5 Top Career Articles on the Web for Graduates

5 Top Career Articles on the Web for Graduates

The professional world can be a confusing and scary place for new graduates. Luckily, the web is full of great advice for those who are fresh out of college or university and looking to embark on their new careers. Here, we have compiled some of the best articles for new graduates to help make the transition from the academic world to the professional world much smoother.

1. How to Stay Positive During a Long Job Search

A long and seemingly endless job search can dampen your spirits and it can be difficult to stay positive as you go from interview to interview without results. However, you can effectively keep your chin up if you remember to not wallow in self-pity by heeding the advice given in this blog article. After all, feeling sorry for yourself will not change your current situation. Instead, change your job-seeking strategy – go door-to-door handing out your resume if you were previously just applying for jobs through e-mail. Also remember all of the great traits that you have to offer and give yourself a confidence boost now and then. Finally, patience is one of the most valuable things to retain as you continue the long job hunt.

Many new graduates will unfortunately face long periods of unemployment due to the downturn of the global economy and the fact that many employers are hiring fewer people. However, with patience and a positive attitude, all graduates can eventually find a rewarding career. This article highlights ways that new graduates can keep their chins up in the job search, which is undoubtedly an important thing to know.

2 How to Write a Resume with No Job Experience

While it would be ideal for new graduates to have plenty of professional work experience from internships and fellowships, the truth is that many students simply could not find time during their studies to pursue these activities. As a result, many students graduate from college with a great educational results and a hard-earned degree, but with nearly no professional working experience. This can be a problem because work experience is important to employers. After all, it proves that the graduate knows how to handle working in the field. However, even those with no work experience can sell their resumes by listing and elaborating on their education, related course work, volunteering activities, and even past part-time jobs, as long as all of these things are tailored to explain how they are relevant to the job for which they are applying.

Finding a job soon after college is essential, but it can be challenging for students with no work experience to smoothly make the transition from the academic world to the professional world. This article explains how a graduate’s resume, the first thing many hiring managers see, can be made appealing even if there is no work experience listed on it.

3 5 Tips for Acing Your Phone Interview

The post author is an unofficial expert in phone interviews, having been a part of many successful interviews over the phone. The points she touches on in ensuring that phone interviews go as smoothly as possible include preparing for the interview by practicing answers to possible interview questions, picking a quiet place to sit for the interview, keeping a computer full of reference materials nearby, dressing up for the interview despite it being over the phone, and recording oneself doing a mock interview before doing the real thing. All of these tips ensure that the graduate is as prepared for the interview as possible, and that when the phone interview actually happens, that the process will go well and allow the interviewee to fully concentrate.

Phone interviews are increasingly commonplace, especially for telecommuting and relocation jobs, so it is imperative that graduates understand how to best ace a phone interview. In fact, many employers also are now in the habit of conducting all of their initial interviews over the phone and only bringing in those who impress in these interviews to interview face-to-face. On the phone, graduates do not have the luxury of seeing the interviewer’s reactions, so they must rely on presenting the best versions of themselves to interviewers with only the spoken word. This article gives great advice on how anyone can sell their personality over the phone.

4. 5 Tips for Negotiating a Higher Starting Salary

Some job offers are appealing in every way except for the starting salary. Graduates who find themselves uncomfortable with the starting salary offered by a company may benefit from this article, which delves into the best ways to negotiate a higher starting salary. Once an employer has indicated interest in a graduate, the graduate can carefully and tactfully discuss the salary. Beforehand, however, graduates must do their homework and be aware of what the typical salary for a particular position is, as well as the typical salary for others in similar positions within the company. Then, graduates must evaluate why they should be granted a higher salary, whether it is due to education or previous work experience. Other benefits, such as regular raises and bonuses, should also be kept in mind when determining a plausible higher salary. The key is to make the salary increase a mutually beneficial thing for both the employer and employee.

Many graduates will not be satisfied with jobs that pay minimum wage or relatively low starting salaries because they likely have various expenses that need covering, such as student loans and rent. However, it can also be difficult to find employment opportunities at all. Therefore, when a student finds a job they are excited to begin, but are deterred by the low starting salary, they should consider negotiating a higher starting salary. This article provides some great tips on how to go about doing this, as it can be a tricky thing for new graduates to navigate.

5. Top 5 Networking Tips to Get You Started

It has often been said that it is not what one knows, but who one knows that affects how far one will get in life. Networking helps for new graduates to get to know as many potentially beneficial people as possible. Graduates can network with a number of different people, from their old college professors to new friends to potential employers. All of these contacts can prove invaluable when it comes to finding lucrative employment opportunities. To make the most out of networking opportunities, this article provides several excellent tips, such as remembering the names of the people graduates meet and finding the best way to keep in touch with people, whether it is through Facebook, Twitter, e-mail, or the phone.

Networking is more important than ever now that job opportunities are scarce. It can allow graduates to find non-advertised job openings and even provide them with a good word prior to contacting the hiring manager, as the graduate can mention that he or she was recommended by a certain person for the position. To ensure that networking opportunities always go well, graduates can read over this article and learn how to make and maintain new worthwhile connections in the professional field.

This guest post is contributed by Kate Willson, who writes on the topics of top online colleges.  She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katewillson2@gmail.com, or below.

Tagged as: graduate tips