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3 Golden Keys for Recent College Grads on the Job Hunt
February 17, 2010
So you just graduated college finally and are looking for your first real entry-level job. How should you go about your job hunt? Just sit home and click away at the “submit resume” button all day? Stop what you’re doing! Find out what are the real keys to job hunting as a new grad in this economy and improve your chances out there!
Ever hear the phrase “looking for a job is a job itself”? That holds true for many people. If you want to be successful in your job search, you must have a certain job hunt process you go through every day and you must carry it out, every day consistently. Now for college grads this shouldn’t be anything new; studying in college showed you that consistency brought results. Were you more confident going into a test studying at the last minute, or reviewing content every week? Here’s a little example below of a job hunt process:
• You wake up and apply for entry-level jobs online.
• Spend a few hours reading articles on how to brush up your job interview skills, how to improve your resume. Maybe even do a mock interview with your family or friend.
• Later you spend an hour or so trying to figure out who you can network with (who do my friends know? Who does my family know? What about online networking sites like MonsterCollege, who should I contact locally?).
This is just a small example, and by no means should you manage your time particularly like this – but what’s important is the fact that these are steps. You must be consistent and keep at what you are doing. If you don’t stay consistent during your job hunt, what happens is you see no results.
For example, say you start networking on Monday and apply to jobs, and then don’t follow up on networking the next few days and focus just on your resume. A week passes by, and you totally forgot about replying back to the people you networked with. Those people may now think you’re unorganized and already you lose any value you could present to them as an acquaintance. You have to stay consistent with what you do as a job seeker; show those people you’re on top of things and are eager to find work.
Frank_Ball
over 2 years ago
19756 comments
Please keep your comments on topic to the article -- Any comments posted with embedded links leading to questionable infected sites outside MonsterCollege will be removed and the poster's account will be banned from MonsterCollege. Thank you.
Unaccredited Cate
about 3 years ago
Great article! Very straightforward in presenting very useful information!
mattxing
about 3 years ago
6 comments
liked this one...
p_ferreira
about 3 years ago
10 comments
It's hard to accept the fact that you should "focus' when your paretns say take what you can get, but I can dig it. The more specified you get the better your chances are.
rob_the_job
about 3 years ago
8 comments
scheduling your job hunt is key, great point. a good read!
john_t
about 3 years ago
4 comments
I also was doing this for a bit but didn't realize how structured the proces really is.
In fact I would suggest not only being consistent but keeping track of your consistency, keep a log and see what things you do day by day and how long you spend doing them (although I think the part about "change" covers some of that).
Unaccredited Cate
about 3 years ago
I was already doing this, months now, and I didn't even know it, ha! Of course I have had side work during some weeks of those months but this still surprised me and the reality is if you want something done do it yourself. Great article.
GarryUnderwood
about 3 years ago
4 comments
great writing, I'm already subscribed to your Blog.
vs2010
about 3 years ago
4 comments
this article was fantastic!
jessicahord
about 3 years ago
2 comments
This artlicle helped to refresh my memory and attitude of the proper way to job hunt.
Thanks
johnhtech
about 3 years ago
4 comments
great article, very helpful.
RezaGolsham
about 3 years ago
4 comments
Thanks!
MichelleVanVeen
about 3 years ago
2 comments
Great writing, can't wait to read more articles of yours
DavidChou
about 3 years ago
362 comments
this is not just for recent grads but also for a veteran like me.
Navneet_Gupta
about 3 years ago
2 comments
I couldn't have said it better myself; Consistency, Focus, Change really are what makes or breaks your job hunt. Just as the eg.'s were given, consistency because you must do it every day and put away time for it. Focus because the more focused into an industry the better you can learn it and show people in networking events you're up-to-date on industry trends. And of coruse change because you can't just keep doing the same thing over and over again an expect different results (that's called insanity, lol).