I Know What I’m Doing After Graduation.

This is my favorite time of year. Not because it’s the holiday season.  This is the time of year I start receiving the best phone calls a career-launch coach can ask for; the ones that start “I know what I’m doing after graduation. I got the job offer.” Go Dave! (He’s the first of the season.) It’s December 10^th, finals haven’t started, yet Dave knows that come graduation he will walk across the stage with a diploma and a job offer.  A job search thought out and well-executed.

If you're eager to land a job when you graduate, 2013 looks to be your best chance since 2007.  Industry analysts, recruiters and human resource managers report a big demand for talent at all levels.  While unemployment stubbornly remains just below 8%—and may stay there for most of 2013—the jobless rate for many positions in accounting, finance, legal, advertising, marketing, and technology ranges from 2% to 5%. 

Need more signs that graduating with a job is possible.

In September 2012, the unemployment rate for new college graduates—defined as college graduates ages 20 to 24—fell to 6.3 percent from 8.3 percent in September 2011 and 9.4 percent in September 2010. Excellent news.

And when companies report that employee turnover is up—30% nationally—there are job openings. The good news for you is with this high turnover employers look outside the company for talent. That means you. However, according to The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) you are up against a projected 1,791,000 students graduating in 2013 with a bachelor’s degree level.The majority of these students are looking for employment.

Take advantage of this opportunity. Be like Dave.

Take control of your job search. Like Dave, you are four to five months away from graduation. If you haven’t started your job search already then frankly you have a lot of catching up to do. (Data point: Between February and March, a third of all seniors will send out more than 20 applications. I don’t like those odds.)

As a college senior your job search should have started during the summer by identifying your skills and strengths, developing memorable stories to demonstrate your competencies and crafting a personality-rich and accomplishment-based resume´.  This allows you to take advantage of your school’s career fairs that take place during the fall. Dave and many More Than A Resume´ clients get their first job offers from employers they’ve met at a career fair.  

But you’re past that so here are some suggestions to help you take control of your job search.

1. Get through finals first.  You’ll have time during winter break to work on your job search.
2. Get a solid resume´. Get it into your school’s database. Set up your LinkedIn profile.
3. Set measurable and attainable goals and track your activity and accomplishments.
4. Check out the career services center website for upcoming career fairs and other opportunities to help you get your resume´ seen by a person instead of into the black box aka applicant tracking system.
5. Create a list of contacts. People you know, people who know people you want to know, people who should know you are graduating and starting to look for employment. This is your network.
6. Do research on companies. The key to today’s job search is targeting.
7. Conduct informational interviews.
8. Find the right job boards for your career.

  

This all becomes part of your job search plan.  Work the plan. You will get the results you want.