Landing Your First REAL Job – The Right Way

Finding your way to your first job as a new grad is no easy task. There are tons of articles that try and list 5-10 “easy steps” toward getting your first job but I’m not going to be one of those people. Landing your first job is no simple task and it is almost impossible for anyone to give you relevant advice.

Why?

Finding your real job is a combination of Luck, Determination and Self-Actualization.

Luck

Honestly there are a lot of things right now that are completely out of your control. The economy is in agony and while it will get better eventually at the moment job hunting is not in your favour. You are fighting against a sea of experienced, jobless employees who are willing to work for less just to keep paying their bills. It sucks to be them: they have lost their livelihood and have to fight for scraps that companies throw them. Sucks to be YOU because as a new grad you were only hoping for scraps and companies tend to play it “safe” by grabbing experienced employees over new untested talent. So you have to hunt every single day and part of what saves you or pushes your struggle onward is luck.

Determination

Luck isn’t on your side. But even luck isn’t entirely out of your control. The odds change according to the effort and creativity you put into your job hunt. There are an infinite number of tools and methods you can put to use to make your voice heard amongst the crowd of starving students. While there is no guarantee your efforts will reap you the rewards you seek nothing in life is guaranteed so there is no reason to become overly dramatic and give up your fight.

Self-Actualization

This will be the main barrier or motivator in your effort to get the job you want. A lot of the time we think we know what we want out of life or we believe our expectations are realistic, when in reality we are completely lost. The job hunt itself really starts way back in high school when you first decided you knew what courses suited you best and you began very vague plans toward your future. While searching for jobs you learn a lot about yourself: your weaknesses, your strengths, and overall how much you really want the job.

If the hunt seems too hard, too hopeless or you have an unending stack of excuses for why you have failed to get where you want to be then maybe you need to re-evaluate what it is you really want from your search. No matter what job you look for hundreds of people are looking for it at the same time. It will never get much easier.

What you need to do is decide on a career you feel is worth fighting for before you ever start your search.