I just graduated too last week actually. I was done with everything all ready but was just finishing up my internship.
Our university is known for having some of the best work placement in NJ and allegedly destroys rutgers when it comes to that. I've set up 4 interviews so far and am going through a process of "cherry picking" thats how many place I'm finding.
I'm going to tell you 2 things that are sorta common sense, but they WILL make or break an employment offer and I notice it with every graduate I talk to. Its the same thing over and over and over.
1) Although you just finished colleges degrees are about a dime a dozen now and days, and companies like to see a few basic things on your resume that I noticed make a HUGE difference. I also did research for my school and I have research that suggests this also so trust me it will help only if you haven't done these things already.
Volunteer work for almost anything is HUGE. And along with volunteer work another major thing these companies look at is whether you completed an internship, and even how many you've done. I was submitting my resume 2 years ago before I even graduated, w/out those 2 things, submitted it about 60 times and only got 1 phone call back. And that 1 phone call was a bs job.
Fast forward 2 years. I have **2 internships**, one working at a senior home, another working a homeless shelter, then another 2 positions I volunteered for completely seperate. I also didn't get paid for any of this shit. People like to see that you're a self starter number one. And number 2 these things show that you are willing to do more than just get your degree.
They even had a talk on this on 101.5 last week and hundreds of college graduates were calling in about the work situation. I noticed over and over and over the people getting jobs, were all the ones who had completed one or more internships, and also had volunteer work on their resume. The ones who were not getting jobs, were the ones who literally just graduated and had done NOTHING at all independently in their field.
Although our school forces us to do 1 internship, I did another just because I knew how important it would be. I was told this too over and over by my work placement advisor, she is WONDERFUL. You should find one from your uni. And another thing that was interesting was the difference in sex. I noticed a shocking majority of the people doing this stuff were females. And a lot of them were also finding work (I also have a lot of female friends who I saw bust their asses in college, and a lot of my male friends were slackers except for one literally). Guys tend to think "oh I don't need to do that shit I'm a guy" etc. If you don't have any of this stuff on your resume, I'd honesty stop looking for a career and finish this crap first.
2) The resume all by itself. It will take me 100 pages to right everything I've learned about this. But my older brothers wife is like the human resources executive of At&t. She makes a lot of money and all she does is hire and interview people. Both college graduates and people who have been working computers for 30+ years. Between her and my work place advisor, they both worked some SERIOUS SERIOUS fucking magic on my resume. I've rerewrote it this last year alone about 15 times, and now what I have now is a refined piece of gold. Find someone from your school, anyone who will help you with this, someone who KNOWS what they're doing. Not someone who's just made a resume before, as most people don't know shit about it.
3) I know I said 2 but I lied. =]
2 small tips I've learned. It is MUCH easier to get a job when you already have one. Almost does not even matter what the job is, but when you have a job people will hire you. When you don't, it makes it very very difficult. Its kind of a catch 22. But if you're having a problem finding "satisfactory" work, intentionally take an unsatisfactory job and work it parttime for just 3 months. While you have that job work on your resume and go career hunting.
And my last tip. A lot of my folks have been mentioning to relatives/friends and stuff how I'm not having trouble finding work. Cause for one I have like 3 people in my nonimmediate family who have been out of work for years. But another thing I have on my resume that they and a lot of people don't is a small business I started on my own. This is the pinnacle of being a "self starter", and more impressive to hiring person than an internship or some volunteer work. I never put this on my first resume that I was sending out. And even though it was a small bs business, it was a business and I made money from it.
I genuinely believe these few things matter A LOT.
Volunteer work in your field, internships, get your resume done by a pro, or even pay for a class, some charge as much as $5000 just to show these skills people don't pay that much for no reason. This stuff is VERY valuable. If you have a job already it will help so like I said ANY bs job to show you're not the type of person to lounge around and slack for months on end. And honestly if you even have to make up some small business I would likely have even lied on my resume about that even if I didn't have one in the past. I have statments/a license number to prove it but noones ever asked me to prove I owned a business from a resume lol.
And last (official last) I KNOW its hard. But stay the fuck away from the drugs. I went through the same cycle these last 4 years going back and forth but I was able to consistently keep doing little things too that actually helped even on drugs. Its very easy to wanna sit around high on the computer and not wanna do shit. But the computer is boring. And although theres online dating you're very unlikely to find your wife on the internet. Plenty of fish and match.com/eharmony suck. Its just the truth. 1 out of every 10000 people might find a husband/wife but try to stay away from the computer unless you're using it for productive reasons. Thats another major issue with me.
I do commend you though because I'm the same way you are. I've wanted a gf for the last 6 years or so but I always push them away after ONS's (one night stands) because a girl who would date a guy w/out a stable career (me) is loser. I don't wanna date a loser and be a loser. I wanna become a winner and find myself a winner. Someone I can go to London with, Italy, Bahamas, etc etc. I know how it is man its a weird transitional stage and its easy to get stuck but keep your head up and never get down on yourself. We have so many obligations to find a career, be rich and successful... in a country as fucked up as this is, meet the girl/man of our dreams... our "soulmate" (lulz yeh right) that we wind up getting sick of fucking in 2 years. For what? So we can have a nice house, little annoying kids that scream and shit everywhere, 1-2 vacations a year while the rest of the year we're slaves to our job... ugh. I could have definitely thought of a better life than that but I guess this is growing up.
Do less drugs, swallow more stress, save money.... it comes become overwhelming really quick.
Thats why right now just write 1 thing on a piece of paper to accomplish tommorow that will help get you closer to your goals. Then do it. =] Soon enough you will get there.
G/luck and if you ever got any questions or just wanna whine and bitch about life be my guest and pm a brother.
