I'm a senior at Penn State, graduating in May 2013. As of now, my post-graduation plans are to move back in with my parents and pray for a response from one of the many employers I’ve sent my resume to.
As much as I love my parents, I’m not trying to move back in with them. Yes, I’d save money and start to pay off my college debt, but I don’t want to move backwards. I want to continue to move forward in my journey to becoming a real adult.
Here are a few tips I’ve compiled throughout my job search adventure.
1. Use your connections
Most schools have some sort of career services to specifically help students in their career path. This means they can help you with everything from picking a major to actually finding a job after graduation. U.S. News named Clarkson University number one on their “10 Best Schools That Lead to Jobs.” Clarkson University Career Center has an entire website dedicated to helping students find their path. Check out your schools career services, see what they have to offer and make sure you’re taking advantage of all the opportunities available to you.
2. Use the Internet
There are a million websites specifically to help people find jobs, so get your resume out there! I started off with Monster.com, Internships.com and SimplyHired.com. Fill out the simple registration information and let the emails pour in. My mentor, Jennifer Shutt, a Penn State graduate and reporter for the Daily Times in Salisbury, Md., suggested converting your resume into a pdf file to get rid of those annoying red and green squiggles under your “mistakes.” You’ll probably get a million emails and some of them will be worthless, but the good ones are completely worth it.
3. Get Exposure
If you’ve ever seen “Julie and Julia,” you’ve probably started a blog. I know right after I watched it I immediately went online and attempted to start a blog. If you haven’t seen it, it’s a movie based on the real-life adventure of Julia Powell. Basically she becomes famous for cooking every recipe from Julia Child’s first cookbook. She achieves fame by blogging about it, every single night. Find out what your passion is, and just go for it. Inga Saffron, a successful journalist, is currently the architecture critic for the Philadelphia Inquirer, covered two wars in Belgrade and Moscow and has written for Metropolis and Dwell magazines. Saffron said starting a blog is the best way to get exposure. I would go with WordPress.com; within the first few hours of my first post I got a reply.
I’ve been at this for months, but I’m not going to stop. If I have to move back in with my parents, so be it. Maybe I’ll have even more to write about if I do!
To keep up with my job search, and get more tips, check out my blog here.
Image: http://www.peakoilblues.org/blog/?p=2735
