Black Collegian Career Center

It's graduation day on the yard, and everything is just as you dreamed: The speaker is dynamic, your classmates are having a blast, family and friends look on with pride, everything seems so right. Well…except one thing: When they handed you your degree, they forgot to give you your job offer! Nobody told you that landing the job of your dreams was going to be so complicated; it never worked out like that on television or in the movies. It's time to wake up and step up to make your career connection after graduation!

Understanding the "Post Graduation Job Market"

Let's be realistic. The "post graduation job market" is a much different animal than the campus-recruitment scenario and process during the school year that was much more "student friendly." During this time between May and August, many of the competitive advantages you may have had while engaging employers on campus at job fairs and through campus recruitment interviewing are no longer in play. The new challenge is that you will compete against a much larger pool of candidates, including thousands of other graduates in your area, and other experienced job seekers also looking to make a career move during the popular summer job search season.

To accomplish your goal of connecting with a top employer, you will have to take your job-search game to a whole new level and move forward in designing and executing a job search strategy that will magnify your value and allow you to stand out in this vast post-graduation sea of candidates.

7 High-Impact Strategies to Make Your Connection This Summer

The following are high-impact job search strategies that will assist you if you are a serious job seeker. Warning…These strategies are not for the faint of heart, or those still trying to kick it with old friends after graduation. These strategies are only for those determined to make something happen!

1. Reflect and Refocus

Coming this far in your academic career and not having secured a job opportunity by graduation can be very frustrating, stressful, and even embarrassing. However, it's not time to go negative and hide your head under your pillow just yet. Take a moment to reflect on all the mountains you have already climbed and the challenges you have risen to during your college career. Also remember the family and friends who love and believe in you and the world that is waiting for you to step up and make a difference. As with other challenges in the past, if you remain positive, focus your energy and attention, and fully maximize all of your personal and professional resources, you will move forward and successfully connect with that great career which is your destiny.

Recommended approaches to help you reflect and refocus:

• Develop and maintain a positive mindset by reading positive career and professional-development motivational books and magazines. Also stay in touch with positive people, mentors, family, and other positive graduates involved in a job-search campaign. Spending too much time watching the latest judge television show, and playing video games can become distracting timewasters. Be careful.
• Eat right, exercise and get plenty of rest. Never underestimate the impact of your physical fitness level on your ability to be upbeat and to think with clarity, confidence, and to have the energy you will need throughout your search process and career.
• Plan for daily quiet time for positive reflection, prayer, or meditation. If your inner-man or woman is strong, the rest of your person often follows.

A positive mental outlook, physical strength, and daily reflection are excellent building blocks to keep you focused, competitive and confident during the weeks and possibly months to come. Remember that opportunity can come and pass you by quickly if you are not mentally, physically, or spiritually prepared to pursue it, capture it, and make your connection.

2. Schedule a Meeting with Your Career Center

Even if you have never been to the career center during your entire college career, it's time for you to do a little research and discover one of the greatest treasures for you in your job search. Find out where your career center is located, and immediately schedule a time with a career center staff member to review your interests, develop your resume, and discuss your individual job search strategy.

The competitive advantages of using your career center after graduation:

• Most career centers continue to receive current job listings during the summer from employers targeting recent graduates from your college or university.
• Career centers can assist you in identifying contact information on employers, alumni, and friends of the university that have a long-term relationship in recruiting or assisting students from your college or university.
• Most career centers provide excellent online resources to assist you 24/7 with job listings, job search information and other valuable career development resources. The career center website is especially valuable to graduates who are no longer able to physically visit the campus after graduation.
• Because college and university career centers are highly connected to a variety of employers, and network daily with employers and alumni, it is a good practice to check in with a staff member from time to time to explore new opportunities or share the status of your job search.

3. Manage Your Time to Maximize Opportunities

Most of you have heard this point many times before, but it is critical for you to effectively manage your time during your job search to maximize all of the relationships and opportunities you will encounter during this process.

Effective professionals often have one strong characteristic in common, They are excellent time managers, and move forward throughout their days with assertive precision and efficiency. Effective time management also includes the talent and confidence to utter the magic word "no" when requests, or weighty demands, that are not a priority try to steal time and hinder accomplishment of goals. Lastly, effectively managing your time will actually create more quality time for you to invest in your friends, family and in other activities.

Some recommendations to assist you in taking charge of your time:

• Get yourself organized by investing in a quality date-book, hand-held scheduling device, or other desktop scheduling software. These investments will assist you in managing your busy appointment and contact information.
• Remember the power of saying no! You cannot be all things to all people; it is important that you establish clear boundaries with needy friends and relatives, and others who make weighty demands on your time. Let them know that you still love them, but that it's important to you that you first handle your business.

4. Create a "Hot List" of 100 Contact Names

Eighty percent of all jobs are still found through personal networking. Even in the 21st Century where technology and complex human capital and recruitment strategies play a prominent role in the hiring process, hiring decisions are still made as a result of people hiring people they like, trust, and have a personal interest in seeing succeed.

Suggestions in developing and using your "Hot List":

• Design a list of all employers who have recruited on your campus this year through career fairs and on campus recruitment. Gather specific contact names and information of recruiters, if at all possible. This information can be accessed through your career center either online, or by contacting a staff member who should be able to assist you.
• Gather the names of alumni and friends of the university who have a history, commitment or known relationship with your institution, major, or field of interest. This information can be researched through public alumni network listings, research of speakers and panelists who have presented at the university, reviewing university department websites for information and contacts, and by attending professional or social events in the summer hosted by alumni groups.
• Complete your list with names of professional association contacts, fraternity or sorority contacts, community and church contacts, well networked members of your family, former college and high school contacts.
• Highlight names and employers on  your list who are associated with organizations that you know are actively hiring and have been identified on popular job search boards, local and national newspapers, community job fairs, or through word of mouth. This is an excellent strategy to turn "cold contacts" to "warm or hot contacts" and move beyond the often bureaucratic hiring process.

5. Develop a Professional Presentation to Market your Skills and Interest Effectively

After you have developed your "hot list" of contacts, design a brief presentation to assist you in professionally and confidently sharing your interests, background, and strategic value you would add to the organization. If necessary, practice your presentation with a trusted colleague, mentor, or a career center representative.

After calling a contact, listen carefully to the person's response to your presentation of the skills and potential value that you may bring to the organization. Be prepared to respond to any questions, write down referrals or follow-up requests of the contact. Some contacts may be excited and immediately open up and connect with you. Some may take a while to warm up to you before they are comfortable sharing internal information or contacts.

Remember people assist people they like and trust, and sometimes that relationship and trust may take time to establish.

Using your contact list effectively:

• Don't hesitate to let your contacts know you are still looking.
• Call up to 10 people a day to introduce yourself, share your college or university affiliation, any common networks, or personal or professional referrals to the contact. During the conversation share your interest in finding out more about the contact person's organization and any advice the contact person could offer in identifying or applying for opportunities within the organization.
• Remember every contact you make is as critical as an actual interview. During your conversations, all of your contacts will be listening for indicators as to your level of maturity, competence, and knowledge of the organization. So do your homework before making phone calls in order to put forth your best possible impression.
• If the conversation seems to be flowing well, and the timing seems appropriate, ask the contact for any specific information they are comfortable sharing. Excellent additional information that would be helpful to you are additional contacts in the organization involved in hiring.
• Follow-up all telephone calls with emails, thanking the contact person for their time and all general or specific assistance they may have provided you. Always send a copy of your resume, or any information or materials the contact may have requested in your conversation. You may also want to send a copy of an actual description of positions within their organization that were posted online or through a newspaper.

6. Strategically Leverage Job-Search Board Listings.

Using job-search boards can be a very effective and useful tool in the job search process. But remember thousands of other candidates are also applying for the same jobs opportunities you are, so manage your expectations accordingly by not relying only on job boards as your primary mode of locating and applying for job opportunities.

Ways to leverage the information on job-search boards:

• In addition to applying to job postings on popular job-search boards, actively follow-up with listings that are of particular interest by calling your career center or other contacts you are aware of that may know individuals or professionals who work in the organization.
• Apply for positions listed on campus based job boards such as Monster Trak and NACE Link. These have a better response rate than general mega boards due to the fact that most of the listings are directly posted with your school in an attempt to target your college or university.

7. Make a Personal Appearance Whenever Possible.

Instead of just hiding behind your computer, or becoming a pleasant voice over the telephone, whenever possible arrange to make personal connections with your contacts by meeting them in person. This strategy will help you in developing the relationship with the contact, by making a small but more personable connection with him or her.

• When appropriate ask to meet contacts for coffee or lunch.
• Dress professionally even if it will be a short or informal meeting. Remember every interaction with a potential employer or contact should be considered as a formal part of the hiring process.
• Going somewhere or getting out of the house can be very refreshing and even inspiring when visiting employers or organizations you aspire to work for in the future.

Some Final Points

Do your homework before every networking or interviewing session whether it is formal or informal. Research every organization thoroughly, by knowing the organization's mission and values, annual report highlights, corporate structure, product lines and services, relevant department operations, expectations and projected salary ranges of the positions you are interested in pursuing. Also if possible try to find out something about the person you are meeting with to make a more personable impression.

Research organizations and industries by using convenient online websites such as monster.com, vault.com, wetfeet.com, salary.com, black collegian.com and other fine websites designed to connect you with the information you will need in your job-search process. Often your career center will have a variety of excellent links on their website that you can use in your research of organizations and job-market trends that will make you
competitive.

Remain open minded by not eliminating potential employers without first doing your research. If the scope of your targeted employers is too narrow, you may be unintentionally eliminating many quality opportunities from organizations that would see you as an excellent job candidate. Be open and entertain diverse possibilities. You may be surprised by the excellent opportunities you may uncover in doing so.

Lastly, keep a confident and positive attitude. People hire people who are positive, confident, and personable. Remember it's your time to take this job market by storm. You're good, and it's time to step up and show that to the world through your professionalism, commitment, and resilience. It's only a matter of time before you will be back on the yard telling your classmates, current students, and beloved faculty, how you rose to the occasion and made your mark on the world…after graduation.

Kim R. Wells is the Director of Career Services at Howard University and an experienced strategic communications and human-capital consultant.