The most stressful thing about graduating from college is the inevitability of needing to make it in the real world. And of course the first step in that challenge is finding a job. The whole purpose of going to college is so that you can land a career, so not only do you have to start making money, but you really want to find salaried work if you’re going to be able to pay off your student loans. This means you want to rip the bandage and jump into your career as quickly as possible. That way you don’t have any dreaded lag time between college and career. Here is how to land a job before you graduate from college.
Land a Killer Internship
The best way to try and land a great job before you graduate is to find the right internship and find it as early as possible. Most major companies don’t tend to hire interns until they are at least in their third year of college, but if you can get in any earlier, then you should definitely try. Just making your presence known by applying a year or two early can definitely go a long way. It can be hard to put a couple of years into a job you’re not getting paid for, but you will be training and developing invaluable skills during your internship that will help you get a job, even if it’s not the company you interned for.
Work with a Professor
There are a lot of different ways to develop relationships with your professors, but one of the best ways is to be a professor’s assistant. Sometimes this work is paid in money, other times in credit, and sometimes a bit of both. No matter how you are compensated, when you work as a professor’s assistant you will be gaining access to information and to networks within your desired field that you wouldn’t be privy to otherwise. It might feel like you’re doing a lot of work for this person and you won’t always get credit for it, but it will pay off in spades if you work hard and make a name for yourself.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
The key to landing a job as early as possible is staying ahead of the curve. This is something you can do in many different respects. You can really observe the market you are trying to enter and anticipate the demands that it will encounter over the next few years. This will help you to impress your interviewers when you apply for jobs. Even before this, however, you should be doing your research on all the businesses you’d like to work for and see how early you can submit your job applications for each of them. You always want your resume to be on the top of the stack. You can also stay ahead of the curve by making all of your profiles public on job posting websites, so that you can get all the first hits.
Know Where to Be
Whether you go to UCLA or Wake Forest University, there are going to be networks of people who are interacting as a community near your college. This is all going to depend on what you’re majoring in, and what kind of career you’re looking for, but if possible, get your face and your name known throughout the scene as early as possible.
