Are you a fresh graduate looking for a job? The journey from graduation to employment can be difficult. Many people want to work, and you need to stand out. If you find yourself struggling to land your first job, you’re not alone. Many fresh graduates face this challenge. In this, we’ll discuss easy ways to help you get a job after graduation.
Standing Out Among a Flood of Fresh Graduates
Let’s talk about the flood of fresh graduates entering the job market. In February 2018, I posted an internship opportunity for engineering graduates at my startup, IKnowItMOM. Within one day, we received several hundred applications. So many people wanted the internship that I had to stop taking applications early. Reading all the resumes and doing interviews was a lot of work. After looking at everything, we hired one person. This showed me how many new graduates are looking for jobs and how hard the competition is.
Even now, I still receive many resumes from fresh graduates. Many experienced professionals want to help, but often, they are unsure how to do so. They might forward resumes to HR, but nothing much happens after that. Most experienced people in corporate roles have no clue on how to help freshers.
If you’re a fresh graduate without a job, it can be tough, especially if you’re not from a well-known college. Many brilliant graduates face this struggle. The main issue is that you need experience to get hired, but you need a job to gain experience. So, how do you break this cycle?
Career Start Choices for Fresh Graduates
There are several internship sites only listing internship roles. They might offer token money, don’t complain about getting paid less. These startups spend time helping you and give you certificates and references, which are very important. Stick with them for a few months to a year, and you might land a full-time job there. If the startup becomes successful, you can soon move to a very high paying role. Also, startups have a great learning experience because you will get to do high-value work. You will also get greater exposure.
Top Internship Platforms for Fresh Graduates
For those in India, check out:
For those in the USA:
Many people sign up for internships, so it can be a lot to handle. It’s good to look at all the information available. Internships get lots of responses, so you have to be fast. Some websites let you pay to make your profile stand out. As a recruiter, the ‘featured’ resumes caught my attention.
Online Courses
Fresh graduates might not be ready for jobs because their skills need to be improved. Universities can’t update their lessons every few months, so fresh graduates need to learn new skills on their own.
Some skills like AI/ML, automation, and DevOps can’t be taught in college. You need to find out which skills are in demand and match your background.
You can learn these skills through self-study or online courses on Udemy. These courses are affordable and focused on getting you job-ready. There are many tutorials on YouTube and blogs, but searching through them takes a lot of time and energy. Udemy courses also offer a community of other students.
Coursera also has online courses. These are more like university courses and you get to add a university name. This gives you credibility. If you learn practical skills from Udemy, you can strengthen them with a Coursera course certificate.
These courses will strengthen your resume and help you respond to internship requests.
Certifications and Coding Challenges
You might have learned skills on your own, but how do you prove it? If you have work experience in a specific domain and company, it’s easy to show your skills. But what about fresh graduates? Online course certificates can help show your skills to employers. Certifying self-learned skills can be tricky.
Companies like HackerEarth, HackerRank, have coding challenges that can help you get better jobs.
Building Your Online Presence: LinkedIn and GitHub
As a fresher, create a LinkedIn account. It’s a platform with millions of professionals worldwide. Upload a professional picture and engage with discussion groups and company pages. Some companies post jobs here, but don’t rely on them. Connect with people, browse forums, and gain industry insights. Post your own how-to tech articles and tutorials on LinkedIn. This can help people notice you for the right reasons.
Create an account on GitHub or BitBucket and start a project. Identify a problem and work on a project related to an in-demand skill. A few students can work together on a project, like a startup. Document your project and share it on your resume with a public link. For any problems with your project, go to Stack Overflow. They can guide you on projects and processes.
Run your project with a full process. Many resources can teach you how to manage code and use GitHub and Bitbucket. It will help you develop skills and you can add it to your resume and show the code online.
Classroom Training vs. Online Training
Classroom training usually works better than online training, but it costs a lot more. Be careful about promises of “100% placement help” versus “100% job guarantee.” No one can give a full guarantee for a job. But, some training institutes have good connections with companies. Companies trust these institutes to help find students for jobs, along with campus interviews. It’s easier for them to pick from a small group of students from these schools instead of handling many new graduates on their own.
Cold Calling Startups
Startups often have many problems, including not having enough people. They might have great ideas and a formal organization, but they struggle with paying attention to and paying their workers.
When hiring new graduates, startups usually worry about:
- Taking time to check your work and quality.
- Paying you and giving you space to work.
But if you ask for small, low-priority projects, there is a chance to get a job. These days, with tools like MS Skype, Google Hangouts, and TeamViewer, you can ask to work from home.
Since the work won’t be urgent, they won’t be at risk, and you’ll gain experience in valuable skills.
You can find startup lists on government websites. Then, visit their websites and apply with a cover letter in your own words. If you get their phone number, calling and meeting them could help.
Offer to work for free and promise to work for a short time.
It might help you get formal experience.
Conclusion
Remember, even with these ideas, it’s up to you to use them and take responsibility for your own decisions.
