Like many people who are my age, in just a few short years I will be finishing up college. Also like many of those people, my main concern after college is finding a JOB. One thing many people don’t know, is that getting a job when you’re fresh out of college is not a simple task. There are numerous reasons why people are unable to get a job after college and some of these reasons are not the faults of the students.
One thing that we are taught while growing up is how important getting a college degree is, the sad part is that sometimes it’s not what you know it’s who you know. Just because students are graduating with a degree in a particular field, will not guarantee them that they will get a job, since more and more people are going to college, having a degree does not all equal getting a job.
Some people who have graduated, did not have enough work experience. Jobs do not to hire someone who doesn’t have enough practice to know what they’re doing; yet in order to gain this experience they must work in the first place, making this an on-going cycle. Along with experience, people are graduating with little to no skills. By skills, I mean that they are not good at basic things such as typing, writing, or even technology.
Referring back to “it’s not what you know it’s who you know,” this also deals with being able to network and get your name out to other people looking for workers. If you are trying to get started you must have the ability to work well with others as well as converse with others in your field. Networking is a good way to meet people who know others involved in the type of work that you are interested in. If people aren’t very good with talking about what they can do, this does not interest someone in helping them to achieve their goal.
Two main reasons, which go hand in hand, are poor resumes and lack of interview skills. This simply means that either people did not have help wiring their resume or have it checked can impact whether a company looks at their resume. Just as well, if a person is poorly dressed/acts inappropriately during an interview this lowers they chance of being considered for a job/position. The final reason is that people often give up to easy looking for jobs or that they do not follow up with an interview because they don’t think that they did well. When being interviewed regardless of how well or how poor we think we do, it is important to remember that we follow up with our possible [future] employer; i.e. shooting them a quick email or phone call asking how your interview went. Even if you were to show up late to an interview with spilled coffee on your shirt, you could still have made a positive impact on the employer and could still have a chance with getting the job. It’s always important to never assume that someone doesn’t want you. Besides, this will separate you from the rest of the group because you were the one to take the shot to check up on your progress which will make your employer remember you.
If you’re still worried about not finding a job after college, why not take a look at this movie that came out this past March. The movie titled "Get A Job," staring Miles Teller (Will) along with costar Anna Kendrick (Jillian), follows the lives of several college graduates whose lives are not going the way they thought they would be after graduation. With the help of their friends, family and coworkers, they’ll deal with life after college the way that we all can come to deal with.
Movie Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXmOmdzsQVs
“I’m 22 years old and I have no idea what I’m going to do with the rest of my life and I’m fine with that.”
By making sure to check up on your progress as you are finishing up college as to how well you are doing after college, this can help to take some of the stress away from worrying about getting a job after graduation. It’s okay to not get a job right after college because sometimes it happens, what is important is that we are able to live life the way we are supposed to and know that although we might not get the job today, when we do we will be prepared for it.
