Jobs After College... Why It's Good to Think Outside the Box

So you graduated with a four year degree and you feel like you are qualified for all sorts of jobs now, right? Well not exactly. A lot of times, employers really want experience on top of that degree. Many employers won't even let you submit an application without references listed right away or letters of reference.

All too often people graduate from college, and wind up back at home living with parents. Why? Because they think they are too over qualified for job opportunities. It is really hard for employers to see what you're capable of if all you have is college, you do need the experience and the references as well.

Preparation before graduation
Believe it or not, employers do not hire people within a week of posting their ad. Often times they spend weeks eliminating people in grueling step by step interview processes. You may have one interview with a supervisor and then get passed on to another person a week later. Don't think you can start looking for a job two weeks before graduation and be just fine. Start looking a couple months in advance. Get a working resume going, and even go to your college career center for help.
If you are looking to get a job where you can express creativity, spend your senior year creating an online portfolio. Get this portfolio up and running so that you can add that to your resume for employers to see.

Expand your horizons
Just because you may want to be a journalist, doesn't mean you should only look up journalist jobs. There are all kinds of jobs that can give you the experience you need to lead you towards your dream job.

For example, perhaps your dream job is to work for a top advertising agency. Well, don't just look up top established companies. It most likely won't happen right away. Look up school districts that offer jobs in your field or small companies. You can get a portfolio built up working for smaller businesses. Or, try to find a job that you may learn one type of skill really well in to get you the next job.

Maybe you want a job that requires management experience. Why not take up a job in retail or restaurants and work real hard to perhaps one day get promoted to become a manager? There are all sorts of angles to approach it.

Search like its your full time job
You won't be able to just do a quick elimination search in the newspaper once a week, pick three jobs to interview for, and get one of the three. A lot of jobs out there are not even posted in the newspaper. You have to actually know of the company and go directly to their site. Be creative and look up all possibilities. You'd be amazed at all the types of jobs that fit in all different fields at a business.

I took a chance looking up what a school district had to offer for jobs. My image of a school was that it was only for teachers, cooks, and custodians. But to my surprise there were all kinds of jobs that fit many areas such as psychology, communications, computer science, speech, sports, and languages. And no, these aren't teaching jobs either. I was amazed at what I found.

Monster.com, Yahoo Jobs, aftercollege.com, and even a job section on Myspace has a lot of job listings. But if you can't find what you're looking for there, go directly to a company's website and find their career section. Normally these are titled as Jobs, Career, or Employment Opportunities.

Search like it's your full time job. Again, spend time searching. This isn't just a glance like you're browsing e-bay for a moment in the afternoon. To find your job you will have to really look, unless of course you have all your ducks in a row and you have something lined up..

Don't be afraid to take a temporary job
So you graduated and you are moving out of your dorm or your apartment in a week and you still don't have a job. Don't be afraid to take a run to the retail stores, restaurants, or mall to grab yourself a job to make some money. Remember, you don't want to get in a comfortable situation of doing nothing but sitting back at home with your parents. One week at home could easily turn into years.

I know someone that has been graduated from college for three years and he is living back at home because he feels he is too qualified for a lot of the jobs out there, and is sitting there waiting for his dream job to come.

Dream jobs don't just fall on your lap.

You can make any job turn into something big. You may start out in the mail room, but who said you had to stay there. Getting your foot in the door with a company is a wonderful start. Once you're in a company you want to work for, you can apply internally and prove your abilities for promotion.

Temp agencies
These can help you out. They may even hire you to work for them instead of giving you away for other companies! You can prove your skills here and open yourself up for hire to other companies through them. You can make this your first stop choice or your last desperate attempt. They are out there, so if you need make use of these.

The basic thing to remember is that finding your dream job is not always an easy thing to do. It takes a lot of work, and often times experience from a lower end job with less pay. Don't be afraid to take those jobs. Just because you're a college graduate it doesn't make you over qualified for every job. There's lots of experience to be gained, so don't be afraid to have to do that first.