Well, every working professional in any industry has overcome this stage breaking through their first job, and it is obvious that you, too, will be able to do so by complying with a few things, mentioned below.
The prime key to job hunt is having patience. While it may look frustrating and agitating to have all your job applications in the rejected box, one needs to be enduring and optimistic during the job search. Breaking through your first job requires lots of patience, the courage to overcome rejections, and a strong determination. When your career foundation is made up with such mettle, your career path will rise high.
Here are few tips that will help you break through your first job, without an actual work experience:
SKILLS
Hands down, your skills are the prime factor in determining your breakthrough in the job market. No one is born equipped with a set of skills. Constantly identifying, analyzing and reinforcing your skills are very important. While you fume about not bagging a job due to lack of experience, you need to assess yourself and know that you might possess important soft skills even without any job experience. Your group discussions, team presentation, and research projects during your college time are indispensable when it comes to landing a job. Recognizing and perpetually polishing your skills serve as a counterweight to your lack of experience. Furthermore, with the booming Internet access across households, numerous free resources—eBooks, podcasts, how–to videos—also serves as a filler that compensates the competency "lacking" in you.
NETWORK AND FOLLOW UP
"We don't get jobs because we don't have the 'source force'—we don't know anyone in the organization" is a common thing we hear from people looking for jobs. These allegations of nepotism are true to some extent, but do we fold our hands and not take any step? NO! What do we do when we don't have the network? We build them!
Networking here implies to two important aspects—reconnecting with old networks and building new ones as well. Attending professional events, workshops, seminars are great places to spread your network branches. Take an example of "Last Thursdays with an Entrepreneur" for example. It is a free networking event, where an established entrepreneur is invited to speak to a mass of students, entrepreneurs, investors, and potential employees. Establishing your networks with such mass might help you to schedule your next interview appointment. Also, do not forget to constantly follow up with your networks.
INTERNSHIP AND VOLUNTEER
On the first job, you should aim at learning rather than earning. Internship and volunteering opportunities are the best ways to keep yourself engaged somewhere, while also keeping your skills fresh and updated. Both internship and volunteering will help you get exposed to an actual working environment, office culture and gain work experience. This valuable experience will give you an upper hand in your job hunt and make you stand out from the rest of the fresh graduates.
ONLINE PRESENCE
Taking advantage of modern day technology and showing your presence online always come handy in your job search. However, make sure your personal brand reflects on your online presence. Your Facebook posts and tweets are also being assessed by recruiters today. Blogging is also a platform to exhibit your works, and can help you get in the spotlight in the eyes of your potentials employers. Recruiters are using social media—not just LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook, but also Quora and GitHub—to get sense of your learning abilities, your interest areas and the insights you share on these media. Building a professional and strong online presence reflects your personal brand, which can make or break your first breakthrough job opportunity.
All the best for your first work experience!
The author is management consultant at Jobs Dynamics Pvt. Ltd., an organization driven towards providing the widest range of job solutions to people looking for work in Nepal. He can be reached at rprayas@gmail.com.
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