Friends here is one that may make you tired. Even if you do most of these, it's a full time job. College Grads are in competition with fewer jobs than in the past and need to do more than just wait for the job.
More job hunt techniques that can lead to success (for College Graduates)
By Julie Kramer1. Create a website and/or online portfolio for yourself.
More things will come up on you when your name is Googled by potential employers, plus it will be a good place to direct people on Twitter or LinkedIn to learn more information about you. (Of course, Google yourself every now and then to make sure that nothing you would not want them to see is out there.)
And it is OK if you do not know how to design a website. There are tons of easy-to-use websites out there that do the hard work for you. For example:
extendr.com
shownd.com
carbonmade.com
vfolio.com
wix.com
You just have to enter in your information!
(Wordpress is great but I have used Blogspot in the past)
2. Put yourself out there.
The more places you have online presence, the more likely the right people might find you. Create profiles and post your resume on the main job sites, like Monster, HotJobs, CareerBuilder. But be careful of the scams!
Also, get involved with other job and networking sites like VisualCV or others that relate to your industry or geographic region. One great site I found is BigShoesNetwork, which posts tons of great marketing and graphic design-related jobs in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois.
Your area’s newspaper, broadcast news, and industry organization websites usually offer local job postings, too! With marketing being a focus in my case, I look to my local chapter of the Business Marketing Association to see the positions they have listed.
My favorites are Simply Hired, Indeed, Twitter (Signal), and jobs posted in your LI groups
3. Make a brand for yourself.
One way to do this would be to design a personal logo. If you are not very artistically inclined, a simple logo idea would be to download a neat font from a free font site like www.dafont.com and use the new font to type your name or initials. Play around with colors, too!
Also, take a professional photo of yourself to post online, and carry the two throughout your online profiles, your Twitter account, LinkedIn, and even your business cards. Yes, business cards! Design your own business card with your new logo on it. Again, if you need help, try one of the many free business card template sites out there, such as http://www.businesscardland.com/.
VistaPrint is another site
4. Try in-person networking events.
Online networking can play an important part in building relationships, but it only goes so far. One of the best ways to create contacts would be to attend in-person networking events.
It has worked wonders for me! For example, local chapters of the Business Marketing Association, American Advertising Federation, and other industry groups hold dozens of events each year, and most welcome college students and recent graduates for a much smaller fee, as well.
The trick is to look at it not necessarily as a night of mini-interviews to get yourself a job, but symbiotic networking — think, “What can I do for them?” Create relationships with them and help them out on a volunteer basis. By showing them how great you are while helping them out, they may want you full-time or will recommend you to friends and colleagues who are hiring.
5. Arrange some informational interviews.
These are great ways to network and learn more about a company or industry. Like in-person networking, the trick is not to treat it as a real interview, which is usually a big turn-off to the person you are meeting with. Rather, see it as a friendly meeting that allows you to pick the brain of the person by asking intelligent questions. It is a great opportunity to let your personality shine, but still be polite and professional, of course!
Best-case scenario: they like you and want to: a) consider you for a position they are hiring for, b) have you to intern for them, or c) help them out on a volunteer basis (which is a great way to show them what you’ve got!)
What is more the norm, though, is that you have made a great networking contact and can keep in touch with them. When they hear of an open position, they might then think of you or will refer you to their colleagues for other informational interviews.
When I interned this past summer in NYC, I performed five informational interviews. I learned a ton about the industry and how the individual companies worked, not to mention gained extremely valuable networking contacts that I still keep in touch with today.
6. Don’t turn down an opportunity just because it’s not the “perfect” fit.
Through networking, you may receive various opportunities that may not be the most glamorous or even paid, but nearly every one will eventually pay off in some form or another.
For me personally, I try to never say no to any opportunity; each one is a chance to network and show people what I have to offer. However, this can be tough to balance if you already work a couple of other volunteer or part-time jobs or have a family and other responsibilities to care for. If you can handle it, though, you can almost guarantee it will be worth it.
Take a look at this article by Adrienne Waldo at Advertising Age on the types of offers you should jump at.
7. Have the job openings come to you.
Join relevant LinkedIn and Facebook groups, follow job posting-related Twitter accounts, and set up job posting website alerts that email open positions right to your inbox every day or week.
8. Follow industry news.
Find the latest happenings in your industry by following key Twitter accounts or signing up to get their newsletters (like those from PR News or Advertising Age for marketing folks).
Look for information about mergers, acquisitions, new accounts won, and department openings, for example. Even though there may be no open positions posted, send a prospecting letter describing how you learned about the news and are interested in their company. Give information about yourself and what you are looking for in a position, and ask if they need an addition to assist with a new account, a new department, etc.
This has worked for me in the past! Although the company was not hiring, they were impressed with my initiative, how I kept up with industry news, and wants me to keep in touch. When they do decide to make additions in the company in the next few years, I know I will be one of the first to hear about it.
9. Figure out a target person’s email.
With a little bit of online research, especially when using LinkedIn, you should be able to figure out the name of a person within the company you are applying to-whether it is the head of the department you want to work in or the head of human resources. Finding their email address might be a little more difficult. However, if you find someone’s — anyone’s — email address from the company (if found nowhere else, a contact should be listed under the “Press” tab on their website), you have basically gotten your target person’s email address down. There are a few popular forms email addresses typically come in:
FirstnameLastname@companyname.com
Firstname.Lastname@companyname.com
FirstinitialLastname@companyname.com
Firstname@companyname.com
Lastname@companyname.com
So if the press contact’s email address is in the form of Firstname.Lastname@companyname.com and your target’s name is Joe Smith, then their email would likely be Joe.Smith@companyname.com. If you are between two email addresses and you cannot figure it out, utilize the BCC feature on email and send it to both without either being able to see that you sent it to the other address, too.
10. Finally… Follow up!
I know there is a lot of debate and controversy about following up, but if weeks have passed after applying and the company has yet to contact you, what have you really got to lose?
Give them a call (or email to be a little less intrusive). But don’t ask the age-old question “Have you received my application?” Rather, ask if the position still open, what their timeline is, if they need any other information, or if they would be open to receiving any work samples to help them make their decision.
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