Tips for grads on getting employment
By: Chad West
For most recent college graduates, transitioning from campus life to the “real world” is a culture shock driven by a frantic job hunt, but research and mock job interviews can help relieve the pressure, said Kimberly Billeaudeau, director of career services at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
The most common complaint among area employers, she said, was students who were ill-prepared for the job interview. To help students avoid a potentially embarrassing interview, however, Career Services offers mock interview sessions with typical interview questions.
“I hear from employers that students are not researching enough or exploring their options,” Billeaudeau said. “It’s important for students, especially students about to graduate, to do a self-assessment and get an understanding of what they really want to do with their degrees.”
In a job market where some employers demand as many as three years experience for seemingly entry-level positions, today’s college graduates can look to internships and part-time jobs for resume fodder, she said.
“If it says ‘one year experience,’ take a look at your part-time experience or your classroom experience,” Billeaudeau suggested. “Would that qualify you, or have you gained skills that employer is seeking so that you can market those skills and say, ‘I have what you’re looking for?’”
Students who are required to take internships as part of their curricula might already have a position waiting, she said. If the employer does not offer a full-time job, however, the former boss can become a network contact or reference for a future job search.
Michael Maher, Ph.D., head of UL Lafayette’s communication department, agreed.
Because nearly 85 percent of available jobs are not listed in newspapers or online, Maher said, job seekers should maintain an active network of professional contacts and “loose ties,” like an uncle’s friend in Denver.
“I think that’s such a brilliant insight, and the idea is that if you’re depending on leads for jobs among the people you see at the Bulldog, it ain’t going to happen, because they live in the same world you do,” Maher said. “They know the same people.
“It’s the people you don’t see much and people who inhabit a totally different social sphere,” he comtinued. “Those are the people who can help you, but they’ll only help you if you proactively go to them and remind them.”
In the near future, Maher said, the baby boomers will be retiring, leaving the job market wide open for new graduates and those with the free-agent mentality to seek advancement within their fields.
“I think the future in the coming five or 10 years will be very bright for young people, because the baby boomers are going to be getting out of your way and there’ll be a lot more opportunity,” he conjectured.
The stigma attached to switching jobs for better pay or opportunity has nearly disappeared in today’s job market, he said. Today’s workers, collectively called the “emergent workforce” by some academics, have abandoned the archaic notions of company loyalty because job security has eroded in the wake of recent downsizing trends.
According to Maher, companies will likely take note of those who have frequently switched jobs for advancement, giving him or her leverage to negotiate salary and benefits.
“I think a shrewd manager will look at someone who’s moved around but has been tremendously productive as someone who is ambitious and highly productive,” he said. “The challenge will be for the employer to reward the employee for that performance.”
Perhaps the most grievous mistake new graduates make when entering the job market is applying for only one job, Maher said.
“My standard advice is to go for a bunch,” he suggested. “Apply all over the place. There’s nothing that takes some of the edge off the interview like knowing you’ve got two more interviews later in the week.”
Last update: 2007-05-06