New grads: You got your degree. Now what?

  

 

 

 

Even as hiring is showing a slight 
increase, it's not easy for new 
grads.  The job market, especially 
in the PR and marketing fields, 
is still flooded with last year's graduates.

The job search should really begin while a student is still in school, 
by building a resume of work experience from internships (paid or 
unpaid), volunteer activities and leadership roles in school activities 
and clubs.  For aspiring PR and marketing pros, good resume-builders 
could include work as a reporter or editor at the school newspaper 
or radio station, or helping (paid or unpaid) at the school's PR office.

But for those who have just graduated and didn't do their resume-
building over the past four years, all is not lost.  There are options, 
even in this blistering job market.  The options I suggest here, 
however, will require patience and the willingness or ability to suffer 
through months of little or no income.

Since the biggest obstacle is differentiating oneself from other 
equally qualified candidates, the "Experience" section of the resume 
can be crucial.

So if you have no relevant experience, go out and get it.  Go to a 
local business -- a retailer or a service provider.  Offer your 
marketing or PR services free or, if you can get it, for a very small 
fee.  Do a good job and save copies of news releases, press 
clippings, local radio segments.  Or, volunteer as a marketing person 
for a local charity or a do-good organization -- the local animal shelter, for 
instance.  Help them get exposure.  Create an event -- and document 
the results.

If you hustle and you're lucky, after a few months you may have 
some real experience that can show an employer you are creative 
and you can do a good job for him or her.

It's not too late to build your resume.  But don't wait too long.  
The Class of '12 is just around the corner.

Comments

[Paul Barsch]

via MarketingProfs Daily Fix...

David, I think this post will be very helpful to recent graduates! I’d like to emphasize a point you made – the documentation of results. It’s great to go get “real experience” but I think any potential employer is going to ask “so what were the results?” of the marketing efforts. A benchmark baseline of a company’s current state and then capturing results will provide those critical proof points to show future employers that a candidate understands campaigns are great, but results matter most.

[Victoria]

via MarketingProfs Daily Fix...

Great article! I am a 2009 graduate and have experienced all of this. When I get frustrated for taking low salaries and doing work for free, I whisper to myself, “You’re buying your resume; this will all pay off.”

[Jeanne Byington]

David,

I direct both a mentoring program for students getting their MA in corporate communication and development of a foundation that provides scholarships and programs for women in communications–high school seniors through graduate school.

I have met and worked with unbelievable young people with amazing internship and work experience in communications and fabulous professional contacts all rooting and rattling cages for them. And it isn’t easy for them as you point out. Most of these high-achiever/multi-tasking phenoms eventually get jobs—it can take a year.

More than ever, it’s who you know. That’s why I suggest that students become members of an association, join committees and most important, participate, so as to make the contacts, along with lifelong mentors, official and unofficial.

In this environment especially, I can’t believe that a student has no work experience before graduating from college. It doesn’t have to be in communications, either. An executive interviewed by The NY Times said that she favored employees who babysat as that’s how she started her work life at age 12. Others might admire the gumption to offset college tuition by working in fast food, for example. That experience might also be a fit for a client.

A suggestion for graduates: Wear blinders and earplugs and keep trying no matter what. Don’t read distressing employment reports or listen to Uncle Max who says: “You should be an accountant [or in plastics] like me” if that’s not what you want.

[David Reich]

Yes Paul, real experience should include some proof that what you did made a difference.

Victoria, your attitude is 100% on target. Marketing, PR or advertising can be rewarding and enjoyable careers, but like most good things, it doesn’t happen overnight. Getting your degree is the first step. Have patience and take any interview you can get. Even if someone you’re sent your resume to says they don’t have a job, try to talk yourself into an “informational” interview. If you can impress them, they just might refer you to friends and associates who might have or know of a job opening.

Thanks Jeanne. Good advice about wearing blinders so you don’t let others sway you. If it’s a career in marketing, PR or advertising you want, then go for it and stick with it.

[Alan Hirsch]

via MarketingProfs Daily Fix ...

One of the best ways to differentiate yourself from other job seekers is for you to work smart in your effort to get a job. That means your “job search” is really a job. The actual “paying job” you finally get is your 2nd job.

If you can think that way, you will be ahead of 96 percent of all job seekers you compete against. Just remember, it is a job to get a job.

An example of job search creativity worked for my daughter, who I will call Gee, because she wouldn’t let herself be defeated by a few negative responses.

With scrapbooks representing several years work on her college newspaper, Gee went to her local daily newspaper (a Gannett publication) and tried to get a job as a cub reporter. No jobs, she was told. Gee went back five days in a row and volunteered to cover anything the paper would like covered, but did not have the staff to assign for coverage.

She said she did not expect to be paid and wanted to do it to demonstrate her skills.

On the 5th day, one of the editors decided to give her a simple assignment to handle. Gee did it well and the story she wrote appeared in the newspaper the next day. Soon after she was hired as a full time staff reporter, where she worked for the next three years.

Lesson learned? If you think you have the goods to support your expectations, go for it and don’t allow a few rejections to discourage you.

Nice article, David. Excellent advice there.

Alan Hirsch