For millions of college graduates, the transition from college life to the workforce can be difficult. Acquiring a college degree is a demanding achievement, but getting that first job after graduation can be even more exhausting. The job market has been changing at a rapid rate in recent years, and companies have begun using artificial intelligence and other technologies to hire people, making job hunting more difficult than ever.
College education has become much more common in the last 20 years, meaning that people with college degrees need to do more than just earn a degree to stand out amongst other applicants. To stand out, there are many important things to learn and understand about the job market.
Devoting enough time for job hunting is essential to have employment success. Establish a routine that will ensure there is enough time to search through application sites such as LinkedIn, Handshake, Indeed and others. Use filters to separate wanted jobs from unwanted ones; this will make job searching easier and more effective.
Job market sites are also tailored to certain groups of people. College students and recent graduates searching for internships typically use Handshake. LinkedIn is an easy networking and application platform for all job types. But there are also sites such as WayUp which were built to help early-career professionals find a gateway position. These are not the only sites; there are also many other sites that are tailored for other job types such as education, medical and hospitality. It is also important to set up alerts for the sites you are using to ensure that you are always up to date on your application statuses.
Almost every job application will require a resume to provide an overview of the applicant’s employment history, education and other relevant information that separates them from the others. In recent years, the first review of an applicant’s resume is done by artificial intelligence, or AI, so it is encouraged to add keywords from the position description to make certain that the AI finds the resume fit for the job. A simple Google search for resume keywords will also provide documents with lists of words that AI positively identifies.
Resumes need to be simple and straightforward. Each job and activity that is listed should have a vague description on what makes it important. For example, if a retail position was listed, the description should mention how the job gave experience towards interacting with customers and other employees. These descriptions do not need to be complete sentences, but the type of sentence used should be consistent throughout the piece. If the resume begins with bulleted lists made with sentence fragments, it should remain that way throughout the whole thing.
Because everything listed should have a vague description, a resume should only have one to three subjects in each category. Having more than three subjects can cause the resume to appear crowded or informal. However, there are cases where a fourth subject may be necessary, but that is uncommon and not recommended. This is common for people who have more than three degrees or educational institutions.
Researching how to navigate the job market and resume building can be intimidating, but it can be fun by using Tik Tok and other social media platforms. Many people have created posts and reels regarding tips and tricks for job hunting. Finding these tips has never been easier because now social media uses keywords to filter everything. By simply searching “tips for job hunting” or “interview help” there will be hundreds of videos and posts to view and scroll through.
To make it even easier, links for helpful resources have been added to the bottom of the article. Use them to help prepare a resume, find a job, practice interviewing and more. For more direct help, students are welcome to email Lakeland’s Cooperative Education & Career Readiness Office using their email address, [email protected], or set up appointments with the office through Handshake.
Resources:
How to Land Your First Job — Even With No Experience | Harvard Summer School
7 Tips for How to Improve Your Resume | Berks Technical Institute