Search for Your 1st Job in today’s market

Whether you are a recent high school or college graduate, the challenge of finding your first professional job can be an ominous one. However, with a little planning, you can be on your way to your first job and starting your career.

The first thing you must do is put the process in perspective. Rather than looking at it as simply a “job search,” think of it as “career planning.” You are taking the first steps in beginning your career and your goal should be to land a position that takes you one step closer to achieving your career goals.

The next step should be to assess yourself. At this point, you should take inventory of your skills, knowledge, strengths, weaknesses, likes and dislikes. This will help you determine the direction you will take. With all of this self knowledge in hand, you should be able to pinpoint the types of jobs and industries that are a good fit for you. From here, you should research key companies, trends and issues pertaining to your area of focus so that you can develop a targeted approach to finding the right job.

At this point, you may feel that all of the heavy lifting is complete, however this is where the work really begins. Now that you have everything in place to begin your search, you must identify where you will go to uncover opportunities. A great way to begin your search is through networking. Make a list of all contacts that you have that could possibly help you and develop a timetable for contacting them. Also, attend professional, association, volunteer and civic meetings and events and talk with people who can help your cause.

Of course, you will want to examine the traditional methods for finding a job. Below are the places that you’ll want to visit:

1. Online – visit the web sites of key companies that you’d like to target, industry associations, online job posting boards and web sites for career placement firms.
2. Academic career resource centers – many high schools, colleges and universities have career resource centers that provide tools, resources and contacts for finding a post-graduation job.
3. Print job listings – newspaper job listings are usually the most reliable since they are printed on a regular basis. Industry newsletters and magazines also often post jobs, but realize that listings published in weekly or monthly publications are often out-of-date before they even make it to the public.
4. Career placement firms – there are many career placement firms that provide great opportunities for both degreed and non-degreed job seekers. The most credible ones are those that make their services available at no charge because they represent employers with open positions.