Yearly, millions of students leave academic institutions, all with one question on their minds, “How to get a job after graduation”, especially when there is no experience yet.
After you graduate, the hunt for a job starts and along with it comes graduate job anxiety. The moment you step into the job market, you begin to feel as though you’re just another job seeker out of millions.
It’s a common feeling experienced by most graduates when starting out in their career. The main thing is to ensure that you’re heading in the right direction with resilience and consistency.
There’s no doubt that you’ll face rejection, and people might put you off with their horror stories about the jobs market. Whether it be that they’re qualified but inexperienced for their dream job, so cannot get a foot in or how long they’ve been looking and are yet to find something.
But don’t let this put you off, don’t worry about not landing the perfect job right out of the gate.
If you’re finding it hard to secure a job after graduation due to lack of experience, it’s time to get smart in the way you approach things. Stop sending out the same stale resume and cover letter to every other job in hopes of getting a response.
You’ve got to invest a little time in each application, to ensure the version of yourself you’re presenting, is the most appropriate version for the role you’re applying to.
Whether you’re a fresh graduate, or an experienced professional, the job market can be brutal, so consider the journey to securing the job of your dreams a character building opportunity.
Lack Of Experience
In search of your dream job, simply having a degree is not enough most of the time. Imagine yourself as a hiring manager, sitting in the HR department of your favourite company. As the hiring manager you’re looking for a Marketing Manager to join your team.
You receive 250 applications to this vacancy, and you require someone to help you market an existing product that’s been falling in sales. Who would you choose? Likely not the candidate with the least experience in the marketing.
So, once you’ve received your degree and are on the job hunt, don’t become frustrated if you face a number of rejections. Most of the time the minimum job requirement is 5+ years of experience and then, the common question comes to your mind, “How can I get experience, If nobody will hire me to give me the experience?”.
One thing for sure is that it’s going to be more difficult securing a paid job within your field of choice without any experience at all. But don’t sweat it as there are a lot of other ways to get experience before getting your preferred role. Many jobs hold transferable skills which allow you to step into more appropriate positions as time goes on.
Do An Internship
Internships are viewed positively by most organisations as it demonstrates your ability and willingness to get hands-on work experience. Unpaid internships aren’t ideal, however if you find this to be the only available option, and you can afford to take the opportunity, take it.
A month of hands-on experience may differentiate you from the competition when the time comes.
Work On Your CV
This may appear obvious, but updating your CV and tailoring it specifically to each job you’re applying for, does give you better odds in being called back from your application. Always add a brief summary paragraph at the top of your CV when applying for a job.
This will give the interviewers a little insight into who you are, your personality and a few talking points that can be used to break the ice during an interview.
Interview Practice
Have you prepared for interview questions? Don’t let unpreparedness ruin your chances once you’ve made it through the door for an interview, especially when you don’t have any previous experience to rely upon.
If you’re not great at interviews and feel this will definitely be an area of concern, I can help you prepare with these well detailed article titled “Common Interview Questions and Answers”. These will help you prepare for your next job interview and teach you a number of basic principles to approach any interview process.
The Power of Social Media
LinkedIn is the largest professional networking website, and the most popular resource among recruiters to find talent. If you decide to invest your efforts into one platform, LinkedIn is where you should go.
To get the most out of LinkedIn, fill out your profile completely with all the skills, degrees any certificates you hold.
Join the groups of your interest, engage with other job seekers and recruiters, share your knowledge about your field, help others with their problems, be visible and stand out from others.
It won’t take long for recruiters to acknowledge your skills and consider you for suitable opportunities.
Finding Opportunities Offline
It would be unwise to ignore the potential of offline job searches. In the world of digitalization, it’s true that most organisations post jobs on their websites and various online platforms.
But you may be surprised by the opportunities that come your way whilst searching offline.
What you see on LinkedIn and other platforms is just a fraction of the jobs available out there. There are a lot of companies that just hire new employees through referrals or word of mouth.
Be sure to keep your eyes open to opportunities to discuss what you’re looking for amongst people you know, who may know someone working within the organisation.
In Summary
Landing your first job is never easy, this is something that’ll never change. However your approach to job searching will impact how quickly you arrive into your chosen career path. If you’ve tried the traditional way in applying for jobs and have had little to no success, think out of the box, figure out what’s going wrong and try something new.
Continue to learning new skills related to your occupation and become a master of them. Grab any opportunity that comes your way and put your 100% effort into it. Do not think any less of yourself or become defeated, even if you face rejection or a failure time and time again. Use it as motivation to become better.
Nobody can tell you for sure, just how long it may take to land that dream job, however what is guaranteed is that if you stop trying, it’ll never happen.