4 Tips for Freshmen to Help Land a Job After Graduation

By Timothy Hayes on November 2, 2014

Welcome to college, freshmen. The mystical Land of Oz that you and your classmates dreamed about in high school, but alas, just like Oz, it will go away all too soon. Then you, my fellow freshmen, will be out in what we like to call “the real world.”

Graduation is not as far away as you might think and in the “real world,” you will probably get a job. The goal of all your next four years of hard work is to get a job, believe it or not. Unfortunately, with the given job market, chances are you won’t get the exact career you want. There are, however, a few ways to ensure that you have a fighting chance at it.

1.)   Get an internship. Internships are basically a way for college students to gain real experience in a chosen field before ever getting a job in it. Sometimes you get paid to do it and sometimes you might not, but ultimately, internships can let you know if a career is right for you.

So get an internship and get one soon. If you can approach an internship or job senior year with previous experience, you have a better shot at getting into one. Internships can be very, very competitive. Some have students competing across the country for 10 positions in a Fortune 500 company. Others can go completely unclaimed and hold months of valuable opportunities.

Internships can be found online or at career fairs. Your college may have a search engine to look up major or career-specific internships.

2.)   Get good grades. This one seems like a no-brainer, but grades do matter. These help you get into professional programs and graduate school, which both increase your chances of placing in a job in your field quickly after graduation.

Good grades also show dedication and hard work, two qualities employers look for. Depending on your field, GPA might be a crucial factor in your future. You wouldn’t want a doctor who flunked his surgery class to be operating on you, would you? So keep those grades up.

3.)   Get a job. College is expensive and that’s no secret. With price tags rising, students have to get a job sooner or later. Ultimately, your main concern should be school, but having a job will teach you things that school never can.

You’ll learn responsibility, balancing a schedule, punctuality, and more. Getting a job will also bring in cash that you can use to help pay for school, because we all know how much money Mom and Dad are pouring into you. You might as well chip in.


4.)   Improve your credit score. A credit score is a mysterious concept for some. It may fall miserably low for seemingly silly reasons. Some don’t even know what their credit score is or how to get it. A credit score is simply a quantitative way for employers, banks, credit card companies, etc. to find out how financially responsible you are.

This number can be raised or lowered according to your expenditures and payments. Missing a payment on a credit card can drop your credit score, but so can traffic violations like speeding. Why? Credit companies spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on behavioral research to predict patterns in spending, and from that they determine how  the credit holder is likely to behave.

Speeding tickets show recklessness and consequently decrease your credit score and can affect how much credit you get or if you even get credit. Employers similarly use this to determine your responsibility and reliability. Make sure to check your credit report several times a year and stay in touch with your card provider.

Remember these tips and you’ll be on a path to success. Make sure to utilize all the campus career and tutoring resources as well this coming semester.

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