This is something that has always confused me in the past. But now I’m a senior and I’m starting to think about the future. I know that people often get jobs arranged during their senior year that they go straight to after graduation, but I’m not too sure how they go about doing that. I go to a small-ass university that gives us little resources to network with places outside the region (and I’d really love to move to Chicago or the northeast after I graduate in May). I figure online would be easily the best bet, but I’m not sure HOW to go about doing that.
My school has an online service, but it has a reputation for being…not that great. Regardless, I’ll try my luck there, but what I’m really hesitant about is how to find something when I’m not going to be able to start for months yet. I’d really like to find some sort of government job (really should get a masters degree to make it easier, but I don’t want to rush into grad school since I’m unsure I want to go), but many of those jobs posted recently close the application date in just a couple weeks, so I get the impression that they’ll hire people sooner rather than later.
I just don’t get HOW I’ll find something unless I have some great resources, and I don’t feel like they’re any there right now. I am planning on going to my school’s career services and scheduling a meeting, but that’s supposedly a good wait to get into. I’m sure people here have been able to find a potential career near the end of college and I’m curious how the process goes.
Online is a start, but don’t rely on it.
A local newspaper can help as well.
The most important thing is to send your resume out everywhere. Your school’s online service, corporate websites, craigslist (but please be careful with this one), are a good way to begin the search. Just remember that connections are everything, so if you have a family/friend with a job opening, that can be a good way to start as well.
Just apply to whatever jobs that you think your existing skill set may be applicable to. Don’t limit yourself within a specific industry or career paths your degree will typically lead to. Career services and job fairs at your school is a start, but they will only provide you limited idea and resource in terms of what is available to you. Borrow resume writing and cover letter writing books and brush up on how to make a impressive resume, make it a habit to browse job board websites like Indeed, Careerbuilder, Monster, etc. once a week or so and observe what type of jobs are available out there - even if you may not apply to most of them.
Also, pick up part time jobs on campus. Any little bit of working experience will help you than no working experience. Plus, working minimum wage jobs will make you better understand the importance of hard work and the value of money (I won’t say fully understand since that won’t come until you start living on your own as a completely self-dependent adult).
And don’t be discouraged if you fail to find a job by graduation. I had interviews with four potential employers during my senior year, and they all ended up in rejections. Rejection is part of the learning process. If you are like anybody else, you will be applying to many jobs throughout the course of your working life and the majority will end up in rejections.
After graduating college, I worked two retail jobs for almost half a year (as a shift manager at Gap and as a shift manager at Quiznos) and studied for GRE before I found a full time corporate job.
You may want to create numerous resumes for different positions. A managers resume is different from a creative resume. You may want to think about creating an online portfolio since companies love tech savvy people. reach out to your network. You have a linked in? If not, start one.
Do you have any Job Fairs near you? The Job Fairs that happen in the fall are for jobs for the following spring. Universities often have school sponsored Job Fairs that tailor to students and particular areas (business, teaching, science, etc). That’s probably the biggest and best way in my profession (graduated in '08) and probably in many other professions as well. Unfortunately, most of the job fairs occur around September, maybe October. If you are interested in trying this route, you need to look for them and register NOW. If you do happen to be too late, you can try spring job fairs. These tend to be, but not always are, tailored to students graduating in the fall. Ymmv with the spring ones.