Tips For Recent College Grads

It's Sad But True (A Lot of the Time, Anyway): It's Not What You Know But Who You Know

If you are a recent college grad looking forward to/dreading sucking it up and preparing to make your first foray into the world of post-baccalaureate employment, you might be tempted to let your newly minted degree and fastidiously formatted resume speak for themselves. Do not do this. If you are already doing this, and blindly sending your resume out in response to a variety of ads for jobs that you're richly qualified for, you might notice that you're not getting the response rate you might have hoped for. Why is this the case?

There are a number of reasons. First, sheer volume. If you are applying to jobs advertised on the Internet or in newspapers, rest assured that tons of other people are as well. The ease of applying to these jobs makes them proportionately difficult to get an interview for, because so many people are taking the easy way out and e-mailing their resumes to promising listings.

Furthermore, what you might not know about jobs that are advertised is that oftentimes there's an internal hire -- someone who already works at the company that's advertising the opening -- who's waiting in the wings to snatch that job out from under you and the tons of people who are applying in good faith. A lot of times employers will put out an ad for a job even when they have a pretty good idea of who they're going to give that job to. Why? Because like in so many other areas of life, people like to keep their options open, to examine all the possibilities before making a final decision.

So, if you've applied to a million jobs online and you haven't heard back, don't despair. Know that you're not alone, and know, now that you're a college grad, that you have better options than the want ads, anyway.

You've Got A Degree, Now You Need To Get a Doctorate In Networking
So the want ads are a risky gamble. Another sad truth is that there are no sure things. Is there any good news for recent college grads? Of course! In order to put that degree to work, you must first . . . put that degree to work. Reach out to your alumni association, and join it. Start attending meetings of your local chapter and put the word out that you just graduated and are looking for work. Older alums will have been where you are now, and are probably attending meetings of the alumni association at least in part to help people like you. When you attend these chapter meetings, you might want to discreetly bring your fastidiously formatted resume, or ask alums for their cards so that you can e-mail it to them at a later time.

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