How to Start Your Career After You Graduate

How to Start Your Career After You Graduate

Many recent college graduates are asking, "now what?" This is the tightest job market in years for new graduates, and many are having trouble finding gainful employment, and even more trouble starting their careers. Here are some steps for recent grads to follow.

Know what you want
Before graduating it is a good idea to know what you want to do, the more specific the better. Sometimes that is not practical, though. It's not uncommon to graduate and find that your plans are unrealistic. It's OK, though, because this is chance at a fresh start. When starting over, think about all the facets of the ideal career. Investigate the most in-demand jobs and the skills and credentials required. The more specific your career goals, the more likely you are to achieve them.

Know what's required
Now that you know where you want to go, be sure to do your homework to find out what you need to do to get there. What are the credentials and skills required for an entry level position? What requirements should you meet long term? What do you have to do to be considered for a job. For a teaching position, for instance, most employers will not consider you without meeting licensing and credentialing requirements.

Make contacts
Do you know anyone who works in your target career? If not, start asking around. There is a chance you know someone who knows someone who works in the field. Keep talking to people until you find someone who can give you career advice or point you in the direction of career opportunities. Ask people for information interviews, in which they give you advice about breaking into or advancing in your field.

Work your network
Once you have several contacts, work your network. Ask people to keep their eyes open for opportunities. If you have developed a strong enough rapport and made a good impression on your contacts, your name should be on the tip of their tongue when asked to recommend someone for an opportunity for which you are qualified.

Make a good impression
It's also important to make a good impression on anyone interviewing you, prospective coworkers, etc. Submit a professional-looking resume with cover letter. Send thank you letters to anyone you meet in the interview.

Don't give up!
Keep your spirits up and remind yourself how qualified and deserving of the position you are. If you don't get this one, keep going until you hit the jackpot. If you quit before getting the job, you'll never know if the next one would have been the golden opportunity.

Moving for School

Students who seek higher education, whether that means university, college or trade school, often need to relocate to gain the education that they need to establish or further their careers. Here's some advice about moving for school from an experienced moving consultant.

It seems like the simplest type of move, after all, most students haven't many possessions to relocate. Few people are moving for school with a house full of stuff and family in tow (although that DOES happen!). So you might think that a student moving to attend university, college or some type of trade school could just chuck their things into a couple of old boxes and hop on a bus... it's not usually that simple.

Most student relocations are long distance moves, and long distance moves always offer more potential for disaster than local moves do. For one thing, here in Canada, weather events can present transportation difficulties, and I don't just mean blizzards! Many students are moving to begin classes in early fall, and while the weather is often pretty nice in late August and early September, it can be very hot, and sometimes you can run into some pretty violent storms spawning lightning, funnel clouds and severe downpours of rain (or hail) that can be damaging to you or your belongings. Do you really want to risk piling your things into the back of a friend's pickup truck, leaving it exposed to the elements? You may not have a lot of household items, but they will certainly be better protected inside of a moving truck.

Another consideration for students who are moving for school that commences in September is that you will be moving at the tail end of what is the busiest time of the year for moving companies. Most young people will be blissfully unaware of this fact, and assume that they will have no trouble booking space for their small shipment on short notice. That could be a serious mistake because if you are moving to a university or college city at that time of the year there is likely a lot of other students doing the same. You need to book your moving company as soon as possible to make sure you (and your things) will arrive in time for classes. It will make your transition much more difficult if you arrive in time for school but your shipment arrives later, meaning you have to stumble through the first (already disorienting) week or so of school without much more than a change of clothes or two!

So book your moving company early!

The adjustment to university or college might be challenging for students who are leaving home for the first time so try to time your relocation so that you arrive on campus (or at your rental accommodations) with plenty of time to unpack and settle in before classes begin. This will help you get off to a flying start at school because you will not be distracted by the need to sort through your boxes to find your lucky scientific calculator or the perfect first day of school outfit that your Mom bought for you before you moved (escaped) from home.

Like many things that you will learn about in the following years,moving for school is best accomplished with a thorough plan, so make a checklist of things to do and get, and a schedule of when each item needs to be done. It will be good practice for being organized at school!