Understanding how to search for jobs as a fresh graduate is what will determine how fast you will get employed after school. It goes a long way in determining your future. Whether you will stay unemployed for a long time or get hired quickly.
Fresh graduates who have just crossed the finish line of their tertiary education and secured their degree might share mixed feelings of excitement and an overwhelming pressure as they navigate the next course of their lives. The transition from school life to academia to the job professional aspects can pose a huge leap for many graduates; hence, knowing the specifics of the job market or how to search for jobs as a fresh graduate can go a long way in clarifying matters for the graduate.
You have to accept and come to terms with the fact that the search for one’s first job usually requires lots of hard work. This is because just as a fresh graduate is about to enter his job search era, there are a whole lot of seasoned professionals within the job market who are refining their job search skills. Recent surveys indicate that as much as 90 percent of employed staff are on the lookout for jobs a few times per year, clearly indicating that job seeking is not only being undertaken by graduates only but they face a lot of stiff competition. But similar to any other activity, one is sure to get better with time and enough practice.
Though this challenge might seem worrisome to graduates, it is not one you can’t face if you are adequately prepared, which is the reason why this article is highly helpful in providing a comprehensive guide to navigate through the job search and the seeking process as a fresh graduate. From feasible strategies, optimizing your persona to providing self-organisation skills that would promptly speed up your journey from a fresh graduate to a well-landed job professional.
This article will not only provide you with specifics to survive the dynamic job market, but also to successfully land your ideal job opportunity.
To this end, this article has been developed to provide tips and actionable steps that will aid your job-seeking skills and will equip graduates with resources that will assist in finding, applying, and securing their desired job opportunity.
How to search for Jobs as a fresh graduate
1. Clarity of Target Roles
Before diving straight into making job applications, the very first step to take for a successful job search should be self-evaluation. In this evaluation step, you take a strategic pause to clarify your desired target roles and their requirements.
You consider your motives, interests, skills, and goals that motivate you.
You should check yourself with the necessary questions. Which work environment would you prefer? Would it be a collaborative setup or a more independent role? Which industry would you perform at your best, and what potential career opportunity might align with your aspirations and skills?
This evaluation process is not in any way about limiting yourself or your skills, but a way of focusing on you as an individual and what you have to offer a particular organisation. This will help to focus your efforts for providing the best results.
2. Researching the Target role
So, in essence, this step in summary means that you need to carefully dissect the job requirements and specifications to identify the key skills associated with such a job title. You can leverage this information later on when crafting your resume and CVs, which will refer to the relevant highlighted skills.
To effectively carry out this step, start by shortlisting specific job titles that correspond with your unique qualities and skills, academic qualifications, and personal interests. Focus on job areas that bring out your very best and where your skills can best reflect and shine.
This vetting of jobs to determine your specific role will require that you spend time searching for which job roles are actively for hire and the specifications and skills they might require. You familiarise yourself with various job descriptions via this process, which will help you optimise your CVs and resumes later on by leveraging specific keywords associated with the job roles.
Also, it is important to note that while we are considering factors such as job skills and requirements, we shouldn’t take our eye off the bigger picture: the job income. While researching a job title, it’s always important to check for its associated salary specification.
Understand first the monetary worth of your skills and use this information to ascertain whether a particular job role is being underpaid or not. While job salary specification remains a good factor to consider, there are also fringe factors to consider that play a huge role in one’s potential career. These are career progression benefits, work-life balance, organizational culture, and the like.
In addition to what’s being said, it is usually beneficial for graduates to be open to adjacent job roles. These are job opportunities that aren’t your ideal dream job roles, but you can meet up with their specifications. Sometimes they can be a blessing in disguise, as these adjacent roles can set you up for your dream job position later on while offering you invaluable hands-on work experience.
3. Craft a compelling resume or CV
As a young, fresh graduate seeking employment, to a potential employer, your first impression would be your CV or work resume. So it is very important to ensure that it is well-written and formatted. This ensures that it is free from any errors and showcases your skills as best as you want it to.
Do not allow a lack of work experience to discourage your flow, as your academic experience and qualifications have already provided you with valuable skills and in-depth knowledge, with the only remaining key factor being the strategic representation of these skills and knowledge via your CV or resume. Ensure to take your time when drafting your CV or resume for your specific job role, providing information on gained skills and knowledge pertaining to the job description.
Reflecting on the use of strong quantifiable achievements when possible will greatly improve the content of your CV, placing necessary emphasis on the skills and experience you have to offer. Just showcasing the fact that you possess a particular technical skill or expertise, fluency in a foreign language, or just a high proficiency in relevant soft skills like communication, teamwork, might just be key to getting you hired.
How to write a good CV
- Utilize a professional format – Knowing how to write a good CV in a well-designed, professional layout that is easy to comprehend will communicate volumes to the potential employer. As a CV is your first impression of your potential employer, it should be optimally crafted in an understandable format. You can leverage the use of ATS( Applicant Tracking Systems) for this.
- Highlight academic achievements and qualifications – A good CV or resume should showcase the best of your abilities to demonstrate why you should be considered for the job role. Academic qualifications are excellent instances to show you have the necessary foundational knowledge required for specific job roles. You should indicate your academic degrees and additional technical proficiencies you might have to offer.
- Highlight relevant extracurricular roles and experiences – Rather than placing all focus on job-related skills and expertise, you can cite relevant academic projects you have completed. Volunteer work, internships, and leadership roles might be good opportunities for you to showcase that you have additional experience apart from school life and academia.
- Quantifying achievements: Recent research has indicated that the use of numbers greatly helps to create a psychological impact. So it is advisable to use numbers to improve the outcomes of your achievements in your CVs or resumes. For instance, you might mention you led a team of 10 to complete a month-long research project, rather than just saying you participated in a research project.
- Leverage digital tools: These recent times, digital resources like AI tools, resume builders, and ATS templates are readily available for use in editing and optimizing your CVs and resumes. You might even use them to create resumes and CVs entirely, taking time to personalise it to your taste and specifics.
4. Leverage the use of LinkedIn – Understand how to improve your LinkedIn profile
If you have a LinkedIn account, please drop your profile for review in the comment section. One of our experts will review it for you, and it’s free.
It is a well-known fact that establishing a strong brand maintains an authoritative figure within a particular field. To this end, leveraging online communities relevant to your specific industry will greatly improve your visibility to job-related opportunities as a graduate. A great example of an online community to leverage is the LinkedIn platform.
LinkedIn is an online platform that particularly provides connections between job seekers and potential employers. To get started, you’ll need to create a professional profile that will showcase your skills, expertise, and experience you have to offer. Just view your LinkedIn profile as your online resume, where you can develop your professional portfolio. It is an extremely popular app for job seekers and the top spot job recruiters often check out first for employees.
Improving your profile rankings amongst online searches within the LinkedIn app can be done using relevant keywords, ensuring that your profile can be easily visible and accessible to connect with top professionals within your industry.
How to improve your LinkedIn profile
- Use a professional headline and, even more importantly, quality, professional photo visuals that depict your job skills and objectives, not just your student impression.
- Draft a well-compelling LinkedIn summary that details your major competencies. This will serve as your professional pitch that will draw the attention of potential employers.
- Aside from your student status, build your profile by including relevant academic projects, volunteer courses, and leadership roles you have completed. Any relevant certification should be displayed.
- Solicit endorsements and recommendations from colleagues, supervisors or even professors that would improve your profile’s credibility.
- Ensure your profile is always public for everyone to see. This will ensure that your profile pops up during any job recruiter online searches on the site.
Conclusion.
As a fresh graduate just off the university walls, securing your first-ever job can be a challenging and unique experience. Furthermore, due to the massive unemployment situation within the country, it might be very frustrating to keep pushing up with the masses in search of good jobs. But by following the tips within this article and properly leveraging them, you will be well prepared when entering the job market and securing your ideal job opportunity.
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