My Advice for Soon To Be Grads
Recently, I was asked by a soon-to-be marketing grad about what they should be doing to get ready for job-hunting post grad. And boy, after a year and a half of applying and over 50 applications, I had a lot of advice.
It can seem really daunting to search for jobs, but the key is to start early and spread that work out over time. When I sat down to think of what I wanted to say to this student, it came down to four major categories of what they could be doing to be at the top of their game when they started their job search: Find experience, build your network, create a strong personal brand and get certified. I’ll walk you through each of these four things, and hopefully they can help you if you’re searching for your first job or even your next job.
Find Experience
If it’s something that’s possible for you, I would say having experience on your resume is going to be one of the biggest things you can do to help yourself. It gives you practical experience, something to show on your resume and gives you work to show on a portfolio that you can show future employers. I was lucky enough to do co-op in school, so I spent a year of my degree working, but none of that was actually direct communication work - most of my communications experience came from volunteer roles and jobs I found for myself (which I totally get is easier said than done).
Depending on your schedule and what commitments you’re juggling while you finish school, a great place to start is finding experience any way you can get it - volunteer organizations looking for a communications person, taking roles you’re already in and trying to find comms-related things to do, or getting involved in industry specific organizations. One thing I did that was helpful was finding a part-time job in my field while I finished school - I spent the last year and a half of my degree working at Carleton doing student communications and that’s been super valuable experience to have.
If finding jobs or volunteer opportunities isn’t an option, the other thing I’d recommend is to start your own little business and put things into practice for yourself - I knew I wanted to take my skills and do real things, so I started my business and asked my friend who was recording an album if he needed a publicist, and asked my friends who were all graduating like I was if they wanted personal brand strategies done (for free in order to build my skills and portfolio). That gave me real work to try out what I knew, and when it worked, it continues that portfolio building that becomes really helpful.
Build Your Network
I hate to be the person to say the thing I hate hearing (please gag with me) but holy crap, people aren’t kidding when they tell students how important your network is to get you jobs. So many jobs in this industry don’t even make it to job sites - someone internal usually knows someone through some thing or another and the position is filled before you have the chance to know it exists. So you gotta play the game - I’m not gonna pretend I know how to network in person effectively, but with everything online there are a lot more accessible opportunities - the marketing community on twitter is a huge resource for advice and networking, try and find a mentor in your field (your school’s alumni group might have something for this), and whenever you can, find ways to do meaningful things with the people you want in your network. Join your local professional association and try and get a volunteer position (I find it’s so hard to speed date meet people, but if you work together to plan things it’s easier to get to know someone on a real level and show them what you can do). It’s a long and tedious process, I’m not going to lie, but it’s both worth it and necessary, especially in this industry. Having people in your network means you hear about jobs more frequently, and if they know and like you, it means they either can think of you when they see jobs, or be able to advocate for you, which is hugely helpful in hiring scenarios.
Strong Personal Brand
So much of getting a job is stuff out of your control - who else applies, applicant tracking systems, what a hiring manager wants, so I always recommend focusing on making what you can offer as strong as possible. I put together my website, a PDF version of my portfolio (including job work but also relevant class projects) and got a letter of recommendation so that every time I’m applying, I’m giving a potential employer all the information they could possibly need and showing them I’m already going above and beyond. Things like a website and portfolio are time consuming to put together, but you have time to work on them in the background over the next year or so before you hit the job market. These things also are great foundational pieces that grow with you - a portfolio and a website are tools that will grow with you throughout your career, and won’t just get you the first job, but if maintained will help get every job after.
Filling the Gaps with Certifications
If you’re looking for something more low key than all of the above, find free courses or certifications in the topics you know employers are going to want you to be able to have a base knowledge of. These will help you learn some of the more practical things and are a great resources for new grads who maybe don’t have as much experience to show they have that knowledge and have gone out of their way to get certifications in these topics. If you don’t know where to start, pick five jobs that you would like to be hired for - then look at their qualifications and what they’re asking for. Start working to find learning opportunities to fill whatever gaps you have.
After reading all of that, it can still feel really daunting. Remember that you have time (especially if you’re not out of school yet) and a lot of this work can be done in small chunks over time. Happy job hunting!