Welcome to March, the season for sports tournaments, spring break and the encroaching panic felt by college seniors juggling final projects and the search for post-graduation jobs.
The combination of projects and job search, as well as internships, extra courses, part-time work, and everything else loaded onto a college senior’s to-do list can create a logjam over the spring months. When something inevitably gets pushed to the side, it’s frequently job search that suffers.
It doesn’t help that the job search is so often confusing. I can lend a hand by providing a structured series of weekly activities to follow. This set of steps can be compressed or stretched out as needed, or set aside entirely for post-graduation. If you start the first week of March and keep pace, you’ll have all the steps (and very possibly an offer) by the first week of June.
Week 1. Confirm what your next stage after graduation will be: Internship? Full-time job? Graduate school? Business startup? The following steps are best suited for a job search, but can be modified for an internship as well.
Week 2. Decide what you want to work in. A general topic or concept, such as "technology" or "nonprofit work" will suffice, as the next steps involve honing the decision. If you can't come up with even a general idea, ask your college career center for suggestions. At this stage, any idea is better than none. You can always segue to something else as you gather information, but you have to start somewhere.
Weeks 3 and 4. Research your idea thoroughly, using Internet searches, government studies and statistics (start with bls.gov and dol.gov), industry magazines and newsletters, informational interviews, etc. Don't forget to talk with your professors and career center.
Week 5. Clarify the actual job title you're headed for. For example, IT Project Manager instead of "technology," or Development Officer instead of "nonprofit work." This will be necessary whether you're looking for an internship or a job, as you need the specific title to help you uncover lesser-known opportunities.
Week 6. Make a list of all the people you can contact as part of your network. Dig deep to include past or current bosses, neighbors, your parents' friends, high school coaches, etc. You can use this list for bcc group emails asking for generalized help ("Does anyone have a contact for me at xyz Company?") or for individual requests for advice.
Week 7. Make a list of all the companies where you can envision working. You can build this list by conducting an Internet search, referring to industry directories, talking with advisors, etc. In the following weeks, you'll be reaching out to these organizations to ask for meetings and interviews, so concentrate on finding the names of relevant department managers whenever possible. Refer to your contact list from Week 6 for help on this step.
Week 8. Finalize your resume and a template cover letter, as well as your LinkedIn profile. Chances are, you've already developed these materials. Now is the time to revise them to incorporate the information from your research, such as skills that you've learned your target employers prefer.
Weeks 9-12. Send out your resume and letter (by email or post) to 10 department managers each week; follow up in a day or two with a call asking for a meeting to discuss the possibility of working in their department after graduation. Track your results so you can determine whom to re-contact.
Week 13. If you have no strong prospects at this stage, pick up a part-time or interim job post-graduation while you fine-tune your search methods. Then talk with a job search strategist to look for flaws in your process.
Now that you have a schedule of steps, here are five pitfalls to watch out for:
Delaying the decisions needed in Weeks 1 and 2. If necessary, take five or six weeks after graduation for an intensive career exploration process guided by a professional. Otherwise, just choose something and get started, so you don't lose momentum.
Relying primarily on online ads. These represent the smallest and most competitive share of the openings, so give them only 25 percent of your time, at most.
Disregarding campus recruiting opportunities. That's crazy. If there are employers on campus, why wouldn't you want to meet them?
Not using a personal network. Just do it. Contact people and ask for leads and advice – this is how it's done.
Giving up. Give a consistent effort for four weeks. Either it will work or it won't, but at least you'll have enough data to analyze so you can correct course and try again.
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