A college degree doesn ' t make you articulation smarter, more prepared, or more proved. Unfortunately, a brimming part of a college education is still about textbooks, tests, and grades. But what do they utterly teach kids about marketing themselves for the real world?
Age coaching a recent college graduate how to market himself, it has be reformed equivalent more apparent that colleges do not spend enough time on marketing. Oh sure, they may go through mock interviews or how to scribe a resume but those two things won ' t do a person fraction good if they have no clue how to market themselves to find the job opportunities in the first home. If you are not gifted and a bit entrepreneurial to erect your opportunity, you are at a enormous disadvantage.
Timing is more constituent. All almighty generally, college students don ' t commensurate birth thinking about job opportunities until their last semester or abode is approaching. Thereupon when finals come around and they ' re cramming to finish up everything, looking for a job, researching opportunities, or marketing themselves gets pushed aside until after graduation. By thereupon, they are out of school, unemployed, perhaps out of housing, with lots of debt and no employment opportunities in sight. If colleges aren ' t teaching kids how to start marketing themselves early, it ' s imperative that students take matters into their own hands. These are a few things students can do themselves to jump - start the process.
Social networking: Obvious, right? Everyone is on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and many other sites. But how many college students, or even adults for that matter, really know how to use these sites effectively? It ' s not enough to simply post what you had for dinner, where you are on FourSquare, or the thousands of other posts that offer far too much information. None of these will help you connect with the right people in your industry so spend your time wisely and make social networking work for you. In fact, many companies will look at your Twitter stream and Facebook posts as another way of evaluating you so be careful what you say. The problem for a lot of people is that they think they are using social networking correctly so why should they ask anyone for advice? All I can say is that if you have been on these three sites for a month and you haven ' t had anyone offer to help you in some way with your career, then you ' re not working the social network system correctly and it ' s time to ask for help.
Research: Sometimes I think this has become a four - letter word because in order to do it right, it takes time and effort. Unfortunately, too many students want things right now so they don ' t really know how to dig deep to find information or opportunities. It ' s not enough to look at company websites or at job postings online. You might have to actually use a little creativity. When you are looking at various websites within your industry, take time to follow related links because you never know where a new idea may come from with a little detour. Be prepared to spend time reading and not just skimming because you are bound to miss information.
Headhunters and the like: So you may have someone else leading the way but that doesn ' t mean you can sit back and let them do all the work. No one has as much invested in finding that job opportunity as you do, so you should be searching as well. If you have been in the American education system all of your life, you probably have gotten used to being spoon - fed information. Unfortunately, the real world doesn ' t work the same way so it ' s time you start thinking and doing for yourself.
Be creative: If you haven ' t thought about this before, think about what makes you unique. What can you bring to the table that no one else has? Why should a company hire you over the next guy? If you can ' t think of qualities yourself, get your family and friends together for a brainstorming session. Okay, yes, there will probably be a lot of jokes thrown around when you request this but after they ' ve had their fun, let them know you are serious about finding, or better yet creating, your own opportunities.
If you feel you ' re not getting anywhere with your job search, talk with an entrepreneur. If they have been successful, most entrepreneurs have the qualities and mindset to think outside the box, which is what new college graduates need to learn in order to market themselves effectively. These strategies can work for any career path because it ' s not about the degree or the industry. It ' s about knowing how to set yourself apart from the competition.
