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Job Search Tips for Recent Graduates

The search for jobs can be quite the daunting task for new graduates. Today’s job market is perhaps the toughest that a college graduate has ever encountered. The openings are limited, and there are always well-qualified applicants to grab up the positions that are available. You can make your job search easier by beefing up your resourcefulness. If you’re determined to get a job that you will like, then nothing will stop you from getting what you want. Try these job search tips in order to make the most of your employment opportunities.

Polish Your Resume
The interview is where an applicant can really show their stuff. A good resume is what gets you the interview in the first place. As a general rule, you want to make sure there are no spelling or grammatical mistakes in your resume. An employer will take you much more seriously if your resume is neat and organized. Make sure to highlight the skills you have acquired through jobs and your college education. Convince the employer that you know exactly what it takes to fulfill the requirements of the position. Use examples from your education or previous work history to back up your points.

Consider Cover Letters
Do you write cover letters for your resumes and job applications? You should always write a cover letter unless you are asked not to do so. The cover letter gives you a chance to show off your business writing skills. You can tell an employer more about your personality beyond just work and school. What are your views on life? What is it that makes you a great person in addition to being a great worker? If you’re an excellent writer, don’t be afraid to show off your writing skills and rich vocabulary, just make sure not to go overboard.

Contact Alumni
Your school most likely has a group of graduates, or alumni. They stay in touch with each other and network in all areas of the professional world. You should be able to find and contact alumni from your school with little effort. Even if they don’t know where you can get a job, they may know someone who does. They can also offer you valuable tips about your profession as you try to begin your career. The alumni network is one of the best networks you can tap into. People who graduated from your school are very likely to do what they can to help you.

Find People in Your Field
With so many social media sites available today, you have plenty of opportunities to access famous people in your field. You can look up the names of famous people who have degrees in the same field that you do. This is great for networking because you’ll also meet other people who are interested in that person, too. Indeed, you might be surprised how many job leads you could generate by talking to a recognized person in your field on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Utilize Recruitment Agencies
You may not be aware of all the opportunities available to you until you check out a local recruitment agency. They can match your resume to an employer looking for the skills you have. Recruitment agencies are constantly in communication with local companies looking for new people to hire and they are usually more open about your odds to get a certain position, so it is a good idea to at least follow the job openings on recruitment websites, and then get in touch with them if you see a job opening that interests you. If they don’t post jobs online and you decide to get in touch with them, you should check back often even if they don’t have anything when you first contact them. You never know when they might generate a nice lead for you.

Don’t Give Up
Above all else, don’t give up. You’ll never find a job if you stop looking. Tell yourself every day that today is the day you get your big break. Strive to achieve your personal and professional goals in everything that you do. A good job opportunity is bound to come your way with persistence and hard work. Treat your job search as a job itself, and you will see the results.

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Career lessons inspired by Dr. King, Jewish Women, the Civil Rights Movement

It is the soft skill that is needed in 2013, as it was the lifeblood of African Americans for centuries demonstrated for the world to witness in the ’50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. There are White and Jewish people who chose to endure and embrace some of the African-American hardship during the civil rights era.

There are career lessons to be learned from each incident and event in history. Those compelled to march in the civil war of race without provocation and passivity or color inspire us. This movement primarily associated with African-American that crossed the borders of race became a few Jewish women’s sole careers providing enduring career lessons.

There are so many ways to endure, and many more reasons to persevere. Here is one reading where I felt there were parallels of Jewish women using transferable skills and experiences to aid and advance the civil rights movement. Although the efforts are minimally featured and remembered in mainstream history, the lessons are a fountain of knowledge and application:

http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/civil-rights-movement-in-united-states

As you read, I hope you see some valuable career lessons that I gleaned:

1. How Jewish women fitted and thrived in a diverse and hostile environment

2. Using transferable skills such as, writing, perseverance, and soft skills to transition to a new setting (or career setting)

3. Trained and prepared for difficult and life-threatening challenges to respond passively and nonviolently

4. Emphasized and walked in the shoes of others looking and finding solutions to everyday challenges

5. Failure in one setting was an actionable opportunity to create other opportunities, not a time for defeat and purposeless reflection

Did you notice other applications of career lessons that I didn’t mention? Please share with us in the comments. Happy King Day!

image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mplemmon/2744600367/

by Mark Anthony Dyson

Book Review: Who Says Its A Man’s World by Emily Bennington

Emily Bennington is the author of, Who Says It’s A Man’s World: The Girl’s Guide to Corporate Domination is the second book that I am reviewing that is not solely focused on job search advice and tips. In December, I outlined key points from the Leigh Branham’s book, The 7 Hidden Reasons Employees Leave, that job seekers should apply to their job search. I will make the same case as well, but first address why should job seekers read a career book among the other industry related material in preparing for the next opportunity.

To answer a common question, yes, I read the book in its entirety.

I also read through the reviews of Emily Bennington’s last book, Effective Immediately: How to Fit In, Stand Out, and Move Up in Your First Real Job. Most of the positive reviews mentioned how practical the book was acting as a guide for new graduates. Even seasoned professionals commented how the advice was so practical and precise.

As an educator, I appreciate the practitioner approach, witty, mildly caustic, and affable, with an educator’s heart in her latest offering. That makes a book an easily digestible read for me, not one inundated with statistics and learning theories.

The first chapter in Emily Bennington’s book recommends that you outline three points from each of the five sections of the book. In addition, she created some practical worksheets for the readers to use and organize thoughts (I am also ignoring that the women focus advice is as practical for us men folk). I wish more career publications would incorporate this strategy (Emily, please don’t change).

To pontificate on my random statement, no, I did not study this book. I suggest that the job seeker who desires to optimize the wisdom from these lessons is to read through it twice, absorbing a few points per section.

Out of the many reasons job seekers must embrace “…Man’s World,” I am offering five reasons this would aid all job seekers, particularly women:

Self-awareness

Bennington empathizes with the unload of the unexpected work and offers several strategies to help manage stress and expectations. As mentioned before, there are exercises to help the employee envision the type of pace and culture he or she desires. This mindset is useful for the current unemployed job seeker to manage his or her expectations of a future employer. Bennington’s suggestion is for you to control of every phase possible from the beginning.

Social skills

Bennington tackles commonly sticky subjects such as, appropriately dressing, office banter, and managing your manager in a way that is easier to swallow than most authors would. If anything she suggests that you walk in the other person’s shoes as part of a strategy that accompanies direct communication.

Personal effectiveness

As mentioned earlier, this section is workbook-like so that the reader can create target areas for improvement. More importantly, this enables to keep the reader accountable.

Team development

Bennington merges a chapter about critical thinking to help the reader think even deeper about his or her approach to knowing people on the team. This is useful as job seekers need to display his or her aptitude and abilities to solve problems. How do you engage coworkers, learn their strengths, and complement them with your abilities? Bennington provides 100 questions to engage others as either a non-management coworker, and as a manager.

Leadership

Again, the practical approach makes this book easy to follow and put in practice, especially when she discusses leadership in a “walk the walk” mantra. Bennington makes the case as trust is earned, and “…trust is built on dependability.” Although much of this is addressed to women, men can take away the approach.

I recommend “Who says…” not just as a preparedness to the office, but as intended by Bennington, an opportunity to excel in the workplace.

Oh Yes, the FREE copy!

Would you like to own a copy of Emily’s new book? To qualify, all you have to do is leave a comment below before Monday by answering this question: Which of the five areas (self-awareness, social skills, personal effectiveness, team development, leadership) mentioned in this review is your strength? The winner will be randomly picked on Monday. Good luck!