College is weird. Your professors and other professionals around you like to feed you a ton of information to make you successful. The catch is that no one really tells you how to use this information to land you a job when you graduate. I’ve been lucky enough to have a couple of professors that really care about our future endeavors. They’ve shown my class many things that can help us be successful in the job hunt, which mostly includes LinkedIn. LinkedIn is the hub for all things jobs! You can network, apply for jobs, and even have the profile you set up be created into a digital resume! If you haven’t yet, you definitely need to make a LinkedIn account, and I’m about to show you why. Here are my best tips on how to prepare for your future, especially when it comes to using LinkedIn!
If you love what you do, it’s not work
To start off with, I’m going to pass on some advice I got from one of my cousins. My cousin, Russell, was going to school to be a pilot. It’s taken him a while to get there and he’s had to work some random jobs, like bartending, to make money. When I was in high school, he asked me what I wanted to go to school for and I eagerly told him journalism. He knows me fairly well to know that it is something I’ve always shown interest in, and he was glad I was choosing a path that I loved. He told me “If you love what you do, you don’t work a day in your life” and it’s always stuck with me. Finding the right fit for you is so important, and I’m about to show you how to do that!
Finding the right fit for you
This is one of the hardest parts of going to school. You may not have a semblance of an idea, and that’s okay. There are plenty of career aptitude tests that you can take for free online! I took many in high school and they all came back to one thing: public relations. That’s exactly what I’m trying to go into as well! Another great way to find some of the best jobs for you is to take the Myer-Briggs personality test. I’ve taken this so many times, and honestly, I get the same answers that I always have on the career aptitude tests. I personally like the 16 Personalities Personality Test. After getting your result, it will show you a list of celebrities that have the same personality type as you and traits that you will bring into the workplace. You can always take your result, see what the best options would be be for you, and then pick a major based off of what sounds interesting/exciting to you!
Using LinkedIn to find the right fit
I’ve also been encouraged by one of my favorite professors to browse LinkedIn when you get an idea of what area of study you’re pursuing. In my case, I knew I wanted to go in the public relations field, and he encouraged me to look into public relations jobs around the country on LinkedIn. I looked into the job descriptions and what I could potentially be doing and nailed down a few jobs that sounded really fun! I figured out what areas are really looking for these positions and started warming up to the idea that I may have to move away to be able to do it. LinkedIn creates more avenues of research than you’re aware of, you just have to know how to use it in the right ways!
Building a resume
Making resumes is harder than people make it out to be. They want you to have a ton of information in a small space, and it can start to look cramped. On top of that, I’ve never been asked for a paper copy of my resume. However, you can add any experience, accomplishments, and projects to a LinkedIn profile! I have spent a lot of my extra time on LinkedIn building my profile. I’ve been able to include the work I’ve done on this blog, work I did in high school, all of my accomplishments, and what my work experience looks like! On top of that, if you’re not super tech savvy, you can have a resume made out of the things you have put on your profile! It’s super quick and easy, and while it’s not super customized to how you want it, it’s a start!
Making a professional website
This has taken me forever but it’s been so rewarding! Some careers you won’t need a professional website, but for someone like me that needs to show writing (and video) samples, a professional website is a great way to keep track of everything. One of the other great features of LinkedIn is that it can act as a backup professional website. Just like a personal website, you can load publications, accomplishments, your resume, and write a little about yourself. It’s extremely crucial that you put your best self forward with either method that you choose! Let the theme stay professional, but channel things that you like as well. For example, my professional website is all black, tan, and white, which are very professional and clean, which are themes that I liked anyway. I’m really into calligraphy, so I added a logo that looked handwritten! It’s very easy to customize your website to you. You just have to play around with it!
Networking
Believe it or not, this is the most important thing in your journey to your professional self. Networking will get you just about anywhere! When I started my first job during my freshman year of college, I had an easier time getting an interview since the head manager of the entire place was a friend of my cousin’s. The basis of LinkedIn requires you to make a certain amount of connections to be seen in searches that companies do while recruiting. Start connecting with your professors, friends, and family on LinkedIn and soon you’ll start collecting a ton of connections. Networking can also help you hear about different jobs, and someone will be more likely to give you a letter of recommendation
Searching for jobs
This is where it gets kind of complicated. Like I mentioned before, I am a journalism major and I can do just about anything with a journalism degree. I narrowed it down that I would like to go into a more public relations-esque position–maybe even utilize a company’s social media. That was step one of trying to figure out what I should be applying for. Step two was figuring out where. I narrowed down where I would like to live, which got me as far as the three biggest cities in Missouri (St. Louis, Springfield, and Kansas City) and two places in Tennessee (Nashville and Knoxville). If you narrow down your search by what you could see your self doing and where you could see yourself doing it, your search will be so much easier!
Applying for jobs
Applying for jobs can be kind of tricky. I’ve had to make accounts with various companies in order to apply, but don’t be stressed out by it. It will be much easier this way to check the status of your application! Some, but not all, applications will require you to submit your resume and a cover letter. For those of you that don’t know, a cover letter is essentially a letter to the company that will explain why you’re qualified and generally will motivate them to hire you. This document will accompany your resume! It’s important that the documents you submit look professional and inviting, but showcase your personally. For example, my resume still looks very professional, but I added a little yellow in because I like to think of it as bright and inviting like I am. Don’t be afraid to spice things up!
Interviewing
This may see like the most stressful part, but I promise that you’ll decide otherwise. I’ve completed two different interviews, and they were completely different than each other. My first interview was conducted by one person who told me then and there that I got the job. My last interview, I was interviewed by three people and then was emailed around two weeks later to say that I didn’t get the job.
Reading the room is huge in an interview. If the people that are interviewing you are very cheerful and glad to have you there, then don’t be afraid to really show your personality. Crack some jokes, smile a lot, and allow yourself to breathe a little. Be a little more chilled out than you normally would. On the other hand, if the people interviewing you are acting very professional, try to stay calm and collected. Answer the questions in a way that you feel comfortable and allow yourself to open up a little more if you get another interview or if you are offered the job.
Negotiating
This is where I get pretty nervous. I am someone that tries to stay as far away from conflict as possible. One of my professors this semester recently gave my class advice on negotiating that really changed my perspective. He told us “Don’t let them lowball you. You need to know what you’re worth, and their lowest number isn’t good enough.” If you get a job offer, the offer always comes with the lowest possible price. It’s your job to do research before going into your interview on what your salary should be in your area. You can use Payscale for this! It calculates what your salary should be based on where you live and what you’d be doing. Try to get to their magic number. If you have to walk away, don’t be afraid to do it.
Things you didn’t know
You might get asked random questions like, “What is your spirit animal?”
Your “weaknesses” should really be your strengths. Spin one of your strengths around to be a weakness. This could look something like “I work so hard that sometimes I don’t know when to stop.”
Employers don’t care what your GPA looks like as long as you can add something valuable to their team.
You’re not going to get offers on every job you apply for. You may not ever find out if they’ve reviewed your application! Don’t take it to heart.
Your first job will be a stepping stone to the next. Don’t worry about if it’s not the right fit at first; there’s room for growth.
Be bold enough to ask for benefits up front. They’re not always going to offer them to you.
Even if the job description says they require 2-3 years of experience, apply for it anyway. This can send a bunch of people away and make them scared of applying. You may get the job!
Do you have any other tips that have helped or are currently helping you land your dream job? Leave a comment below!
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