The Pro Tips For Landing A Career Job Position After College

When defining a career job position, it’s your chosen line of work and usually includes ongoing training and development. In comparison, a job is work you do and are compensated for. Most people engage in a job entitlement to pay the bills and meet their basic needs, but there may not be a clear long-term trajectory. Do you feel like your current job is temporary?

Or rather, do you think it is your source of income until you finish school, complete training for your career, or decide what career path you want to pursue? Well, there’s nothing wrong with that. Are you a restaurant server, a clerk, or an electrician/plumber/carpenter helper who views your current job as a springboard into culinary arts, hospitality, and the like?

Do you want to dive into brand management, business management, or even become a licensed electrician, plumber, or general contractor? Every career starts somewhere. Even if you cannot see yourself making a career out of your current job, are there aspects of the job you like? Do you enjoy working with other people, brands, or with your hands? Do you like problem-solving?

On that note, it’s clear to say that exploring who you are will help you select a career path, and considering an online finance course can be a valuable step in this journey. Think about your current job and the things you enjoy. This will shed light on your interests and talents. For that and other reasons, this guide will help differentiate between an entitlement Career Vs. Job position — to help you determine what works best in your career job.

The Main Difference Between A Career Position And An Entitled Job

To understand the difference between a Career Vs. Job, we’ll need to know their principles. On the one hand, according to dictionary.com, a Job is a post of employment. While on the other hand, a Career is an occupation or profession, especially one requiring special training followed as one’s lifework. Graduating from college is a huge accomplishment in our life.

It’s something that most of us are often proud of — but it can also be scary if you’re buried in student loans or even down-witting — when you are just straight out of the boat (fresh from college). For instance, some expectations are that you need a well-paying job — yesterday, and ideally, in the field you’ve been studying and preparing for these last several years.

According to the University standards, it can take college graduates three to six months to land that first position after graduation. That might sound like an eternity, but you have some options, from taking a not-so-perfect job for the time being to move back home temporarily. So, a career is an ongoing growth and development you put into advancing your skills.

Eventually, which can involve personal investments of time and energy, while, on the same note, career planning is an ongoing process throughout an individual’s working years — it is discovering educational, training, and professional opportunities that suit your interests, passions, and goals. Before searching for jobs, you should set achievable long-term goals.

The Expert Pro Tips For Landing A Career Job Position After College

It’s pretty accurate that getting your first job out of college can be daunting for seniors or recent graduates, especially when they have little to no experience. Fortunately, our professional career and job experts note that there is always an easy way out. Firstly, leaning on resources like your college career center, network, or The Internet can help you start your search.

Secondly, making connections through professional or alumni organizations can give you insight into the career job roles you’re interested in. Equally important, Job Shadowing and Job Internships could give you a leg up in the hunt for your first job. Make sure you begin by tapping the resources available as a student or recent graduate from your college.

For example, you can visit the career office and meet with a career advisor to discuss your options. Moreover, you can also pursue career counseling if you’re unsure of your goals. Advisors can help you develop resumes and cover letters, prepare for interviews, and formulate a job search plan suited to your interests. Colleges also host visits from individual recruiters.

Sometimes, they may also hold career fairs on campus, offer recruitment events in key cities, and sponsor alumni networking programs. Before searching for jobs, you should set achievable long-term goals that identify what you want to do along your career path at five, 10, 15, 20 years, and so on. Below are a few other professional tips to help you create a successful plan.

Pro Tip #1: Develop A Great Resume

Consider internships as well to help build experience in your field. These positions don’t always offer pay, but the right one can look great on your resume if you can get by without the income for a short while. The same goes for volunteer work in your desired field. The person who will ultimately interview you for your dream job will be more interested in the experience.

Coupled with the skills you gained with time — rather than how much money you made in the process. As for that part-time job you’re still holding on to, that can add luster to your resume — if it evolves into a managerial or leadership role. Check job portals online daily, not just when you have free time. These sites are constantly updated with new listings.

That can be filled and gone by the time you check on the weekend. You want your resume to be in the right hands before other folks get around to signing on to take a look at what’s available. It’s also OK to send out multiple applications and resumes daily, as long as you keep good records to know what you sent to whom.

Pro Tip #2: Develop A Budget Plan

Create a working budget to follow until you land your dream job. It should cover all your daily expenses, from your phone to car payments, rent, utilities, and food. Make sure that you have access to the Internet so you can look for work. Ask your parents if they can help you make ends meet until you land the position you’ve been educated for.

Maybe they’ll pay your phone bill or car insurance for some time. Even reallocating just one monthly expense can make a big difference. Check to find out if your student loans have a six-month grace period for payment after graduation. Many do. Make sure that you also secure a roof over your head. Yes, moving back in with your parents sounds like the last resort.

Unfortunately, many college graduates return home because they struggle to find a job. Go in with clear expectations for both you and your parents. Make sure that you find ways to contribute to the household, whether through chores, cooking, or paying a small amount in rent. Have a clear plan to help you prepare to move out and a timeline once you find a job.

Pro Tip #3: Expand Your Job Search

Try to look for that dream job daily, using every tip and trick in your arsenal. Widen your search if you’re having difficulty finding a position in your chosen field. Some narrow their search by looking only at a specific city or state or holding out for a particular situation. Explore other options as well — yes, you might have to look for work related to your degree.

But they’re not the dream job you want most. You might want to live in a specific area of the state or country, but you can relocate if you find an excellent company match elsewhere. What’s more important to you — the location or the job? Broaden your horizons and hunt accordingly. As a rule of thumb, take advantage of the job search resources offered by your college.

Use your contacts through school and your parents and friends’ connections. Attend all job fairs in your area. Above all, don’t follow up each time you send your resume. It’s perfectly OK to reach out and inquire about the status of the position — and your application — if you haven’t heard anything in two to three days.

Pro Tip #4: Start Working Somewhere

Finding that perfect first job may take time, but making a good match will be worth your preparation and patience. Of course, you need income…any income, right? This isn’t a time to get on your high horse and hold out for a position ideally suited to your new degree. It’s important to realize that the perfect job is on the horizon, but you have bills to pay immediately.

One thing is for sure; you need a source of income while looking for your dream job. Hang onto that part-time job if you were working while you were in college. You can hopefully stretch the money you’re making to cover your basic expenses now. The time you would have spent studying for school and attending classes can be refocused on looking for that perfect position.

Apply for part-time or seasonal work for the time being if you weren’t working while in school or can’t keep that position. Maybe you were working in the city where your college was, but now you’ve moved back home. You might juggle multiple part-time jobs while looking for a job in your field.

Pro Tip #5: Govern Your Basic Spending

In layman’s language, don’t make any significant financial changes in your life until you’ve found the job. Don’t sign a new lease — unless you have no choice because your current lease expires when you graduate. Look for something less expensive in this case, or consider taking on a roommate. Otherwise, stay put until you know where you’ll be working.

Please don’t purchase a new car, assuming your credit is up for it, or make other financial commitments until you have a steady paycheck. You won’t know your annual salary until you’ve landed that job, so making financial commitments now doesn’t make much sense. Avoid using credit cards and running up a lot of debt looming on the horizon.

Suffice it to say, while waiting for you when you finally get that job. For example, don’t buy your entire professional wardrobe until you land that job, either — one professional outfit for interviews will suffice for now. The workplace dress code can vary depending on where you work, so you don’t know what to buy — also, endeavor to balance your life while in job search mode.

Exercise, follow a healthy diet, get enough sleep, and continue to pursue your outside interests to keep your energy level up and maintain a positive state of mind. In other words, the definition of career success is subjective and means something different for everyone. As long as you can effectively define career success in simple steps, you can work around your budget correctly.

The Simple Steps For Starting Your Next Career Job Position Journey

It may not be a surprise that securing the first job after college can be daunting for many seniors and recent graduates. However, you can take charge of the process by following a few simple steps and strategies to land a job that will help get your career off to a positive start. Finding your career passion is even sweeter if it brings home a comfortable paycheck.

While you may think you could work for next to nothing because you love your career that much, you want to earn at least a sustainable living. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics is a great resource to learn about average salaries and the minimum education or training needed for your career choice. The best approach is often an indirect one when it comes to networking.

Similarly, contact potential contacts for information and advice rather than directly asking people to hire you. Networking can be one of the most effective ways to land a job. A joint survey conducted by LinkedIn and The Adler Group revealed that 85% of all jobs are obtained through general networking. This includes social media hubs, forums, and community groups.

Think of your salary as your Return On Investment (ROI) from which you would want to leap benefits. How much time and money are you willing to invest in your future? It may not cost as much as you think. CFCC has short-term career programs that will have your workforce ready in weeks.

Step #1: Create A Professional Website

Creating your website can serve many purposes. It’s a platform that you own where you can express your personality with your branding, showcase your skills with a portfolio of work samples, and demonstrate your knowledge through a blog or other content you create. You can buy a domain name from one of many hosting websites and use an excellent content design tool.

You can utilize a Content Management System (CMS) or software like Squarespace, Wix, Shopify, or WordPress to develop a website from scratch, hire a professional web design agency, or have an expert designer help you create one. Next, identify employers of interest and visit the employment section of their website; some have a college student or graduate opportunities.

Check to see if your college has any alumni working at your target organizations and ask for their advice about accessing jobs there. Your career and alumni offices can help you to identify alumni by the organization, and you can also use the alumni function on LinkedIn to identify some contacts. Make use of job websites like Indeed.com to generate more job leads.

Step #2: Have An Elevator Pitch Ready

As your career goals crystallize, develop resume versions targeted to specific jobs. Showcase the skills, experiences, coursework, and projects mainly related to your emerging job objectives. Avoid generic cover letters. Instead, take the time to write a targeted cover letter to make a particular case for how each job matches your interests and skills.

Get feedback and advice from advisors and mentors, and always carefully proofread your documents. Take stock of your most vital interests and skills, and be prepared to tell people who you meet some interesting things about yourself to grab their attention. Identify specialized or niche job boards for your field to find more listings. Think of it as your 30-second commercial.

For example, you might say, “I am an English major who loves to write. I’ve organized and promoted many concerts and fundraising events for my campus singing group. I also love to follow fashion trends and helped to coordinate the annual campus fashion show sponsored by my sorority.”

Step #3: Arrange A Job Shadow

Contact as many professionals as you can for informational consultations. Get lists of alumni volunteers from your career office or alumni association, attend networking events, and ask alumni with whom you develop a rapport if you can follow up with them to gain further insight into their work environment.

After a positive networking meeting with someone, arrange a job shadow day as a follow-up. It will help you get an insider’s view of what it would be like to work in that industry while also giving you an idea of whether you’d like to work at that specific company. You’re also likely to meet lots of people and have the chance to make some positive connections.

Sync up with past employers, coaches, faculty, clergy, and others who have observed you in any productive capacity. Ask if they have any contacts you could contact for information and advice in your fields of interest. You can also do some networking virtually through digital platforms such as LinkedIn.

Step #4: Create A LinkedIn Profile

LinkedIn is a great place to help you build social media connections and create networking communities. It’s an excellent tool for showcasing your offer, building your brand, applying for jobs, and connecting with recruiters and potential employers. You can also join any LinkedIn groups for your college and reach out to alumni in fields of interest.

You can create a LinkedIn profile while still in school and build it from there. Even without work experience, you can highlight your skills, education, extracurricular activities, internships, and volunteer opportunities and ask people for recommendations. Equally, you can also try to line up an Internship. Internship sponsors often hire from their past roster of interns.

Considering this, it’s wise to try and get at least one internship right out of college. If you’re underqualified for your target job at graduation, explore the possibility of doing an internship for the summer or fall after graduation. It’s worth noting that according to a particular research study, Internships were the top differentiator for companies hiring new graduates.

Don’t get too specific with job titles or time frames. Remember, even if your internship doesn’t lead to a job offer, it will allow you to gain valuable skills and contacts. If cash flow is an issue, apply to paid internships, or pair a part-time internship with a primary paying job.

Step #5: Join A Professional Community

Fortune 500 companies acknowledge the value of having mentors: 71% of businesses have a mentoring program. If you’re still in college or as a professional member, join an official organization related to your field or industry as a student member after you graduate. Many colleges have chapters of national associations, and if there are choices for the one you want to join.

If not, you may be able to start one. Many professional associations put on conferences where you can rub shoulders with seasoned pros who are often eager to help newcomers to their field. Volunteer to help run the registration table, and you will meet many potentially helpful people. You may even find a mentor. Treat your job search like an actual job, and get organized.

Keep a database of all your applications and contacts. Schedule 10 hours per week for job searching while you are in school. Increase the time you spend 20 hours a week during breaks and after graduation. To answer ‘Where Do You See Yourself in 5 Years?’ Show how your professional goals and the job you’re applying for align. Focus on the skills you want to learn and get better at.

Takeaway Notes:

In simple terms, a career is the variety of experiences you have undertaken throughout your life. As you gain more experience in work and life, you are building your career. Your career path takes account of your education, training, and paid or unpaid work. A career leader is responsible and accountable for delivering their school’s career advice and guidance program.

A job entitlement in your career journey requires that you have all the skills and qualifications. If you can prove that you’ve all the skills the company seeks in a candidate, you’ll have effectively answered the hiring question — your passion and motivation. You can highlight how good of a company fit you’d be and how much you love working in your field or industry.

With the above information at your fingertips, if you need help discovering your interest, you can check out the O*NET Interest Profiler to gather more relevant and resourceful details. The profiler asks questions about work activities and how you feel about each one to help give you some ideas of careers that fit your interests. Perse, CFCC has all the tools and resources.

Plus, it would be best if you had other chops to get your career started or back on track. They offer primary and career exploration, coaching, resume development, interview preparation, and job search assistance. Furthermore, their Career Development Coordinator, Gina Mecca, and Career Development Counselor, Stephanie Bolstad, will gladly help you!

Frequently Asked Questions Answered

1. What is job shadowing with a few examples?

By definition, Job Shadowing is on-the-job training to allow an interested employee to follow and closely observe another employee performing the role. In most cases, the job-shadowing learning process (mentorship, internship, apprenticeship, traineeship) is usually used to onboard new employees into an organization or a new position.

Examples of job shadowing are:

Observing client meetings and interactions.
Fulfilling office tasks or support projects.
Conducting professional and administrative information interviews.

So, it’s worth mentioning that, as the name suggests, the term “job shadowing” implies following another person/colleague around and observing them at work to learn about the particular job and the field of activities. Unlike in an internship or trainee program, the observer is not doing anything himself but only watching others do their work.

2. What is the meaning of internship work?

To enumerate, an Internship gauges the learning experiences — it offers meaningful, practical work related to a student’s field of study or career interest. An internship gives a student the opportunity for career exploration and development and to learn new skills. Ideally, interns work on relevant projects and learn about the field.

While simultaneously making industry connections and developing hard and soft skills. Internships sometimes even lead to full-time job offers. They accept designated, business-focus projects to research, propose ideas and solutions, and present the final project during the internship. Also, they may engage with customers or clients and provide service and sales.

3. What is the meaning of the career planning process?

A career planning process allows you to figure out what you want your career path to look like and what you must do to make it happen. You set short, medium, and long-term career goals, then determine the steps needed to accomplish those goals. Career planning is discovering educational, training, and professional opportunities that suit your interests, passions, and goals.

Before searching for jobs, you should set achievable long-term goals that identify what you want to do along your career path at five, 10, 15, 20 years, and so on. Be that as it may, the Magnusson Model (1991, 1992) is a paper that describes five processes critical to effective career planning: initiation, exploration, decision-making, preparation, and implementation.

4. Is it better to have a job position or a career entitlement?

A job may give you a steady paycheque short-term, but a career gives you long-term financial security. It encourages you to build on your skills and continue learning to move up the career ladder. Remember, a career is a job, an occupation, that is undertaken for a significant period of a person’s life. The work also has training, progress, advancement, or promotion opportunities.

For your information, many career development opportunities allow individuals to reach new levels of professionalism through areas like networking, continued education, or skill advancement. This often results in obtaining jobs with more seniority or leadership responsibilities and, in doing so, increasing annual income.

5. What is a successful career position entitlement?

In this case, this is a professional who intends to further his or her career by any possible means and often at the expense of their integrity. Still, career success revolves around how you measure achievement in your professional life. Many factors influence how you define success in your career, including your job title, work-life balance, and happiness level.

On the same note, career skills are soft skills or qualities which employers highly value. For example, leadership, team working, communication, decision-making, problem-solving, goal setting, the ability to self-reflect and assess, creativity, and drive. There are four career paths — knowledge-based, skill-based, entrepreneur-based, and freelance.

Every career path caters to specific qualifications that help you perform your job. Knowledge-based career paths allow you to use the knowledge you acquired over time to do your job.

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