Welcome to the world of adulting! Congrats you made it! Well, almost…you still need to land your first entry-level job.
If you’re like so many others out there right now, you have just graduated college and now it’s time to find your first entry-level job. You’re excited and anxious but don’t know quite how to land it.
Don’t worry I was in the same position not too long ago. I was stressed to the max because I knew I need a job to start paying back my loans but I didn’t quite know how to make that happen.
You don’t have to be like me. Your first entry-level job is going to be yours before you know it.
Oh, and one more thing I believe in. Don’t settle for a job that doesn’t require the degree you just worked for at an expensive school. That piece of paper you were just given is so valuable, so put it to work.
I’m not saying you can’t go work at Starbucks for a little bit to make ends meet, but I am saying don’t stay there because you’re not putting in the right effort to land your first entry-level job.
Put that fear and anxiousness aside and apply these tips. You’ll be signing on the dotted line for that first entry-level job before you know it.
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The Ultimate Guide To #Adulting
Because #ADULTING.
Do you feel in the dark? I know I did after I graduated college! Here's everything you need to know to start your SUCCESSFUL adult life!
Check out one of my favorite adulting books here!
Research & Plan
I always start everything with intentionality. What are you looking for in your first entry-level job? What do you want to be intentional about having?
Here are some examples. You may want a job that has a salary of at least $30,000 a year. Or you may want a job that has an opportunity to move up within the company without relocating. Another might be the benefits the company has or the ability to work from home.
Talk with friends or family about their first entry-level job and find out what they were glad about and what they regretted. For me, it was the ability to move up within the company. The corporate headquarters were right next door so it gave me an avenue to move up within the company and stay with the company for many years.
Related Post: 12 Steps You Need To Take After You Graduate College
Another thing I was very glad that my entry-level job had was great benefits, a fitness center, and was right off the highway.
So begin researching and planning what you want in a company. Does location matter? Do future promotions play a role? What do you expect to be offered in retirement packages?
While things like salary and paid time off can be negotiable with most companies, these are more of personal preference choices. Consider them carefully and figure out what is a non-negotiable to you.
Take this very seriously. If you do not research or plan then you may be looking for a new job only a year after being hired and that doesn’t necessarily look good on a resume.
Now that you have planned what your priorities are in looking for a job, hop online and visit companies’ websites and see if they meet those requirements. If they do, then apply.
This may seem like a long process but I promise you that it is worth it. If you browse jobs and apply to any that pops up with any company then you are wasting your own time and the company’s time. Only apply to jobs that are a great match and your research will pay off in the end.
Upgrade Your Resume
Your first entry-level job should have a resume that is exceptional. There should be absolutely no typos and no unnecessary jobs on there. Your resume should fit exactly on one page. (This is a great resource to get your resume spot on!)
Here is everything I updated on my resume before applying to my first entry-level job:
-Listed all awards and honors I had received in college (and kept two big ones from high school, the others I deleted.)
-Deleted all old high school jobs that were irrelevant to the new jobs I was applying to
-Included all internships I participated in with detail on what skills I learned
-Included one job from college that wasn’t related to my major but was something I could talk about in the interview about the team
-Listed my biggest volunteer experience with a description of what exactly I did
-Updated my objective to be tailored to the job I was applying to
-Included key information they would otherwise not know, like graduating in three years and leading a campus group
-Included that I was a college athlete (or anything else that you did that was important)
If you just graduated college your resume should include the following: full name, email, phone, address, college degree, college GPA, college name and location, and awards or special projects completed in college.
Setting up your resume for your first entry-level job should be something you take great care of. If you put the work in now, it will pay off in the long run. If you do not, then you’ll be applying to more jobs than you expected.
The Ultimate Guide To #Adulting
Because #ADULTING.
Do you feel in the dark? I know I did after I graduated college! Here's everything you need to know to start your SUCCESSFUL adult life!
Get Your Cover Letter Sorted Out
Not all jobs will require you to submit a cover letter, but a lot of them will and it is important that you have one tailored to each job you apply to.
Human Resource members can tell if you have mass applied to many jobs are have researched their company and put in work to make your cover letter specific to them. Really, it doesn’t take long to do a bit of research on the company and put its mission and values into your own words.
Related Post: The Worst Advice You Could Get In Your 20s
Write about shared passions and how your experience will apply directly to the company’s mission. You will want to set yourself apart from the other candidates by taking the time to write a strong and compelling cover letter.
Also, sometimes cover letters are just skimmed, depending on how many the company receives for each job application, so make sure the first and last sentences are very well written and enticing.
Just like your resume, make sure your cover letter is free of typos, has a friendly tone, and displays your skills accurately so that your first entry-level job will be offered to you before you know it.
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Be Active On LinkedIn
Nowadays just assume that the company is going to Google your name, so beat them to it. Google yourself before you apply to any job and see what pulls up. Make sure there is no garbage online that could ruin your reputation and clear it if it is there.
Once that’s taken care of, go online and see what your first entry-level job is being rated. Sometimes people post reviews that may give you insight into the highs and lows of the job, depending on how big the company is, and even share what the interview process is like.
I wish I had done this before applying to my first entry-level job because I would have seen that I had to take two different number pattern tests. It might have made me a little less scared when I sat down in a conference room to take them.
Another key strategy these days is LinkedIn. This is a great way to connect with others that might have more insight into the company you are applying to or just share great content related to the job.
LinkedIn has been something that I have disregarded a lot but I am not realizing the value of being active on this site and networking on it.
Set up a clean, professional profile and make sure important information from your resume is there so that employers can easily match you to the online application. Then share a few articles related to your job or career goals. It’s really that simple.
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Apply To The Right Jobs
It was always interesting to me how much bad advice is out there when you are looking for your first entry-level job. So many people will tell you to apply to a ton of jobs.
They want you to just throw your resume around and begin applying to everything that becomes available. But, as I mentioned earlier, this could be more harmful than good.
If you apply to everything and don’t take the time to tailor your resume objective and cover letter to the company that you are applying to, then the other candidates already have the upper hand. It takes a bit of time to update these things with each job application, but it pays off in the long run.
So, instead of applying to every job that comes around, apply to the right jobs.
Check out one of my favorite adulting books here!
Fight Entitlement
In today’s culture, we all have to battle this regularly. You see, you are not entitled to that job that dream job right now. You just graduated from college and have zero experience except for that internship that maybe gave you a little boost.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but you are not entitled to anything. I don’t care who you are, how wealthy or not wealthy you are, or what you’ve done, but you are not entitled to your dream job right out of college.
It’s important to come to the reality that you will probably be doing some tasks that don’t seem that fun, maybe writing some spreadsheets that you’d rather not do, or being assigned tedious tasks that no one else wants to do. And that’s the reality.
One day you will be the boss and it will be someone else’s turn to do those things, but right now you are applying to an entry-level job, which means the bottom of the totem pole.
Don’t become discouraged by this. You can still chase your dreams and work extremely hard. Maybe you won’t be at the bottom when you first start. However, just don’t become the person that thinks they are entitled to a job that they are not yet ready to get.
Your first entry-level job probably won’t be your favorite job, but it will be the job that gets you the experience you need to succeed. So focus on finding the right job first and not the dream job.
Practice Interviewing With Others
Sometimes I hear of people that had their first interview ever when they applied to their first entry-level job, which kind of blows my mind. I had applied to so many jobs all the way from middle school to high school, that I could almost predict what question they were going to ask me next.
If you are that person, with little or no interview experience then you have to practice. I am serious. Don’t go into an interview never having done one before, especially if it’s for a first entry-level job that you really want.
Take the time to research interview questions and appropriate answers (Google is great for this) and practice again and again.
Researching and planning aren’t probably what you want to hear because it takes time and work, but if want to land a wonderful first entry-level job, then you’ll have to do just that.
Related Post: 7 Side-Hustles Any 20-Something Can Do
Here are some common questions to get you started. What are your strengths? What are your weaknesses? How can you apply the skills of your internship to your current role? When did you face a difficult situation and how did you resolve it? What motivates you? How do you work with people? What skills can you bring to this job?
Learn the company’s values and weave those words into your answers to their interview questions. That will help them see that you would fit in well with the company culture.
This is also the time when you will speak about what sets you apart from other applicants. Make sure you go into the interview knowing your value and being able to clearly say it so that the hiring manager has no issue understanding your value.
There you go! You’re all set to land your first entry-level job out of college. I know you can do it! If you don’t get the first one, keep pushing and keep chasing your dreams. Don’t become discouraged.
Need more advice? Ask away in the comments below!
The Ultimate Guide To #Adulting
Because #ADULTING.
Do you feel in the dark? I know I did after I graduated college! Here's everything you need to know to start your SUCCESSFUL adult life!
Kelsey at GoodPointGrandma
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Great post I will have to send this to my daughter although she is not out of college fully yet she still needs a job
I’m glad that it will be a valuable resource for your family!
This post took me back to my early days when I was in the same situation. I wish I knew this stuff back then. Great pointers.
Thanks Hina! Feel free to pass it on to others (:
Really great info here! I’m going to share it with a friend’s daughter who is in this boat 🙂
Awesome!
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