When Do I start My Job Search

Recent College Grad Job Search

Part I

When do I start my job search?

You start at birth and ease your way in…

The search for what you want to do with your life starts very early. You learn what you like and don’t like to do as you go through your childhood, start school, watch TV and movies, and meet various people who have jobs doing different things.

In some ways, careers are self-determining. If you hate dance and are not good at it, you won’t become a dancer or dance teacher. However, if you find the process of getting people to the performance or managing how money is spent behind the scenes, perhaps business or marketing is where you belong.

I just read in article in the NY Times that featured two women who were running their father’s machine parts business and were given a big government contract. They had a hard time filling this contract because they didn’t have enough skilled welders—high level welders who could work on complex projects. They ended up training someone who is now their internal training person. My guess is that you didn’t go to college to be a welder—but this particular article shows that it pays to research where opportunities lie.

You should look up the yearly reports on the most sought after professions. Perhaps none of them interest you or you don’t have the math/science skills to be an engineer for example. Health care is a big deal. How about you look at the need for health care people and think broadly: if health care people are in such demand, perhaps a career in HR or Public Administration in a health care environment might be the way to go. What about  marketing for senior living centers? Look at alternatives that fall into the spectrum of what you want to do and what’s needed.

Since this isn’t meant to be a birth to job guide, let’s start at the beginning of college and what you can do to start the “ball rolling.” Your first few years of college should be your trial years. After that, you really need to get serious and focused. That will be the best way to find a job after you graduate.

The sooner you can identify a career path, the sooner you can focus on it and start to “bank” appropriate experience and contacts.

1.       Start to talk to people about what they do for a living. Your friend’s parents, your parents, friends of your parents—anyone who will talk to you. Start reading the newspapers and take a look at online job boards.

2.      Start to make a list of careers that could be something you want to do and could do. Compare that list with your college major and your own skill set. Is it on target and realistic or do you want to be a surgeon and hate the sight of blood?

3.      Start to make a list of your skills and adjectives that describe you (strong Microsoft word, JAVA, etc and organized, dependable, observant, etc.).

4.      Think about summer internships—can you get one that will allow you to “try out a career”.

5.      Talk to more people.

6.      Think about where you want to live. Do these areas have the careers you want? Is there a publishing house in Neenah, Wisconsin?

7.      Take the career assessment tests that your college/university has available.  If nothing else, they are fun.  Perhaps they can give you an idea for a career you hadn’t thought of.

8.     Again, look at the most needed careers and see if your skill set can fall into one of them or a tangential type of career.

This is the preliminary stuff to get you going and thinking—and maybe adjusting your class schedule and summer endeavors to a focus point.