College Graduate Ready To Start New Job
Posted in Career Education
There used to be a time when all you needed was a college degree and you were "set for life". You just had to graduate from your chosen course and get your diploma and you were all set. You didn't have to take anything else with you except the fact that you finished your years in college and are now a member of the potential list of candidates for an entry-level job.
However, those days are long gone. A new era of headhunting has dawned on the jobless and the newly-grads. It seems that companies nowadays are looking for something extra whenever they are looking for someone to add to their company's list of employees.
The competition today has become increasingly rigorous. There are people who have already graduated from their respective fields but have yet to find a job. It is often quoted it takes more than just being a graduate. During these times, you seriously need to defend yourself when you're being interviewed by the company's HR department in the sense that you need to offer them more than just a piece of paper saying that you've graduated from a particular university.
You need to show companies that you are experienced in working when it comes to the real world. And to answer that passing thought, no, waiting on tables is not part of the description that they're looking for.
If you're a chemistry major, companies will expect you to have applied whatever it is you have studied even before you're going to start working with a particular division in that company. Even if the company will take its time to train you under their wing, you might want to make yourself more attractive to the company by simply stating that you won't be a problem because you've had ample firsthand experience in this particular field.
You might want to give yourself a significant edge over the competition by participating in volunteer work that is directly related to your field of study. Although companies will see to it that you will have a smooth transition during your first few months, nothing will say "Hire me!" better than a candidate who's "been there, done that". Experience is a definite plus for any candidate so be sure that you have enough relevant history under your sleeve.
Another thing you need to consider is the technical skills that is expected of graduates today. If you're a psychology major graduate and you're applying for an HR position in a prestigious firm, they're not expecting you to be able to setup your computer's network settings all by yourself and configure it with the corporation's database. But they will expect you to know how to work spreadsheets for the management of human resource reports and other basic computer applications like Microsoft Powerpoint for presenting your monthly forecasts and what have you.
The new breed of candidates have the skills presented in this article with other being more proficient than others. At the end of the interview, the question that begs to be answered is "Why should we hire you?" How you answer is up to you.
