Job Searching Tips For Recent College Graduates

You are probably reading this article because you are a recent college grad looking for a job, or you know someone who is in that boat and you think you might be able to help. In today's tough economy a passive job search alone is not going to be successful. To have a better chance of landing a job as a recent college grad, you must use an active job search. It is imperative that you network and have informational interviews in addition to a standard job search utilizing job boards.

Using a job board is the easiest part of the job search. This requires the least amount of energy and can even be done in your underwear. Sign up for sites like HotJobs, CareerBuilder, and Monster. Create profiles and make sure to fill out these profiles completely. Upload your resume and allow these resumes to be searchable. This enables potential recruiters, staffing agencies, and employers to search your profile and resume. You can be found to be a great match for a particular job without doing any work. Every day you should search the job boards. Jobs are continuously updated; you need to stay up to date with jobs.

Enter whatever your search criteria may be. This can be "entry level," "college student," or something as specific as "junior financial analyst." Play around with various search queries to see what returns the best results. After you run some searches, you will generate a lot of results. Click all of the results that are of interest to you. Sometimes, you will see positions that are of interest, but they are seeking more experience than you have. If this is the case, find out what company posted the job and go to the company's website. There is a great chance that more jobs will be posted on the company's website. If there is still no listing on the company's website that you are a fit for, just email human resources, explaining your situation, what you are looking for, and your resume and cover letter.

That was the passive part of the job search. Now comes the active portion of the searching process. To have a better chance of landing a job as a recent college graduate you need to network. Networking is how a majority of people find jobs. It has been estimated that 20% of jobs are posted and advertised. That means, if you want to find a job as a recent graduate, you will need to network. Join Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn just to name a few. These are social media/networking websites. Fill out these profiles completely and friend people that you know. If you had any past working experiences such as an internship, make sure to friend people that you worked with. Join groups that can be beneficial such as a group dedicated to public relations or nuclear engineering. The benefit of joining groups is that it grows your network extremely fast because you are no longer connected to friends, but now connected to friends and people in groups. If you discover that people in groups work in a field that you are interested in or a specific company you would like to work for, send them a brief message explain your situation and what you are looking for. This can even lead to an informational interview, but we will discuss this shortly. Sometimes, it is possible to see friends of friends. If this is the case, look through their profiles and see if they can be of help. Use social media and networking sites to help search for a job.

Informational interviewing is the gutsiest part of the job search process for the recent college grad, but if done correctly, can really pay off in the end with an interview and hopefully a job. Once you identify someone you would like to speak with because they work in a field or company you are interested in, send them a brief message. Tell them you are looking to start a career in whatever or interested in working for their company. Also, ask if you could take a few minutes of their time and ask them a few questions about their job or the company. Offer to talk on the phone or communicate via email. Prepare some thoughtful questions that show you take their time seriously. Remember, they are taking time out of their schedule to speak with you. Do not take more than 15 minutes of their time. If they want to speak with you more it will be very clear. By using an informational interview session, you have strengthened your network and got really close with an insider who could very well help you secure a job.

What can you do as a recent college graduate who is looking for a job? Use a combination of passive and active searching techniques. Sign up for job boards and social media/networking sites. Build your network and use informational interviewing to help with that. These are among the most essential tools that a recent college grad can utilize to increase the chance of finding a job in the near future. Good luck with your job hunting!