I know I will get a job after I graduate.
I doubt many of my classmates also facing a December commencement are feeling as optimistic.
Media reports say things look bleak for the job market, despite an economy beginning to recover from postwar sickness. Unemployment rates are the lowest they have been in years, and experts do not expect more jobs in the coming months. Employers are getting used to the smaller workforce and are nervous about hiring again.
So with the job market so glum, why am I smiling about finding a place to punch my timecard in January? It’s because I am taking an active role in my employment future.
I admit I went through some graduation anxiety a few weeks ago. I was convinced that I would end up back at the shoe rental counter at the Bowl N’ Putt in Denham Springs, or worse – I would be the star reporter on the four-person staff of The Post-Procrastinator, some weekly paper in Nowheresville, Idaho.
It was the advice of some people who I really respect that saved me from these ill fates. I learned it was time to take my job fate into my own hands. No more blind applications, sending resumes to people who have never heard of me. No more settling for the job close to home, or the idea of graduate school until the job market improves. It was time to find a job where I could learn, a job that existed to teach me, a job that would make me excited about getting out of bed in the morning. OK, I’m a bit idealistic, and maybe just annoying, but let me explain how I arrived at this job search utopia.
I always thought it was kind of cheap to beg for a job. Using real-world acquaintances to get a foot in the door seemed like cheating. I was sure my experience on paper would be enough to convince someone to hire me.
Many of my friends – recent graduates who now have good jobs – did not live by this philosophy. They worked their connections – networking, as the career counselors call it. If you meet a big-time editor, they said, use that to your advantage. Even my professors told me the job hunt is all about making yourself memorable to the people who have influence.
Leave it to me to not believe it until I see it. I sat down with professors and mentors to find out how to make connections that end in jobs. And so far, it’s working.
Last month, a professor told me about meeting with a local newspaper’s editors who said they are ready to hire people like me. I’ve witnessed other mentors make phone calls right in front of me, and I’ve seen how in one breath they can open doors for me that would have taken me weeks or months to kick down on my own.
Now I find myself in the position every graduate wants to be in – lots of job options. I get e-mails from friends telling me their bosses want more people like them. Recruiters are meeting with me on campus, all because a friend or colleague told them it was worth their trip.
It’s never too early to start thinking about jobs – the nice folks at Career Services will tell you this every day. But I’m telling you now: send out those résumés. Apply for everything out there. Don’t complain that the job market fish aren’t biting until you’ve cast out your line as many times as you can stand it.
The truth is, I don’t have a specific job lined up, because I’m still fishing. I’m confident that by Dec. 19 my hard work will have paid off. What is most important is that I would not have had a real reason to smile at the job market if I had not made my job search a priority.