Hired 101 >> Browse Articles >> Preparation & Appearance

Go From a ‘Nobody to Somebody’ In The Job Market

Featured Author:

New Grad Life

New Grad Life is the only blog solely dedicated to providing free resources to recent college graduates or soon-to-be grads for topics such as job hunting, resume/interview help, networking tips, money management, and more. Started by College grads who wanted to help out each other out with job hunting in a tough economy, the site has skyrocketed in popularity and has been featured on many Universities' and career-related web sites. New Grad Life's mission is to equip as many college grads as they can with the best educational tools to allow them to start their careers ambitious, prepared, and confident. Visit them here.

More articles from this author:

• 3 Common Misconceptions Hurting Your Job Search
• 6 Job Networking Tips for New Grads
• 3 Golden Keys for Recent College Grads on the Job Hunt

How to go from a ‘nobody to somebody’ in the job market

Everyone knows that the recession makes the job market much more competitive, but most college graduates are not doing all they can to make themselves stand out. Employers are flooded with resumes on a daily basis and as many of them are similar, hiring decisions are difficult to make. Here are some ways to stand out from the crowd during a job search.

1. Brand yourself online

As a job seeker you can create your own personal brand online by registering a domain using your full name (.com works best). Of course, most common names are taken already, so adding on an extra word or two will solve that problem. Using titles and/or abbreviations are excellent ways to create unique URLs. It is important to use your site to blog about the industry you’d like to get into – news, trends, and your related work or achievements should be covered here.

2. Lights, Camera Interview!

A mock job interview is a fantastic way to learn in a short period of time because you can pick up on interview mistakes you make that are unique to you as a person, rather than learning about general interview mistakes that everyone makes.

You can get started on this by:

3. Where’s the evidence?

Networking events and job interviews are great opportunities for a college graduate to showcase their skills and background. The problem is that simply talking about your skills or accomplishments isn’t enough to make you stand out as a job seeker, you must somehow show them. Here are some examples: