In this column, we’ve always stressed how important it is for college or university students to prepare early for the job market.
In this case, early means preparing while you are still in college, or better yet prepare even before your college or university years.
If you’re still wondering how best to prepare yourself for the job market after graduation, the following are some of the approaches you could adopt.
Understand that a degree alone won’t get you a job
This is more of an outlook or mind-set rather than an approach, but no less important for the job-searching graduate to remember. You must realise that your diploma or degree is not an instant pass to employment and at the most it should be seen as the minimum qualification towards getting that job you are eyeing.
Start talking about careers long before graduation
As we mentioned earlier, preparing early for your career is crucial. However, many of you may have picked your major without clearly understanding what jobs it will qualify you for once you’ve graduated. Unfortunately, this could result in frustration upon learning that your major doesn’t come with a clear career path or one that you’re interested in following.
Learn how to network
You may have heard that it’s crucial for you to network, as part of your job-search. Sadly, some of you will go about it without truly understanding what it means or how to actually do it. As a result, some new graduates don’t even bother to make any networking efforts at all, and worse, you may end up using strategies that turn off your contacts.
Learn how the job interview process works
As a fresh graduate, you may not have an idea of what to expect during the hiring process or the significance of each stage of this process. As a result, you may mistakenly assume the job is already yours when in fact it’s not.
Learn how to evaluate an employer
As a fresh graduate, you will be tempted to take the first job you can find; without asking any of your own questions to evaluate the employer’s financial stability, the work you’ll be doing, or the workplace culture. This should best be done before you even apply for the job.
This is a weekly column by SarawakYES! – an initiative driven by Faradale Media-M Sdn Bhd and supported by Angkatan Zaman Mansang (AZAM) Sarawak – to provide advice and stories on the topics of education and careers to support Sarawakians seeking to achieve their dreams. Join us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
This article first appeared on The Borneo Post, visit this link: http://bit.ly/2d9ZoDx
