While there was a period of job creation, the unemployment rate of new graduates and students rose in the past month, and this comes as no surprise to most people. It’s always been a bit of a catch 22 in most fields; you get a degree but nobody will hire you without experience. You can’t get experience unless somebody hires you.

I spent a lot of time fretting about this in my first and second year of college; I had to work, but was stuck in a retail job instead of working at something that would enhance my resume because I didn’t have enough experience for anybody to take me seriously.

Here are some tips for new grads (and students graduating soon) around how to get a job after graduation.

Volunteer

You know what drives me mad? People that say “volunteer in anything!” No. Don’t. That’s a waste of your time if you are looking for work experience (though I would strongly encourage you to volunteer in this way to give back to the community).

A recruiter looking at your resume for a position in IT isn’t going to think “Oh, great. Jane walked dogs for the SPCA. That gives her the skills necessary for reprogramming XYZ”. The recruiter might think of you as a better person, but the bottom line is, your resume will be going straight to the shredder if walking poochies once a week is your idea of volunteering for experience.

Instead of volunteering in something unrelated, contact not-for-profit societies (there are probably a ton of them in your area) and offer up help that directly relates to your education. So, maybe you are a web designer and the XYZ Dog Rescue Society has a terribly designed website. Volunteer your services for free.

It will help build your portfolio, and your resume, and at the end of the day, nobody has to know it was a volunteer position.

Intern

Movies and tv shows portray interns as the lackies that run back and forth from the coffee shop to the photocopier, but that’s not real life so you can just push that out of your head.

If you can find an organization to take you on as an intern in your field – and there should be tons of them, because who doesn’t want free labour? – that’s really great experience.

There are many paid internships out there too, but even if they weren’t paid, try to find a way to do them. They can help land you a job after your done your term.

As far as finding an internship, you can find some tips at this other post I wrote.

Take a Temporary Gig

There are a lot of temporary gigs out there to be had. Many more experienced professionals have no interest in taking them, but as a new grad, it will give you experience and help build your skills.

You can find temp work on any job board, and it’s usually term specific. Sometimes it’s there for the duration of a project, or sometimes the incumbent is going on a leave of absence and they need somebody to fill the role.

Do Something You Don’t Want to Do

As a newbie in your field, you should push aside your pride and entitlement issues, bite the bullet, and do the things you need to do to gain extra experience for your resume.

One thing that jumps to mind is commuting.

If you have an opportunity an hour drive from your house, take it. Because at the end of the day, no job is ever going to be perfect and the chances are that your willingness to go the extra mile (literally) will put you in a favorable light to any potential employers.

I once had an internship that took me 75 minutes each way to drive to it. After my internship, I was able to score a real job in the company, and don’t have to commute for that long anymore.

Ask The Company You Currently Work For

Especially for those new business grads, the company for which you currently work may have some opportunities that may help you build your portfolio. They won’t know that you’re looking until you say so, and especially if you offer to help the department you are interested in with something aside from your normal work time, they’ll usually let you (as long as you are a good employee).

Brand Yourself

In school, (almost) everyone does projects that can be considered experience. Make sure to recognize that and market yourself to show that. Put those skills that you learned in school that are directly related to your field on your resume.

Make business cards with your name, photo, and contact information on it so that people can remember you.

Make sure you have a LinkedIn account or other professional networking method. Start a blog on the topic in your field; put yourself out there and make yourself known.

Putting yourself out there is sometimes hard, especially if you lack confidence because you don’t have experience. But while it may seem impossible to get a job after graduation, it’s not.

If you recently graduated, how did you find your job? What were the crucial steps you took?

Tips for New Grads on Getting a Job is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

I’m lucky to have had all of the experience at such a young age, because it has shaped me into the professional I am now and has challenged me and helped me learn new skills.

The diversity in the roles I’ve held so far has also given me exposure to various branches of my field, which has aided in making the best possible decision as to the direction I want my career to go.

These are all the benefits of working for many different companies in different roles. Another huge benefit to this is adaptability and having to start off on the right foot over and over again.

I fancy myself an expert at transitioning now.

You won’t work well with everyone

I was lucky in my jobs previous jobs, but my first challenged me to cope in ways I didn’t know I was capable of.

Some people have different working styles than you. Some people won’t like you. Some people will be jealous, or competitive, or feel threatened. And some people will write you off as the newbie and take that as an opportunity to take advantage of you. Try to be the bigger person and move past it. Remember that this is not the norm and use this as a learning opportunity to build the skills to deal with challenging people.

Proofread emails. And then proofread them again.

Especially as the newbie in the office, you don’t want to be sending out messages that are less than perfect.

My first mega indiscretion during my first internship was sending out a mass email to executives, managers, and supervisors without having somebody else look at it. I had proofread it several times, but having a second set of eyes for extremely important emails is infinitely helpful.

I didn’t confirm a date, and while that may seem minor, a coworker was a stickler for the details and had me email out a massive apology letter for not having proofread my email. It was embarrassing, and to this day I still try to get somebody to proof my emails if I am sending them to more than just my normal work group.

Write things down

I have a pretty good memory, and don’t usually need a pen and paper to remember a file path or a fact. But having a pen and paper and writing everything down is expected of you when you first start in an organization, and there are so many people that will think you’re incompetent if you don’t do this. So, even if you don’t feel like you need to write every fact down, do.

I’ve also had a few people demand I write things down and seem a little annoyed when I didn’t. I learned quickly to always bring a pen and pad of paper with me.

Ask for feedback

If you ask for feedback, your manager will be more willing to give it to you and you can build upon your performance from there.

It also shows that you care about your job and that you want to improve your performance. Book a half-hour meeting with your supervisor and ask what they think your strengths and weaknesses are, and be sure to ask how they think you can improve.

This shows initiative and also is extremely helpful to you.

Go for lunch with the team

In my first internship, I made excuses to get out of going for lunch with my department. They’d sometimes eat their lunches together in the boardroom, and I’d avoid that too. I felt like I didn’t know anyone and thought it would make me uncomfortable to have to eat with them.

The thing I didn’t really realize is that I wouldn’t get to know anyone if I didn’t make the effort, and I couldn’t very well be socializing on the job, so lunch time is the perfect opportunity.

It will definitely be a little uncomfortable for you at first, but after a couple of days you should be able to contribute to the conversation.

Would you add anything to this list? How would you start off on the right foot if you were new in your job or an intern?

Start Off On The Right Foot: Tips for Interns (Or Newbies in General) is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.

I learned many a lesson about myself, my work personality, and how to deal with others during my first internship. My second internship taught me that I was capable of doing good work and showed me a little more about my strengths and weaknesses. My third internship landed me my first job in my career path, before I’d even graduated.

I’m an advocate of internships, but they can be difficult to find. 

I found internships mainly through my school, but there are other places you can check.

Check Job Postings

This may seem obvious, but so many people don’t look at job postings for internship opportunities. Many companies are trying to recruit their first interns, or are smaller companies that don’t have an “in” with the larger schools, so they post internship opportunities on Craigslist, Kijiji, Monster, or their in-house job site.

While I was interning at my second company, my manager found an intern in place of an incumbent for a position they were trying to recruit for. They got skilled labour at a far lower cost, and the intern just spent some time on the job boards getting to know the needs of the organization before pitching herself to the manager.

Check Your School

Another way to find an internship is to  check your school’s internal job posting system.

Many career centers at schools will offer internships, apprenticeships and co-operative job opportunities. Many companies want new graduates or existing students as interns. Their education is current and up-to-date, they’re fresh, will work for free or cheap, and the companies are able to test them out before hiring them on full-time.

If you check your registrars office, they can usually show you where to go to find out about getting an internship or a job placement.

Put Some Elbow Grease Into It 

Here’s the thing – staff are expensive. If somebody knows that you have skill and will work for free just for the experience, they’ll be thrilled. If you can’t find an internship or any opportunity for one the ways previously mentioned, you’ll have to put some elbow.. or finger grease into it.

Does your career path have a professional association? Do you know anybody who has an “in” to a list of companies or professionals that may be looking? Email everyone you can think of. Be professional, but really pound the sand. I emailed 20+ companies offering my services and that wasn’t even skimming the surface. If you can even look on the job postings and offer your services for free – just to get to the companies. Tweet your offer. Get people to forward it. Just do it. It can’t hurt.

Internships are a great way to get your foot in the door. They not only give you some much needed experience – after all, experience trumps education – but they also can help you network. Since an alarmingly high percentage of jobs come from networking, you better believe that this is the best way to land your job after college.

It’s also really important to make your resume look professional – same with your cover letter! If your cover letter still says “to whom this may concern” you will need to revamp it

Where to Find Internships is a post from: When Life Gives You Lemons. Did you like the post? Follow me on Twitter, like me on Facebook, or hop on over to my blog and leave me your feedback.