and articulated within your experiences. You also want to cater your resume to the industry you’re applying to, which can mean having multiple versions of your resume. I have two: one for creative industries and one for more retail and restaurant-type jobs. Putting key words directly from the job you’re pursuing is super helpful, as well, because it will help that automated machine notice you more.
Going to the career center on campus, either in person or online, will help as well. There will be resources to help you perfect your resume. There are tons of templates online to help you, but make sure you are not sounding too generic or too repetitive with your words. Make sure it sounds like you… just more professional.
What DO you want to do?
The age old question. This, however, will be the leading point of your job search. Your degree does not necessarily have to correspond to the job you get or pursue. Going to sites like LinkedIn and Indeed will give you suggestions to a general search of a field, and you can even link up and talk to alumni in your field.
Making sure you even want to work at a company or establishment is so important. Even before applying, looking up the company’s atmosphere and attitudes will give you a clear sense of how things are run and if the job is something that even interests you at all. Knowing if you work best in a faster or slower paced environment, whether or not a certain perk is a requirement, or even how many people work somewhere are all important to your own success and happiness.
So you found a job…to apply to!
Now what? You have it saved in your LinkedIn Jobs tab – where do we go from here? When you’re ready, apply! You’re most likely going to fill out basic information, and if you’re unlucky enough, you may have to type out your whole resume again on the job’s specific website! They will most likely ask for a cover letter, which is also SO important to actually moving onto the next step in the interview process.
Reading examples online is perfect to get an idea of where to start. As tedious as writing specific letters to each employer is, it’s necessary to gain an interview. Writing in depth about your experiences and how they relate to the job is a great main paragraph. Connect with the job description from the application and write to that. Make it unique to the job and to yourself and make it spunky!
And that’s pretty much it! You completed the first phase of the job-hunting process. It’s stressful and time consuming, but hopefully rewarding. Hearing a no is hard, but believing in yourself and, quite honestly, faking it until you make it will bring you to success! If you have the right qualifications, reach for more – what’s the worst that could happen?