The thought of completing your education and entering into the realm of the unknown is quite daunting. It’s not very difficult to handle this situation. As you prepared yourself to enter into college during your school days, in the same way, you would need to prepare yourself before entering into the world of employment.
It is to make you comfortable during this transition from being a full-time student to an employee and experience the broader part of the world.
Completing education is just one part of entering into the dream job while the other part is to focus oneself on preparing for entering the full-time work arena.
Landing a Job Before Graduation – Quick Tips:
1. Bring in focus:
You need to get prepared before getting to the end of your final year. The real world is not the same as being in college. Hence, instead of wasting time on social and extracurricular activities, try to allocate specific time for job search.
Review the job portals, review newspapers classifieds or enquire your friends or seniors in your network about the existing trend. The job market keeps changing with the economy.
2. Self-examination:
The foremost task that you need to do is to reflect on yourself before embarking on the journey. Look into your strengths and weaknesses. List them clearly –what you are good at and what you need to improve. Just be honest in your approach.
Even attending interviews is one of the important tasks that you need to evaluate. Whatever are the skill sets highlighted by you, review them and prepare for attending workshops of training sessions.
3. Plan type of job:
Once the skill set is known, review the type of jobs or job role that you intend to take. Prepare a schedule to know which type of jobs are in the market and what is your expectations.
Applying for jobs will help to know where you stand and what other skills you need to upgrade yourself. Set a plan for yourself and go accordingly keeping track of the applications you had sent out.
4. Send out resume:
Getting all your strengths and experiences on your CV is the next important part. Evaluating your skills helps to carry out this task. Review the internet to get a pattern of writing a CV and adopt the one that will make you stand out from the crowd.
Once you have included all that you want to, it is better to get it reviewed by professionals working or careers services. Send out your resume to know whether the job market is interested in your educational qualification. It helps to expand your search and find out what experiences are sufficient and which need to be enhanced.
5. Expand your network:
This is easiest if you know how to go about it. Just create your network and know who can help you better. Seek their guidance and suggestions who could help to review your CV as well. Besides that, joining forums, professional network sites like LinkedIn or attending industry events you could establish new contacts.
Also, don’t forget to include your family and close friends who could be your eyes and ears. Ask them to help out in searching for a job. If you have specific interest to work in that company then knock on that door and make your connection.
6. Find your mentor:
Mentor are critics who indicate your weakness and your strength. Its always better to know where you have the shortfall. They do help in job search based on your experiences and strengths. They also provide moral support, another viewpoint of aspects that you would not have thought about.
Mentors could be students, career counselors, familiar instructors, university staff members, close friends, or family members. You would see the impact a mentor has on your job hunt as they are on your side creating awareness about you.
7. Seek references:
Getting linked with friends, professors, other peers in the industry is to get more references. Ask them to write up recommendations about you on the LinkedIn site. The more people endorse you for your skill the better is your recognition.
The endorsement does carry weight on how you had performed and what is your attitude. You could also ask them to refer you internally to other companies who are on the lookout.
8. Expand skill sets:
From reviewing your skill sets, you may be aware of what you would want to improve on. Then perhaps you could look out for workshops or training that could help to fill the gap. Workshops do allow one to practice the skills that you are picking up. You could also get help with writing applications.
9. Taking Internships:
Internships are the pathway to working full-fledged in an organization. Hence, seek the type of work you prefer and find out which place offers them. Many companies do provide internships for graduates. Initiate the task early to know the whole process and take up internship programs be it 1 month or 6 months.
During this period the employer would have surely evaluated your skills and your attitude. Besides they would also suggest attending training and workshops to enhance your skills. You could come back again to seek a full-time job after the enhancement of other necessary skills.
10. Attend interviews:
There could be companies who do call up for interviews. Don’t avoid attending one feeling that you haven’t completed your studies. Attend or participate in interviews considering them to be your practice session even if you are not interested in the job.
It also allows you to tell your story, again and again, making you adept in explaining yourself. The more you attend the more you can answer questions on the spot practicing you to think critically.
11. Update your profile:
As we are living in a digital world, no one can escape the social websites that are logged in every day. Now that you are going to enter the real work area, it’s time to clean the basket and pose a well-groomed profile.
Employers are nowadays seeking to view your profile on Facebook or LinkedIn. From here onwards connect into professional groups, bring out remarks that are standing out. Use proper language and bring out the talents in you through the internet.
12. Part-time work:
If you could take up part-time work based on the educational background, it surely helps you to learn a lot about the real world. Every day would be the learning phase which helps you to understand how to manage your time and work. It also provides an opportunity for you to know how to work with different culture and set of people.
13. Show willingness:
It’s not wise to take up any job that might come your way. You need to see that you don’t waste your valuable time in work that does not match your education and passion.
Working in any place is about being able to manage the work or in other words it’s about who you know rather than what you know. Experiencing all the parts of the business is the key to success giving you an advantage.
14. Meeting movers and shakers:
You need to go out there and meet industrial oriented people of the sector you are going to seek. While you need to meet them, do take care of the attire and body language.
Also, try to research on the sector you intend to move into before meeting the professionals. As knowledge has the power to connect with the right person, listen more and speak appropriately. Plan ahead for the journey to another part of your life.
15. Learn to market yourself:
If you are well versed in using social media to propaganda your views, then surely you could use the same skill in a more refined manner to market yourself.
Every person has their brand and to make yourself stand out there needs to be specific attitudes that have to be indicated. Yes, use your social online presence to bring out your nature that could be attractive for employers. But don’t go overboard.
Finally:
Its misconception that once graduation is done, taking the University degree paper will help one to land in a job. With the job market being aggressive, this concept is often misguiding. You need to prepare yourself for the job you seek keeping in mind the various skills that you need to have.
You need to plan a year or 6 months before. Hence, you need to arm yourself with all the skills to make yourself stand out so that they consider you. These tips help you to prepare yourself for this transition and make your career a rewarding and fulfilling one.
