What to Do Right After Graduating From College
When you understand how to navigate a post-crisis economy, time flies by. A whole new generation is graduating from college this year: Gen Z. And they are facing a competitive job market and a still fragile economy. So, here are some expert tips for recent graduates hiring.
Develop your communication skills
As mean as it sounds, the digital age is really killing our personal communication in real life. Patricia Greenfield, a professor of psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles, who conducted research on the trend, told their editors :
“Desensitizing emotional cues — losing the ability to understand other people’s emotions — is one of the costs. Replacing personal social interaction with screen interaction seems to reduce social skills. “
Christy Hopkins agrees. She is a staff member of the Human Resources department at FitSmallBusiness.com and says new graduates should work on improving their verbal communication skills to break the trend (and stereotypes).
Before entering the job market, recent college graduates should practice their “30-second sales pitch,” Hopkins suggested.
“Practice your ‘elevator pitch’ on what you want to do and why, answer common alumni questions about your high school performance, how you got into your field, and so on. Get your friends and parents to practice how to have a calm conversation. “
This is actually good advice for everyone, but it can be especially important when you are young, inexperienced, and perhaps too used to email or text messaging. Hopkins added:
“A lot of new graduates tell me, ‘I’ve applied for a lot of vacancies, I don’t know which company or what position you are applying for.’ It seems incredibly lazy and completely unimpressive. “
However, let’s be honest: New graduates are under intense pressure to find work in a crowded market, so they are likely to be on the web and hoping to catch something. In other words, they apply for any vacancy available and it can be difficult to keep track of resume after resume.
Come up with a system to track the history of your job applications so you know exactly what you’re going to interview if you call back. A simple Excel spreadsheet will do: just create a column indicating the employer for which position you are applying for, and a link to their job description, if available. It makes finding a job more fun, but it’s better than looking like you don’t have them together.
Clean up your social media accounts
Another should? Think twice about the questionable updates and photos you tweeted (or at least make them personal). Potential employers are definitely stealing your bills to check if you meet their standards.
And this is not only employers, but also landlords and lenders ! Social media is like lazy background checking, and it’s a surprisingly common way to screen candidates for jobs.
“Do a serious privacy check on your social media accounts and consider removing anything that could get you out of the game,” says Hopkins.
Better yet, step up your social media play in general . Share interesting articles in your industry. Update your bio to something more professional. And of course, create a great LinkedIn profile.
Correct your resume
You want your resume to stand out from the crowd, which means you have to focus on skills that are truly valuable to hiring managers. This is obvious, but some employers may make the unfortunate assumption that just because you are Gen Z, you grew up with modern conveniences and have no idea what it means to work hard.
This is a silly stereotype, so make sure your resume refutes it.
“It is really a good idea to have [Gen Z-ers] show their understanding of the value of real hard work in their resume or interviews,” said Valerie Streif, senior advisor at recruitment company thementat.com . “Things like talking about the painstaking summer work they did or focusing on all the tasks they did on an unpaid internship can really help show that quality.”
On the other hand, it’s important to understand that your resume isn’t just about you . I know it sounds counterintuitive, but this is how professional trainer David Schindler explained it:
“A common mistake is to focus too much on yourself and what you want. Employers are more concerned with what they want and how you are going to help them. Do your research and come up with something relevant that the employer may not know about their industry or market. “
“You also want to show, not just tell,” says Schindler. Don’t just say you are good at coping, identify what challenges you have overcome. Sure, it’s easy to do after you’ve rated the interview, but there are ways to make it stand out on your resume as well.
“Use other people’s words to describe yourself better than your own. Showcase your portfolio, designs, languages, personal websites and blogs. Leave the food to go to remember. ” Schindler said. Don’t leave your identity at home. Show real interest in your job, your employer and their world. ”
Focus on the right skills
When you start out, you don’t have a lot of work experience. To compensate for this, focus on building a strong set of soft skills, such as being proactive, listening, having opinions, and a willingness to think outside the box.
“Increasingly, employers are looking for new employees who communicate well, demonstrate resilience and are motivated,” Schindler said. “They want the right characters to fit into their team. If they are not looking for a specialist, they will teach you specific technical or functional skills as soon as you get on board. “
You can develop these skills anywhere: internship, volunteering, part-time, or personal hobbies. There are a number of reasons to hire someone with no experience.
Don’t be afraid to negotiate
It is difficult to negotiate your very first salary, but not negotiating it can be a costly mistake.
A couple of years ago, a study published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior ran a series of studies and found that people who negotiated their starting salary earned an average of $ 5,000 more. The study concluded that this adds up to $ 600,000 over a career. Sure, there are a number of caveats here (you can compensate for this, for example, by switching to a higher-paying job), but it’s hard to argue with the conclusion: negotiations pay off seriously.
“A shocking percentage of Gen Zers don’t agree on their first salary,” Streif said. “While the underlying reason for this is unknown, it could be due to people not seeing themselves at work for a long time, or due to subconscious worries about money due to growing up during the Great Recession.”
In any case, says Streif, Gen Zers must do research before they get paid. Sites like Glassdoor and Payscale make this very easy. You can see that others are being paid not only in your industry, but also in your future company. When it comes to negotiation, research is your friend .
Sure, it might seem odd to say, “Hey, could you give me another $ 5,000 a year, even if I literally have no experience?” So don’t say it. Instead, focus on the skills and traits you have that employers want to see.
Also, look at it the other way: you may have to learn to negotiate at some point in your career. The sooner you get comfortable with it, the better. This is another good reason to negotiate a starting salary, as dire as it may be. Just ask and practice it. What if you get what you want? Even better.