Job Search tips for new Graduates

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Career Advice, Job Search May 29, 2017
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Congratulations you’ve graduated!  Now what? Finding a job post college or university can be a daunting prospect but fear not there are a few steps you can take to help you with your job search.

1.Start early!

The most important job search advice for students is to start early. Get your CV ready, update your online presence, upload your CV to several job sites and start proactively searching for jobs.

Even if the job description doesn’t sound exactly like the type of work you want to do, it never hurts to apply. Your first job out of college or university is just a stepping stone. Get as much experience as possible so when your dream job does come along, you’ll have both the skills and experience to impress the hiring manager.

2.Don’t stress about having a plan

Very few students graduate knowing exactly what they want to do with their lives.  Whilst having a career plan is important, don’t panic if you don’t have one yet. The important thing at this stage is not to procrastinate and use this as an excuse for not getting a job at all.

Start by asking yourself the following questions:

Lifestyle – Are you happy with your current lifestyle? Do you want to maintain it or change it? Be sure to identify the key characteristics of your ideal lifestyle.

Preferences – What kinds of activities do you like/dislike? Make a list of both types of activities.

Passion – What are you passionate about? Reflect on the times and situations in which you feel most passionate, most energetic, most engaged – and see if you can develop a common profile of these situations. Develop a list of your passions. How many of these times occur while you are at work?

Skill Set – What are your strengths and weaknesses. Step back and look at yourself from an employer’s perspective. Think in terms of work experience, education/training, skill development, talents and abilities, technical knowledge, and personal characteristics.

Success – What is success to you: wealth, power, control, contentment?

Personality – Are you an extravert or an introvert? Do you like thinking or doing? Do you like routines or change? Do you like sitting behind the desk or being on the move?

Once you have done this  you will have a clearer idea of your goals and your individual preferences allowing you to start finding a job that meets at least some of your criteria. Remember, don’t be too picky at this stage. It’s unlikely you will land your dream job straight out of college so focus on finding something that gives you relevant experience and provides a stepping stone to your dream job.

3.Play to your strengths

You may be lacking in professional experience, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a valuable employee.  Highlight any relevant work or volunteer experience and demonstrate what you have learnt and how this can be applied to the position. Focus on the positives and what you can bring to the team.

CEO of FitLinks, Alina Cooper says “I would rather hire someone who is passionate and enthusiastic and has the ‘will’ rather than the skill.”

4.Fine tune your Social Media

Social media plays a huge part in our day to day lives and it’s important not to forget that future employers will also be on social media and will most likely use it as part of the recruitment process.

Spend time looking at your social media accounts and ask yourself, if a future employer looked at your profile would it encourage them or put them off hiring you?

The likelihood post university or college is that your social media accounts are full of pictures of fun nights out with friends, binge drinking and a few questionable fancy dress costumes.  This isn’t something a future employer needs or wants to see.

Start with Facebook, change your  security settings so that only friends can see your profile and content. This way you can still share your memories with your friends but your future employer can’t see them. And don’t forget, once you get a job avoid adding colleagues and management as friends on Facebook. It can be incriminating!

Instagram. If your content isn’t appropriate for a future employer to see then the easiest thing to do is to change your security settings making your profile private so that only people you approve can view your profile.

Twitter is slightly more challenging as your content is public. Go back through all previous posts and mediate, deleting or editing where required.

LinkedIn. Make sure your profile is fully completed highlighting all relevant experience, skills and qualifications. Upload a professional headshot. Click here for our profile picture do’s and don’ts – https://fitlinks.co.uk/say-cheese-profile-picture-dos-donts/

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