If you’ve been starting to think about what life is going to be like after you graduate college, you may want to look into investigating college job connections before you’re finished with your education. While there are many ways to obtain employment, using your school’s resources is one of the best ways to start hunting for a job.
Personal Connections
Don’t underestimate the power of personal connections. You’ve probably met a lot of people during your college career who would be willing to help you find your first post-graduation job. Since you need to take specialized courses to graduate with almost any major, you probably already know a few people who work in the field that you are interested in. Your professors may not have the career that you want, but they may have had a similar career in the past. If they can’t personally connect you with a potential employer, they may know people who can. At the very least, they’ll be able to give you some tips to help you with your job hunt. There are also plenty of other personal connections that you probably have. Talk to friends, friends’ family members, your current or former employers and your guidance counselor while investigating college job connections.
Career Center
No matter how big or small your college is, it probably has a career center. The people there can help you look for job and internship opportunities within your chosen field. Since workers at your college’s career center know that you may still be pretty inexperienced at looking for professional jobs, they offer other kinds of help too. For instance, you’ll be able to find someone who is willing to work with you on making a winning cover letter and resume. Whoever is working with you will also give you tips on how to act and dress. If you feel uncomfortable with the interview process, you can usually ask someone at your college’s career center to go through a mock interview with you. All of these services are important because after you’re done investigating college job connections and find a job that you’re interested in, you still need to convince employers that you’re a better choice than the other applicants.
Job Fairs
Your school should have a job fair at least once per year. Going to a job fair is one of the best ways to start investigating college job connections. All of the representatives there are from companies that are specifically looking to hire college graduates. Even if you aren’t in your last year of college yet, you should go. These same companies may be willing to hire interns for the summer too. Many companies visit college fairs year after year, so if you’re interested in a specific company but aren’t ready to graduate, talk to the representative to get a feel for the available jobs and let him or her know that you’ll be back in a year or two once you’re actually looking for a job.
Colleges want the best for their students, so most schools do everything possible to help their recent graduates find jobs. Investigating college job connections isn’t hard – all you have to do is take the initiative to use the resources that are given to you.
