How to Jumpstart Your Career Right Out of University

Clarify Your Career Goals

Before applying for jobs, take the time to identify what you want in a career. You should start thinking about your interests, long-term goals as well as your skills. Below are some questions that you should ask yourself.

• What industries or roles excite me the most?
• What kind of work environment suits me?
• What skills do I need to develop?

When you start having some very clear objectives. it is going to guide your job search. This will help you to focus your efforts in the most effective way possible. 

Gain Practical Experience

Experience is often the bridge between academic qualifications and professional success. Even if you lack formal job experiences there are some ways in which you can go about building a solid foundation for yourself from the get-go.

Internships

Internships provide hands-on exposure to the workplace. They allow you to develop skills while expanding your network at the same time. Many employers prefer candidates who have some type of internship experience. 

This is because it demonstrates initiative as well as practical knowledge to them. In short, it will make your resume look good.

Volunteering

Volunteer work can also be a valuable addition to your resume. It shows your level of commitment, your ability to work as part of a team and how adaptable you are. It also shows a humanitarian side of you and many employees like this because it makes you well-balanced. 

Always remember that it is not just your academic prowess that they may be interested in but they are often impressed by who you are as a person.

Freelancing or Part-Time Work

Freelancing lets you showcase your skills in real-world projects. If you feel allows you to do so then you should consider offering your services on platforms that allow freelancers to post. This will build up your portfolio in a natural way.

Create a Personal Brand

Personal branding is critical for standing out. Employers often review candidate's online presence before they make hiring decisions about them. 

Be sure that your online footprints are serving you well. They should align with your professional aspirations in some way.

Build a Professional LinkedIn Profile

Your LinkedIn profile should be polished, complete, and tailored to your target roles. Always use a professional photo. Make sure that you write a compelling summary and highlight all your relevant achievements so that you can put your best foot forward. 

Make sure that you regularly engage with posts and share industry insights that you find fascinating so that you can establish yourself as an active member of whatever field you are in.

Showcase Your Work

If you are in fields such as writing, design or software development then creating an online portfolio is going to be essential. You can use platforms that allow creatives to showcase their portfolio or you can even use your website to display your projects and attract the attention of potential employees.

Network Strategically

Networking is one of the most effective ways to uncover opportunities and gain industry insights. You may be wondering where you need to start. Alumni networks are a great place. 

Many alumni are willing to mentor recent graduates and provide advice for them. You can reach out on places such as LinkedIn or go to alumni events to start building relationships with people.

Conferences, workshops, and career fairs offer opportunities to meet professionals in your field.  These events can also lead to some very valuable introductions that can set you on the right path in your career. You may find yourself meeting potential employers.

Leverage Recruitment Services

Recruitment agencies can help match your skills and goals with potential employers. There are agencies that do executive search recruitment, for companies. In this case, employers hire these specialists to find the best talent from a pool of applicants. This is why you must make sure your application stands out.

By partnering with a recruiter you're going to expand your job opportunities and get some valuable insights into the entire hiring process for your industry.

Master Your Job Applications

Your resume and cover letter are often your first impressions to potential employers, so make them count. You should customize your resume and cover letter for every job that you apply for. 

Highlight specific skills and experience that are relevant to the role you are applying for at the time. You can use keywords from the job description to make yourself look as suitable as possible for the role.

When listing achievements, quantify them whenever possible. For example, instead of just saying you let a team project you could be more specific. Talk about the fact that you led the team project for two weeks and that it was completed ahead of schedule, which increased insufficiency by percent. The bottom line is that you should be detailed.

Prepare for Interviews

A successful interview requires thorough preparation. You should understand the company's mission, research achievements, products as well as values. When you start familiarizing yourself with the organization you show genuine interest and it helps you to craft some thoughtful responses to any questions you may have.

Here are some common questions that many interviewers will ask. Make sure you have answers for them.

• "Tell me about yourself."
• "What are your strengths and weaknesses?"
• "Why do you want to work here?"

You can use the STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to structure your answers to behavioral questions. When you take this approach it will provide a lot of clarity while demonstrating your problem-solving skills at the same time.