“Looking for a job where you can find yourself”

After years of hard work in college and you’re about to graduate and enter the workforce. Your life is changing, and going to be exciting. You’ll control your own destiny by choosing a career path, learning new skills, and becoming a productive member of society. It’s time to take all of that education you received and find a career (not “job”).

A job is simply something you go to every day so you can pay your rent and cable TV bill while a career is a rewarding occupation that offers the potential for advancement and higher earnings if you do a good job.

It is okay if you don’t know what you want to do with your life yet. The important thing is to begin identifying your type of personality and your interests and match them with a career.Values and ethics are extremely important when searching for a job. It is key that you match your moral code with appropriate employers.

Matching your personality, interests, and skills with a career

“ People with introverted and quiet personalities may have a hard time working in jobs such as sales which require a lot of public speaking and interaction with different types of people, while those with outgoing personalities would probably thrive in such careers. Finding a job that suits your personality will make it easier to succeed in your career.”

Match with your values

“ If you work for a company that does not meet your moral and ethical standards, you will be unhappy and less productive. Values are the things and principles that are most important to you. They involve our feelings, ideas, and beliefs and Ethics are a system of morals, a code of unwritten rules that guide how we act toward others. Strong ethics consist of fair, honest treatment of others.”

"I won’t be able to get a job because I don’t have any job experience"

Recent graduates may worry that they don’t have enough experience to list on their resumes. But it is very important for any recent graduate to know that "experience is not limited to paid employment.” It advises job seekers to include on their resume any activities or accomplishments that demonstrate their skills and abilities like 

1. Internships
2. Part time employment
3. Work study
4. Study in a foreign country
5. Undergraduate research
6. Student activities
7. Community service/volunteer work
8. Athletics or club sports
9. Student newspaper or radio
10. Student government
11. Resident assistants
12. Admissions ambassadors
13. Tutoring
14. Theater
15. Honor societies

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WHAT ARE INTERNSHIPS?

Internships provide short-term, practical experience for students, recent graduates, and people changing careers and last from 10 weeks to 12 months and are designed mainly for college students (although some are open to high school students and career changers). Internships provide you with an excellent way to try out a career, learn valuable job and soft skills, and build a network of contacts in your industry.

Best Places to Find Internships are On-campus recruiting events, job fairs, campus career centers, and via assistance from college faculty.

Not every internship, unfortunately, provides interns with a good learning opportunity. Some companies simply use interns to perform grunt work and never give them a chance to learn new skills. Overall, the entire process will go more smoothly if you participate in a formal, supervised internship.

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There are many tools and resources available to help you find a job, including college career services offices, on-campus recruiting, internships, volunteer opportunities, newspaper classifieds, Internet job-search sites, employment placement offices, company Web sites, job fairs, professional associations, networking, and the hidden job market. Be sure to use all in your job search.

there are two new tools used in job search are 1- NETWORKING & 2- HIDDEN JOB MARKET

What is meant by NETWORKING?

1. Networking is simply the process of building quality relationships that help you obtain job leads. 
2. There are many places to network, including formal settings (professional association meetings, career fairs, and in your office) and informal situations (talking with your friends, family, and neighbors; participating in social clubs, religious groups, volunteer activities, and internships; and joining online social networking groups and posting messages in chat rooms or discussion groups)

Some important advises for you when you are in network events:

1. Define your goals
2. Wear your best outfit "Dress To Impress"
3. Be enthusiastic
4. Observe people who network effectively, and learn from their examples
5. Follow through after the event with individuals whom you have met
6. DON'T ask for a job outright because it may turn off recruiters
7. DON'T spend the entire time linked to a friend you attended the event with
8. Speak clearly and loudly enough to be heard & demonstrate good body language

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E-Networking

- Social Networking Sites: Here are the Web addresses for some popular social networking sites used by job seekers:
LinkedIn – Facebook - Networking for Professionals - Ryze: Business Networking 
- Web Forums and Chat Rooms

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Whats is meant by HIDDEN JOB MARKET?

These include cold calling/emailing, information interviewing, volunteering, company Web site searches, job-hunting business cards, broadcast cover letters, and analyzing industry trends and employment projections.

1- Cold Calling/Emailing

Involve contacting companies that have not placed a job advertisement to see if they are hiring.

2- Volunteering

By volunteering, perhaps during summer break, you’ll get the opportunity to experience firsthand how a company works and find about the various career paths that are available.

3- Company Web Site Searches

Nearly every company has at least some type of presence on the Web today. These sites can provide you with valuable information, including the types of services or products companies offer, names of key managers and other employees, and, most importantly, job openings that may not be posted on major job-search sites such as Monster or Yahoo Careers.

4- Broadcast Cover Letters

To write a successful broadcast cover letter, you need to have good analytical skills and powers of persuasion. You need to learn as much as possible about the company (through its Web site, industry publications, etc.) and identify areas or sectors where a person of your skills and background may be needed.

NOTE:

- People often make a critical mistake during the job search process: they send resumes to large companies (such as Dell, Coca-Cola), thinking that because these companies are so big, they must have jobs available. What job applicants don’t realize is that many other people have the same idea, and these companies are inundated with resumes.

- This issue is compounded by the fact that many companies may be in the process of downsizing or may be experiencing poor sales due to changes in technology, overseas competition, or other factors. When hiring managers receive piles of resumes during a time of downsizing or a poor business cycle, they often come to the conclusion that the applicants haven’t done their research about the company or simply want a job whether they are qualified or not.

- Do you think the majority of these people will be hired? The answer is no because they have not conducted research about the company or are indifferent to market conditions that will influence hiring. To avoid making this mistake, you need to conduct research to learn which companies and industries are most likely to be hiring and which are not. You should also remember that many large companies (such as Microsoft) started out in somebody’s basement or garage. It’s a better idea to try to find unlisted jobs at small- to mid-sized companies that are successful and growing, rather than applying for positions at large companies that are shedding jobs.

FINALLY, If you have found the job that suits you and make an interview and get hired. There are new tasks to learn, office politics to navigate, and the challenge of building a good relationship with your boss.
On your first day, you will make impressions that will be hard to shed no matter what you do thereafter. And if you fail to fit into your company’s culture, you may even lose your job. That’s why it’s key to ace this first workplace test.

Some important advice for your FIRST DAY and beyond:

1- Get to Work On Time. 

You want to send a message to your boss that you are motivated and dependable.

2- Introduce Yourself to Your Coworkers. 

It’s important to begin building positive relationships with your coworkers as soon as possible. This will help you to avoid miscommunications, become a member of an effective team.
3- Learn your coworkers’ names and job functions as quickly as possible.
4- Be Positive. 

Smile, speak in an upbeat voice, and use good body language.
5- Work Hard. 

You will get a good reputation as someone with a can-do spirit
6- Be a Good Listener and Learner.
7- Ask Questions to boss or coworkers for clarification 

(There is no such thing as a dumb question).
8- Pay close attention to everything in your workplace 

(office politics, to the protocol for standard tasks, to the unwritten rules)
9- Dress to impress

10- Develop Your Soft Skills. 

The most in-demand soft skills are: Organization - Verbal communication - Teamwork and collaboration - Problem solving - Tact and diplomacy - Business writing - Analytical

11- Learn the Unwritten Rules

12- Get Along With Your Boss

• Know your boss’s likes and dislikes
• Solve your boss’s problems
• Avoid making unreasonable requests
• Develop a good reputation in the office
• Always keep your boss up to date on the status of projects
• Never embarrass your boss