5 Tips for Your Post-Graduation Job Search

Written by: Erinne Ng - AWE Communications and Program Support Intern (BA Linguistics)

Walking across the convocation stage and stepping out into the “real world” to find a job as a fresh graduate can be an intensely frightening prospect but also extremely exciting! Although it’s easy to feel overwhelmed and unsure about where to even begin, we’ve got 5 tips to keep in mind when looking for your first job after graduation.

Pop by the Career Centre

Remember all of the career education that you learned through AWE? Take that with you! All of the tips and strategies you learned in AWE are applicable and important to the job search that you’re doing now. Whether you attended a workshop, had your resume and cover letter reviewed, or participated in a career advising session, you have the knowledge to help you succeed in your post graduate work search. Pro tip: If you have unused advising appointments left, you can still access them. Be sure to contact your Work Experience Coordinator with questions, they are happy to help. The Career Centre is open to alumni too and is here to help and guide you in your career management process.

Do your research

As part of AWE, you might have completed a career advising session. This is a great place to start thinking about what your ideal career path might look like. Exploring what your preferred workplace looks like, what skills you would like to use on a daily basis, and what values and goals you have are helpful for mapping out which jobs might best suit you. Researching the company or types of organizations you would like to work for will also give you the chance to discover whether the company itself is a good fit for you. Doing this research will help you find out about company culture and whether this organization is for you or not.

Use social media and LinkedIn to help you find opportunities.

We are constantly on social media, so why not use our social media savviness to our advantage and extend it to our professional job search as well? More and more employers are using platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to find new hiresㄧ being proficient with and having a professional presence on these can open doors for new grads. And let’s not forget LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a great tool that can help you find a job as many employers post jobs and news about their organizations. It is also a great platform to present your skills and experiences and begin networking with professionals, while using proper etiquette of course!

Network and make connections.

You might have attended career fairs and mixers, participated in job shadow week, speaker series or attended other professional development events. As you know, these are all amazing opportunities to make connections and build connections with people in your chosen field. Reach out to your network, or even people who work in your ideal role and set up an information interview. Everyone loves to chat about their career, usually over coffee, and this is a great way to learn more about the day-to-day responsibilities of the job and help you decide if it is a good fit for you.

Be open to new opportunities

Keep an open mind when presented with new opportunities. We tend to get fixated on our majors and a single position or career path. However it can be beneficial to be open to opportunities that come your way, even if they aren’t necessarily commonly associated with your field of interest. Career management is about “taking action” even if you don’t know what the outcome might be. You can experience “Planned Happenstance” in your career when you engage deliberately in opportunities, follow your interests and be curious. Being open to new opportunities can often open new opportunities that we might not have expected.

Whether you’re crossing the stage this week (CONGRATULATIONS!) or are enjoying your summer before heading back to school, hopefully these tips and strategies will be helpful for your job search. To all those who are graduating, we wish you the best of luck with the next chapter in your life and all of the opportunities you take!