When you’re in school, you are told that you need to go to college to get a job. You are faced with College Prep trainings, ACT’s and the long selection process. Its a long road, but in the end it’ll all be worth it, isn’t it?
Well not in all cases. Many graduates face a common hurdle in their post-graduate job search: finding that first job. Too many companies just ask too much from applicants, while some companies aren’t specific enough with their requirements for the job. As a result graduates turn to internships or referrals from relatives to find a job, but many graduates end up working for less money than they could make working full time at McDonald’s. While this can be annoying, the job search after college doesn’t have to be a failure.
Take Pamela, for example. She went to college for five years. She has two degrees in Marketing and Accounting. She has some experience from internships, but not a lot. She graduated last May, and has sent her resume out to hundreds of companies in the past few months. Shes taken classes on job interviews and resume writing. Shes even talked to the career counselors at her college to ensure she will be prepared to enter the real world when the time comes. Still, she hasn’t gotten a single response yet.
This is frustrating for her because she worked so hard to be prepared for a career and to succeed in the real world. Its also stressing to her because her father works in the Electronics Department at a big store and makes almost $50,000 a year, with no college education. She cant even find an entry level office job for $30,000 where she can work her way up. What is she doing that is so wrong?
For starters, she is sending the same resume to every job. In addition, she has a generic cover letter that accompanies her resume. She speaks to everything that a position would require in her resume and cover letter, but she isn’t targeting her words to the employers.
HR managers want to know what you can do for them and every job listing is different. Consequently it is essential that you customize your resume and cover letter to each job you apply to. She needs to focus on keywords that are in the job announcements and use them in her resume. She also needs to look specifically for beginner jobs, because she only has internships under her belt.
Another helpful tool that she can use is to use her inexperience to her advantage. By this, we simply mean she can take the time to make light of her lack of experience, and give it a positive spin. For example, because of this lack of experience, shes completely able to be trained to a company’s specific requirements. She is not set in her ways, and has no routine that has to be broken. That sounds much better than “Ive never worked on this before.”
Resume writing can be a challenging endeavor, as much as looking for a job. However, as long as you provide a unique resume that makes you stand out, you can ensure that your phone will be ringing in no time.
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