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1. Apply for both in-state and out-of-state positions. This will help expand your pool of opportunity.
2. Apply for part-time, temp to permanent hire, internship, and full-time positions. In many cases, internships do lead to jobs and since you are recently out of school you may still be eligible for them.
3. Attend job fairs at your alma mater. (My university allows both current students and alumni to attend)
4. Reach out to your Career Services department at your alma mater. See if they can help you get your foot in the door somewhere.
5. Evaluate your degree. What type of degree did you obtain? If a BA, you really need to think about what your future opportunities are.
6. Network with people on LinkedIn. Befriend recruiters. (This works if you have the right tact.)
7. In the meantime, keep busy. Volunteer work is good but make sure it's in your field or a related field. Otherwise, maybe you can look into freelance work? Also, see if you can continue/practice your education. Maybe there is a certification in your field that you can study for? This will help fill your resume gap.
8. Apply for government jobs. It will take several months if you hear back but you might find an opportunity there.
9. Seek out a mentor in your field. They can be instrumental in helping you get a job and remain successful.
I'm in the same boat as OP. The winners in the world right now are those recent grads who were smart and proactive enough to get a solid career plan rolling while in college. They were able to get entry-level positions in good industries because they had enough internship experience and connections that they accrued during their 4 years. Everyone else is pretty much screwed. My friend who never went to college is making $19/hr working at a grocery store. Meanwhile, my college grad friend who I was talking to yesterday is having trouble finding a job that pays $12-$13/hr.
I'm employed and all that, I still feel depressed for my fellow young men and women who are just getting steamrolled.
The worst part is, no one even cares. No one is saying anything, everyone just figures, "oh, it'll work itself out. You guys need to experience hardship. You're entitled."
It's the one thing that get my blood hotter than the sun. I refuse to hire anyone over 28 years old. Experience the fun with us, and when it comes time to vote on social security and Medicare, I'm voting no.
Then we can say, "stop being entitled."
and that is illegal, 28 is considered millenial age too
I wouldn't consider volunteering a meaningful path to employment. I volunteered for a few months at a hospital waiting for a position to open. One opened, I was more than qualified for it, I contacted the director and filed an application, and I obtained zero interviews and a standard rejection letter a couple weeks later. Needless to say, I did not waste another shift volunteering at that place.
Heh I did this, I also have a few friends who did this. Volunteer at the hospital, then when some low level, nonclinical postion opens up, you think you will have the leg up when applying, cause you actually made contacts etc...-NOPE NOPE!
Anyway OP, have you considered going back to school? 2nd degrees are espically popular, specifically nursing and accounting but there are other options as well. Pequeno Bonsai made many good suggestions- I recommend following them. However in terms of government jobs they are notriolsy slow in getting back to you, so I would def. look beyond government work.
OP you have graduated and found the very nonsensical "I can't get work cause I don't have experience, yet how can I get experience if no one will hire me in the first place-wrap your head around that good luck.
If you can afford too, I recommend doing an unpaid internship. Small, independent business like small publishing houses, minor league teams etc... often have unpaid internships throughout the year. The idea is you work for them for a bit, then leverage that into paid work elsewhere. The fact of the matter is that unless you graduated with a very specific degree (and in some cases that is not enough), people want experience, even the entry level wants experience.
Look outside your comfort zone, if you cant find a job in your major do not be to proud/stubborn to do work outside your major. Also there is nothing wrong working retail/fast food till something better comes along.
Have you tried any management trainee programs like with enterprise, Reynolds and Reynolds etc... often you only need a degree, the field does not matter. And yes even though it is a big commitment and a complete life change, you may want to consider the military.
I agree with the internship, if you're okay with being unpaid or paid very little. I credit the two low-pay internships I took right after graduating with getting my foot in the door in this field.
Internships. Many people have already went in detail on this, but I am proof that you can get an internship post-graduation and turn it into a long term opportunity. A lot of companies will offer fall internship programs and many will consider graduates.
Utilize LinkedIn as much as possible. A good thing about the site, in my experience, is that a lot of people will add you if they have something remotely in common (ie: went to the same school). Have you tried reaching out to or adding some people you may have been in classes with, old professors, etc.? I got my internship through working with an old classmate that worked for the company and she gave my resume to HR for consideration on the fall internship program. I've gotten interviews before through utilizing connections some of my professors had.
Also, don't be afraid to directly reach out to recruiters from companies that you are interested in working for. I have gotten interviews before from just sending them a quick note via LinkedIn stating a short summary of my background and asking they contact me if they have an open position come up that my skills match up for.
Don't be afraid to look at and apply for jobs that may not immediately seem pertinent to your studies. When it comes to entry-level positions and when I was job searching, I applied for almost anything under the sun that I considered myself qualified for, if for nothing more than the interview experience.
And I know that someone said if you have a BA to re-evaluate future opportunities, so I will just be again the success story. I graduated with a BA, took 4 months to find a position - worked contract for a year. I was able to find a full time opportunity so I jumped to that, and then again the past couple of weeks I've changed jobs again with starting in a software implementation consulting training program. So yes, I have a BA but I'm now in IT. I also now make double in terms of salary of what I did two years ago when I graduated.
And finally - keep your head up and don't get discouraged. It's tough out there right now. There are a lot of companies, like the one I work for now & my previous two companies, that hire new grads either as an internship or they have programs specifically designed to hire new grads. One was through an internship program, the other company hired 30+ new grads every June and neither were advertised well (ie job postings). It was all done through word of mouth of current employees or college campus recruiting.
I know a woman who graduated just this spring who worked in a popular and widespreasd coffee chain. Her degree is in liberal arts, not something like nursing where there are tons of high paying jobs, she had a couple of prospects contact her, the pay was a bit disappointing since she already makes that much but now her employer told her since she has a degree she will be promoted up in that same company she's been working for, she's already had job benefits, now will have better pay and can keep moving up.
It might also be regional, last night the local news announced there are thousands of jobs that need to be filled here.
Thing with internships is that there are fewer of those which are available versus jobs. Plus people would have to make up that they are still in school, like what one poster on here has done in order to get the internship role. It is a shame even when I was in college, I couldn't find a internship.
Last edited by Merchant_ZZZ; 07-25-2013 at 06:40 PM..
yes it is important to note that even internships are competitive, especially the paid ones. Still in the land of "We wont hire you unless you get experience but god be dammed if I have to give you the experience"-unpaid internships may be the only way to get that experience.
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