School is Over – Welcome to the Working World

In a recent blog on a recruiting site I was “dissed” by some professional recruiters because they felt I was being “too nice” to Gen Yers. Yes, it is true that I think yours in the next great generation. I also have espoused the fact that I believe that baby boomers and millennials basically have the same chromosomes. My goal in this blog is to give you some tips that I wish someone would have given me when I was looking for my first real job out of school.

Over the last month Eric Hipps, our 28-year old college recruiter, and I have spoken to 500+ students at the Delta Epsilon Chi convention in Anaheim, nearly 100 sales school students at the Russ Berrie Institute of Professional Sales at William Paterson University and over 100 more at the Pi Sigma Epsilon’s convention in Virginia Beach.

Our “Backpacks to Briefcases” presentation seems to resonate with all who hear it. Eric and I agree that this generation can and will change the world. We also agree, however, that there are a few things that recent college grads MUST do to have that chance to change it.

After the past couple months what I’ve experienced first hand is a whole lot of very talented people who are about to enter the work force. Yea for those of us who are looking to hire!

I spoke to my best friend late this week who is interviewing for sales reps. He is appalled by the lack of follow up and aggressiveness. With that in mind here are 10 quick tips that I hope you heed – regardless of what field you are exploring.

1. Find the right job. www.collegerecruiter.com is one of the best places to look. Companies who advertise there, like we do at Valpak, know that we want to hire recent college grads.

2. Understand that you are now entering the most competitive job environment in decades. You MUST become competitive. Virtually everything I reads tells how tough it is going to be for many recent college grads to find a good job.

3. If you get a phone call from a recruiter or an employer and they leave a message – return the call as soon as possible. Chances are they are called 10 other people, too.

4. If they want to interview you – find the way to get there. Don’t tell them you are busy this week. They know you might be studying for finals. They are calling you because they have an opening NOW – and maybe not tomorrow.

5. Figure out what you are going to do to set yourself apart from the person who is interviewed before you and the one being interviewed after you. Our recruiting department looked at over 44,000 resumes in the first four months of the year. Experts tell us that each resume is looked at less than 30 seconds.

6. You only have one chance to make a good first impression. Ever. With you resume. With what you wear to the interview. With how you look. With the questions you ask. With anything and everything.

7. Learn as much about the company as you can before you go on the interview. Study their Web site. Google them.

8. Prepare a final question you want to ask the employer based on what you learned from your investigation of them. This should have NOTHING to do with pay, benefits, vacation, hours, etc. It should, instead, be focused on career pathing, having them describing their ideal candidate, etc.

9. At the end of the interview: CLOSE. Ask the hiring manager what you need to do to go to the next step of the process. Remember, this is step one. Close the next step.

10. Send a thank you note. Mail it right after your interview. E-mails are nice. Text messages are not. Thank you cards are magic.

Doing all of these things won’t guarantee that you will find a job. But, it will increase your odds and, with these competitive times, you need every advantage you can get!