How to Find a Job After College 3 Best Ways - Career Sidekick

How to Find a Job After College â€" 3 Best Ways - Career Sidekick How to Find a Job After College â€" 3 Best Ways Recent Grads / https://www.edenscott.com/blog If you just graduated or are looking for a job after college, this article will show you the 3 best ways to get hired.Then, at the end of the article Ill share a few of my other best tips to help you land a great job, so keep reading to the bottom.Lets get started with the 3 best ways to find a job after collegeFirst Way to Find a Job After College: Your NetworkNow you might not have a very big network, thats okay. When I graduated I had done almost zero networking and felt totally unprepared to job search.Its still a valuable tool to use as much as you can.Heres why: Youre FAR more likely to receive a job interview if you get introduced to a company by someone they know and trust.So think about who you can contact who might have connections with companies youd like to work for.Who You Can Ask for Help in Finding a Job:Friends/classmates from schoolFamily membersFamily members of good friendsFormer college professors and academic advisorsFormer manager s/bosses from any internships or part-time jobs youve heldHow to Ask These People for HelpNow, if youre very close with somebody, you can contact them and immediately ask for help. Hey, did you used to work for XYZ Company? Im interested in finding an entry-level job there and was wondering if you still have any connections there?However, if youre approaching somebody you arent very close with such as a friend from university that you had a few classes with but have only known for one year, you want to be more casual.Ask them a question like, do you have any advice for trying to get my resume in front of companies like XYZ Company?If they can help, they often will, and this sounds a lot better than asking for a favor right away.Try to help them too, if you can. Ask if they need any help finding jobs as well. This will make them want to help you more.After an initial question, you can ask them more directly for help if they dont realize what youre asking for. But its better to start with a much softer question.Other Networking Methods to Find a Job After College:Beyond this, consider going to local meetups, networking events for the industry you want to work in, etc. You can also connect with people on LinkedIn, tell them youre interested in their industry, and ask what its like to work in their company.(Again, youre starting with a soft, casual question).Then once youve exchanged a few messages, theyre a lot more likely to introduce you to a hiring manager in the company if you ask!Dont just approach strangers asking for a big favor right away. Youll get your message deleted and wont hear back.Second Method for Finding a Job After College: Apply Directly (to Growth-Stage Companies)You could do this for any companies actually. Applying directly on company websites is a great method for finding a job after college.But I prefer growth-stage companies in particular. Heres whyOne of the most common complaints I hear from job seekers is that its *very* hard to find companies who want someone who is entry-level.They tell me theyre frustrated because every job seems to require experience.And the companies MOST likely to hire someone without experience are growth-stage companies, startups, etc.They want talented people and are always looking to grow their team for the future.And theyre often hiring MULTIPLE people, so you dont even need to be the best person they interview. You just need to give good answers to their questions, not make any mistakes and youre in!This is how I landed my first job as a Recruiter actually. They were hiring 10 people at the time, for entry level spots. All due to growth!How Can You Find Growth-Stage Companies?This is the challenging part. Theres no magic recipe.Search on LinkedIn, where you can filter by company size.Id also recommend checking out INCs list of the 5,000 fastest growing US companies.Then I like to search Google for terms like New York startups list (replace New York with your city or region).To find r elatively early-stage startups, check CrunchBase.com for companies that have received recent funding. Theyre typically looking to hire more. If you want more stability, look for a company thats raised at least a few rounds of funding previously (so, not just Series A or Series B), and tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in total.Once you find these companies, apply directly on their website if possible. Use the best email address you can find (even if they dont appear to be hiring, its okay!)Write a great cover letter or email explaining why they caught your attention, how you believe your skills will help them, and why youd be excited to have an opportunity to discuss this further in an interview.Third Best Way to Find a Job After College: LinkedIn Job SearchThe two methods are above are what Id recommend for the best ways to find a job after college, or at least where you should start.However, you might not have much of a network, or maybe you dont want to work in a growth-sta ge company or startup.So heres another method you can tryApply to Companies Directly on LinkedInI find this to be MUCH better than job boards because you can often apply directly through LinkedIns website. Just attach your resume and hit send and youre done.Heres a case study and video explaining how to apply to jobs as quickly as possible on LinkedIn.This method lets you avoid having to create an account on multiple sites, and avoid having to fill in personal details over and over which is a huge waste of time.Everything ElseThe 3 methods I shared above are the best ways I know for how to find a good job after college.However, if those methods above dont work for you, then you may need to try a few methods that arent quite as good (but can still work).This includes using job boards and career portals like Indeed, Monster, etc.If you know what industry you want to work in, you can search for niche job boards as well. Heres a list of the 45 best tech job boards, for example.Id recomm end job boards as a last resort, or a small portion of your overall effort (10%, 20%, etc.)But they CAN work. In fact I found a great job in the past on a Craigslist posting. So you never know where youll get a high quality job interview lined up.However, you should start with the 3 best ways to find a job after college, mentioned above. Those should be enough to get you a good job after college without needing to spend hours applying on job boards.To recap:Use your network whenever possible. Always try to get introduced to a company.Apply directly to companies on their website when you can, and look for growth-stage companies because they hire more entry-level people.Try applying on LinkedIn to avoid the hassle of having to register an account on multiple job sites or company Career pages.Then try other methods only if needed.Other Resources to Help You Find a Good Job After College:I promised at the start of this article Id give you a few other tips and resources thatll help you f ind a good job after college, so here they are:When you do get interviews lined up, use this job interview preparation checklist to walk in prepared.If you need help writing a cover letter, heres how to write a cover letter with no experience.Also, do NOT neglect to prepare questions to ask them. This is something most job seekers do not do a very good job of. So to help you, heres a long list ofgreat questions to ask the interviewer.And as a final tip, if youre talking to a recruiter, here are 5 questions I recommend asking recruiters, based on my own experience as a recruiter for many years.Youre Ready to Job HuntIf you follow the steps and tips above, you will get more interviews, and succeed in those interviews so you can land a job in less time.Remember, it only takes one job offer, so dont get discouraged if you havent found a job as quickly as you had hoped. Youre one job interview away from getting hired, no matter what.So keep going, and good luck!