“Tell me about yourself.”
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
“Explain a situation where others have relied on you. How did you come through? What did you learn about yourself?”
The classic job interview. The time where you must pretend like you have the rest of your life planned out. We have all been on the receiving end of these questions, palms sweaty and words jumbled. Unsure of whether what you just said was a red flag that could lose you an offer.
Interviewing can be stressful, especially when you are thinking about the impact on the rest of your life. However, it doesn’t have to be as nerve-wracking as we all tend to make it. All we have to do is prepare. After all, as Ben Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare – you are preparing to fail.” Here are a few easy things you can do to get ready for a career after college.
Attend Career Fairs
Most colleges put on career events that will attract many different local businesses from the area into one location. Even if you don't find your dream job at one of these career fairs, you are still getting out and understanding what it will be like to talk to potential employers in the future. Get out of your comfort zone. Dress up, talk to strangers about yourself, and start to figure out where you might want to fit within a company. Getting comfortable in your own skin is a task in itself when going through the interview process. The more career fairs and employers you talk to ... the more comfortable you will be when the real opportunity shows itself.
Be Yourself
Being the right fit for a company is one thing, but remember, you aren’t the only one they are talking to. Having proof as collateral and a way for them to remember who you are is something that will set you apart from other applicants. If you are looking for a job that requires visual work of some sort, websites and online portfolios let you put everything you have worked on in the past into one simple URL. This not only keeps a job interview productive, but also gives multiple employers the opportunity to check out your portfolio at one time.
Make Connections Now
The famous phrase, “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” still rings true. College is your time to access a wide variety of people of all ages. You have four years to build relationships and meet a ton of individuals that will likely be gunning for similar jobs as you down the road. These are your colleagues, peers, and competitors in the future. You never know what a connection in college might get you five years later. It might even land you your next career move.
The stress of not landing a job out of college is one that everyone goes through and worries about in the early stages of pursuing our careers. The good part is that we are all in the same boat. So, just keep working hard, have confidence that you will be of value to a company you are seeking, and be ready to show yourself off. You have worked several hard years to get to this point, now is the easy part. All we have to do is be ready.
