So, graduation is knocking on the door for you. Or, it might still be a few months away. First of all, accept our greetings for thinking about getting a job before you’re done! A lot of high school and college students don’t realize it in time!
The job industry for freshers is getting more competitive by the day, simply because the quality of education has improved a lot and the number of vacancies is going down. That’s why you need to start your search for a job before you’re a graduate.
In this post, we’re going to take you through the journey. We’re going to start with the things you must need to even start looking and then move on to the best ideas to land the perfect job.
Things You Need to Apply for A Job
You might be wondering how soon is too soon to start looking for a job. To be honest, we believe you’re eligible as soon as you join college. Sure, you’ll be working part-time, but it’ll add to your experience. Also, the practice will help prepare you for the upcoming hustle of life.
As for the students nearing graduation, we believe around 6 months out is the perfect time to start looking. It’s simply because the current job market statistics show us that it takes around 5 to 6 months to get the appropriate job.
The “appropriate” bit is key here because you can land a job in the US even after you graduate. But it won’t necessarily be the job you’ve been dreaming about.
As part of the process, you need to prepare your resume and cover letter first. If you can manage some references, it’s only going to help you in the long run. Make sure you follow industry-specific formats for both the resume and the cover letter so that you don’t get disqualified by the automatic applicant tracking systems (ATS).
Best Ways to Get a Job Before Graduation
As promised, we’re going to take you through a few of the best ideas you can apply to land a job you want.
Research
This might sound cliché, but research is the most powerful tool you have at your disposal. It includes combing the industry to understand the scope and landscape as a whole. When you finally get the job, you won’t be blindsided by the requirements and technicalities.
Primarily, you need to figure out the following:
- What positions in the industry you’re most suited for
- What the required skills are for the profession you’re targeting
- How spacious is the room for growth if you keep at it?
Volunteering
Sure, you won’t be making any money when volunteering. But you’ll take home something even more valuable. Experience. And skills, of course. Another bright side of volunteering is that you’ll get more opportunities to learn. It’s simply because a company won’t mind taking you in and showing you around if they’re not committed to paying you.
If your graduation is only months away, volunteering might not be the best course of action for you. But if you have some leeway, you should definitely get the experience.
Keep an Eye on the Career Services
Chances are your college or high school has a career service integrated right into the system. And if you can find one, you’ll also find professionals whose job is to help freshers like you get jobs as well as understand the stakes.
So, whenever you have time, go to the career services office. Talk to the professionals there. If there’s a program you can enroll in, do it. All of these will result in a higher likelihood of you getting the exact job you want. And as a bonus, the personnel in such services often help you write the proper resume and cover letter.
Internships
For college students who are supposed to graduate within a few months, it doesn’t get any better than internships. There are both paid and unpaid internships available. The career services department in your college might be able to hook you up with one of the companies looking for an intern.
Internship programs are one of the best ways to prepare for the future. They offer real-life work experience and valuable insights that are otherwise impossible to gather from the outside. For instance, many academically-gifted students start out as interns in online services such as cheap essay writers before they joined full-time!
Start Networking
If you’re an introvert, we have bad news. Over 70% of jobs in the US are secured through networking! So, if you’re not into talking to people much, it might be time to change it. Starting networking early is one of the best ways to get started on the right foot when you’re trying to enter professional life.
The good thing about networking for college students is that you don’t have to talk to random people. Rather, you can join the extra-curricular clubs in your college to mingle with people. Many alumni are often part of the programs to help the freshers out!
Practice Interviews
You’ve surely heard the saying, “first impression is the best impression”. The only way you can create the best first impression is if you practice interviews. It’s simply because an interview will be your first act of interaction with a company.
You can simply start by talking in front of a camera. Go over your strengths and weaknesses. Try to build a backstory around them. When the time comes, you’ll be able to knock the interview out of the park.
