Our most recent addition to Team PC, Matt, may just hold a record for securing the quickest post-college job offer. Having barely been out of college for a full 48 hours before landing a position with PC, he knows a thing or two about transitioning from college student to employed graduate. Read on to check out a few of Matt’s tips for landing the job!
1. Be proactive. Unfortunately, your dream job won’t appear out of thin air upon you wrapping your hand around your diploma. Be diligent and persistent in your search. There will be times when you feel you are a perfect fit for the job, the most knowledgeable, the most willing to learn, the most willing to stay late, and you still won’t get the job – you can’t let those setbacks discourage you from landing something great. U.S. Olympian Carrie Johnson said it best, “Falling in life is inevitable – staying down is optional.”
2. It’s all about attitude. No, I don’t mean the attitude you get when someone takes all of your favorite candy out of the candy bowl. I mean the perspective you wake up with in the morning. At one point or another, you will be asked to do something you don’t find particularly interesting. It’s easy to complain and grumble. What’s difficult is finding value in things you don’t personally see value in. Learn to find the value in everything, including the small things, and approach it with a positive, can-do attitude.
3. Find your confidence. You just graduated, and like many new graduates you won’t have much more than an internship worth of experience under your belt. Yet, you just completed four grueling years of tests, group projects, and dreadful presentations. You won’t know everything about your job when you start, but if graduating from college is a testament to anything, it’s to the fact that you learned to stick with something until the very end no matter how difficult. Apply that same confidence and tenacity to your new job, because some days it could be all you’ll have to draw from.
4. Raise your hand. Every job will have grunt work. Work that is either grueling, boring, time consuming, or just plain unpleasant. Be willing to do the things no one else is willing to do. It’s as simple as that. If you learn to do the unwanted tasks, your range of skills and abilities will make you a far more successful employee, and it shows your commitment to your job and employer.
5. Be curious. You have to show a willingness to learn from those around you. If you just recently joined the workforce, chances are you won’t know much about your field aside from what you learned in school. Your coworkers will have experience that is valuable on many different levels. Ask questions of those around you, try to learn what everyone does in your environment. If you can, ask them to show you how to do things you are unfamiliar with. There is always something you can learn from others in your office, and a willingness to learn is a skill that will follow you throughout life.
Whether you’re gearing up to enter the workforce or exploring a new career path, we hope you’ll find these tips helpful! Drop us a line to share a few of your own tips, too!