How to Get a Job After Graduation

If you have worked hard through your degree course and have successfully graduated from your degree course then it’s now trying to find the job you want to do that matches your skills and that you are interested in enough to call it your career.

It could also be that you need to gain some more work experience and that you just want to get some relevant work place experience before finding your ideal career but the methods to finding these jobs are the same.

Below you will find some handy tips to point you in the right direction.

Recruitment Agencies

Visit all the local recruitment agencies that could help you. Make an appointment or drop in with your CV and ask to speak to someone about your skills and experiences and see how they can help you. If they are unable to help you they may be able to point you in the right direction.

Online CV

Get your CV online so that employers can see your skills and what you can do for them. This is available on most job hunting websites and is attractive for employers to search for candidates just like people searching for jobs.

Word of Mouth

Follow up any leads you get through word of mouth. You will have friends that are looking for similar jobs, doesn’t mean that you cannot apply for the job too. Once someone else knows that a company is looking for a particular position then your information is accurate enough to drop your CV in.

Related: Top 10 Tips for Recent Graduates to Use LinkedIn to Get a Job

Speculative applications

Do a search on local companies or companies that you would be interested to work with and do an individual cover letter based on each company and email or take your CV and covering letter to be passed onto the person dealing with recruitment or the MD if a smaller organisation. Although they may not be looking for anyone right now they will often keep hold of CV’s in case they decide to recruit at a later date. It is also sewing a seed in their mind in case they are not sure whether they need someone with your skills at this time.

Job Fairs

Find out where the local job fairs are and make sure you attend them. At job fairs, recruitment agencies and companies go with the simple aim of finding new candidates for their business so this is an ideal opportunity to be able to talk to potential employers and hopefully find a good job.

Adverts

Go through the adverts in the paper as well as online. Not all companies advertise their roles on line. It’s also worth looking in the recruitment section of the papers for companies that you have not heard of so that you can research these and see if they would be a company that would employ someone with your skills.

Social Media

Social media is great for keeping in touch with our friends and family but you can use these platforms for job searching too. Nearly all of the companies are on Social Media these days and they are advertising their latest job vacancies for their followers to apply. Find your favorite company and start following them and apply for the positions they advertise.

Related: How Popular is Self Employment for Graduates [INFOGRAPHIC]

Job Centre

Visit the job centre. They do provide specialist advice on your CV, job hunting as well as having local jobs advertised with them. You may be able to get someone to go through your CV with you and help you to know which companies take on graduates and for what.

Temporary or Seasonal work

You could try and do some temporary or seasonal work for the summer period and look whilst you are working. The good old saying that it’s easier to find a job when you are in a job is very true. At the same time you are also gaining experience and it shows to an employer that you are hard working and willing to work even if it isn’t something you necessarily want to do.

Voluntary work

Is there any voluntary work that you could do to boost your work experience. There may not be anything relevant to what you want to do but it always looks much better if employers feel you are trying and doing anything instead of just sitting and waiting for your dream job to appear.

Sell yourself

Learning to sell yourself is the key to getting the job you want. If you can’t sing your own praises then who can? You need to be able to say how good you are at something and how you can do that thing which is important to an employer. You need to portray this in your CV as well as when you get to an interview.

photo by hult school

By Daniel Lewis

Daniel Lewis, owner, CV Specialists.

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