Job Hunting Tips For Recent College Grads In A Challenging Market

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History repeats itself. College grads who are facing a daunting job market are not alone. A tough job market has a million publicists. Focus on the task at hand and tune out the noise. The noise is not there to help you. With that said, the data is in and it’s not great. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great.

The percentage of hires who are recent graduates is down. That is a fact that The New York Times, NBC News, and Axios made official in recent pieces. Regardless of whatever you’ve done during your student days, you’re navigating the real-world job minefield for the first time. It’s proving impersonal and unforgiving and it’s causing ever-increasing levels of stress. The last thing you need to do is read data-heavy articles from the I-Still-Do-Not-Have-A-Job-A-Sphere to confirm what you already know. You need a job and nobody is going to knock on your door and hand one to you. You have to get out there and claim it.

Here are five tips for recent grads to decompress and get out there and claim it:

1.     Enjoy it. You are young. You have your whole life in front of you and minimum responsibilities. There are legions of people who would trade places with you in a heartbeat no matter how unemployed you think you are. Get your face out of your phone, look at your actual surroundings, and enjoy it. You will only be young once but you’ll probably be unemployed a bunch of times. It’s a normal part of the process. Of course, it’s hard. You’re asking strangers to legally agree to give you a bunch of money after they’ve met you a couple of times. That’s crazy when you think about it. So calm down, relax. Your first job is out there waiting for you to find it, so meanwhile, enjoy life.

2.     Be flexible. There are jobs to pay the bills and there are career jobs. You may need a couple of the pay-the-bills jobs while you land your first career job. If you have the circumstances, resources, and good fortune to be patient and picky, then, by all means, hold out for that first dream job. If you need money now, and the only way you’re going to have it is to get a job, then suck it up, take one of those jobs, and double your efforts to get the job you want. Think of it like the oxygen masks that allegedly fall from the ceiling in an airplane if it loses oxygen. You’re instructed to put the mask on yourself before you administer help to others. The short-term, pay-your-bills job is like the first mask. You need that oxygen to help the person next to you, who, in this analogy, is also you, get the “real” job.

3.     Be flexible, Part 2. There’s the ideal career job and there’s the other ones. If you’re facing a constrained market, you may not get everything you want. Your desires may not match up with employer offers. That’s when negotiating begins and whoever has the leverage will dictate terms. Recent graduates have declining leverage right now. That hybrid schedule? Maybe not quite yet. Relocation allowance? Don’t dismiss it entirely, but don’t count on it either. When employers don’t need compromise and perks to attract new talent, they’re uncompromising and stingy. There is nothing you can do about it except play the hand you’re given. By all means, ask for everything and the moon in a glass box you can carry around in your pocket. Just don’t expect to get all of it. Or any of it, maybe.

4.     Be the islands in the stream. This is a toughie. You may not believe it because there is a vast digital void between you and the people hiring, but they empathize with you. They want to help you because everybody has been in your predicament (and more times than you). You have to believe that and you should because it’s true. That’s the first step towards developing the diligence and patience you need to effectively conduct a difficult job search. Somebody on the other side is looking for you just as hard as you are looking for them. Eventually, you will find each other. Trust the process and accept you’re not in control. Events will unfold as they are meant to. And proofread your resume again.

5.     Do the work. You think updating your resume and writing a LinkedIn profile is work. Wait until you get a job! Consider the extra effort required to get your first job in a challenging and unpredictable job market to be on-the-job training for every job you will ever do. This stuff gets harder, not easier. When your first deadline is hurtling towards you like an intercontinental ballistic missile, you will pine for the days when you anguished over your LinkedIn headline. Finding a job is a job, and when you do a good job, you end up with a new job! Keep things in perspective. Focus.

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 Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

A Guide For Recent Graduates Deciding Between Remote Work, Office Life, Or Hybrid

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Recent graduates searching for their first professional job need to seriously consider the benefits versus drawbacks of both in-office and remote jobs.

While some industries and fields have always had more robust remote work structures, such as information technology and customer service, there have never been more opportunities across the board for people who wish to work remotely than there are right now. You’ve got options. However, not all employers are dancing on top of their desks about it.

Many major companies are trying to reinstitute, even mandate, in-office work. To give you an idea of the “back to the office” mindset, recently a prominent CEO landed in the papers for saying that professionals working remotely “didn’t work as hard.” That’s not an isolated opinion and there are a lot of other reasons the people who sign the paychecks want their employees to be in the office – and they’re not all unreasonable. 

In the middle, are hybrid schedules, which is exactly like it sounds. Part remote, part in the office. Sounds like the best of both worlds and maybe it is. Nobody can decide what’s best for you except you. However, you just graduated from school and, with all due respect for your academic achievements, extracurriculars, internships, awards, or whatever you’ve got on your resume, you don’t know anything yet.

What is the right thing to do? For recent graduates, the question is not opportunity but mastery. You’re not just looking for a new job. You’re creating a foundation for your long-term professional goals and whether you work remotely or in an office can profoundly affect that trajectory. Let’s look at the pros and cons of remote work vs. office from that perspective. 

Pros of Remote Work:

·       Life is expensive, especially in big cities where most Fortune 500 companies are located. Rent, car, gas, work wardrobe, parking, lunch, coffee break, and on and on. The daily mechanics of going into an office is a steady stream of expenses that add up. If you’re on your laptop sitting in your den, those expenses are reduced or eliminated. It is almost a compensation increase, which can be very attractive to young professionals living on their own for the first time or those carrying student loan debt.  

·       No commute. Ever driven in Los Angeles? New York? Chicago? There are no upsides to fighting traffic to get to work on time. If you use public transportation it takes longer, it’s unreliable, and it smells like unhappiness. Time is the most precious commodity in life. Every minute counts. If your commute is from your bedroom to your den, or, at worse, the coffee shop on the corner, your mornings may be easier than the norm.

·       Work-life balance. Up to now, your whole life has been balance. There is no such thing as school-life balance. Even if you are working your way through school, it’s not the same. As you progress through your career and life’s milestones (marriage, children, caring for elderly parents, etc.), work-life balance becomes more and more important.

·       If you’re 100% remote, you can live anywhere.

·       Many people thrive in environments where they can set the agenda and actually do their best work remotely.

Pros of In-Office Work:

·      You’re just starting out. You need to learn your job. You need to know who your co-workers are. You need to experience the culture of your company. That’s not as easy through Zoom.

·      Do not underestimate the benefit of mentors. It’s human nature for experienced people to help younger workers navigate the professional world and teach them the ins and outs of the business.

·      There is no substitute for face-to-face collaboration. Engagement is a key that unlocks many doors.

·      As someone starting their career, visibility is important. If people can see your face and look you in the eye every day, they know who they’re dealing with and their perception is that you’re present and making the effort required to succeed.

·      Special assignments, advancement, and promotions may occur more expediently for people in the office than workers who see their coworkers, bosses, and clients on their laptop screens for a limited amount of time per day. There is no “water cooler” if you’re working remotely.

·      It’s easier to build trust and credibility in the office.

Bonus tips:

·      Don’t assume remote will be better or that you will like it better.

·    Don’t assume that because you work in the office and have more extended face time with your company’s decision-makers, stakeholders, and clients you will automatically rise to the top. No matter where you are, the quality of your work is what will ultimately count the most.

·      If you’ve already landed your first “office job,” but want to work remotely or have a hybrid schedule, the best course of action is to ask your manager what they think. Just because you want to work remotely doesn’t mean you will be allowed.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Kickstarting Your Career: Why You Should Prepare Your First Resume Sooner Than You Think

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Many people know early in life which direction they want their career to go, but it’s the rare soul that turns that knowledge into a professional resume. Even the most career-oriented student most likely doesn’t have a resume to use in applying for a college internship or, even more common, they procrastinate until they’re deep into their final semester before graduation (I admit nothing…). The arguments use to be that, typically, a resume wasn’t absolutely necessary until you were interviewing for your first post-graduation, full-time, professional job. That is no longer the case.

Some colleges now ask for resumes as part of their enrollment applications. Applying for any job or internship, whether during high school or college, has become more laborious, AI-driven, and in-depth. Basic information on a generic application is a thing of the past. Employers want to see resumes, LinkedIn profiles, job board profiles, social media accounts, and the details of any accomplishments that may differentiate you from another candidate.

When is it too early in your career to develop a resume? First off, dispel with the idea that developing a resume is a finite process that’s only necessary when you’re actively searching for a new job. A resume is a fluid living document that should be updated on a regular basis, and, second, you must be proactive in documenting your achievements in real time, ideally with measurable results as appropriate.

The earlier you start to develop a resume, the easier it is to modify and build into a professional document as you advance through the stages of your education and work life. You are the sole author of your story – and you must provide the details that give your story credence and authenticity.

Developing a resume in this way requires an advanced level of diligence whether you’re a high school student applying to a college or a senior executive at the top of your field. It’s a career-long engagement. Here are five things to consider if you recognize the future-thinking long-term benefits of resume development at an early age:

·      It is never too early to start developing a resume. Even if you’re a high school student who’s just completed your first summer job, the exercise of creating a basic resume with your one job on it means you’re ahead of the game and when the time comes when you need a resume it will be easier to update.

·      Document your achievements. This is probably the hardest thing to do. First, you have to remember to do it, and, second, you have to remember to do it. If you are disciplined enough, the best course is to keep a running journal of what you do in any given position. The more salient details the better.

·      Get the metrics. Now that you’ve remembered to document your latest work accomplishment, the best thing you can do to bolster your position is to include metrics. This can be tricky if you don’t have access to the kind of data that may help you. If necessary, request the data from the appropriate person as soon as possible. This is another important area where incremental changes to your resume is the best methodology. If you wait until you need a resume (e.g., termination, dream-job opportunity, moving to a city, etc.), willingness to share sensitive internal data, such as sales figures, may be non-existent.

·      There’s nothing like a good job appraisal. Many jobs – even part time roles or internships – have periodic performance appraisals designed to guide you to a higher level in your career. While many people hate writing self-assessments and appraisals are certain to include constructive criticism, the final documented appraisal can be a treasure trove of information you can mine for your resume. Take an appraisal process seriously and use it as way to get as much information as you can about the work you’ve done and its impact.

·      The fact you even have a resume at an early age is a great first impression. If you develop a resume long before you may even need one, it’s easier to update, it’s a stronger more impactful document, and instantly creates the perception you are an ambitious, career-oriented individual who takes their future vocation seriously. It will make a positive impression on savvy recruiters and hiring managers.

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 Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.