Advice for College Seniors on the Job-Hunt

Holly Trippett is the Public Relations Intern at Citizen Schools and is a senior at Emerson College studying Marketing Communications.

I’m often asked, “What are you going to do next year?”. As a college senior, I’m supposed to know (or at least have an idea of) where I am going to be and what I am going to be doing the day after I graduate. I see my peers and friends stressing out about this question and asking themselves the same thing over and over again, hoping the repetition will bring them an answer. But the truth is that few of us know the answer. Ask your parents or any college graduate for that matter, and I doubt that they could fully answer that question.

I have ideas of where I will be and what I would like to do, but what it ultimately comes down to is, “how am I going to get there?”  I have an internship in the field I want to enter, but is that enough? With the small number of job openings in the market, I wonder if there will be anything for me by next May. Perhaps it is just my demeanor or positive outlook, but I am not worried. As my graduation date slowly approaches I am trying to keep a few things in mind to make sure I’m setting myself up to get to where I want to be after graduation.

Here are some things to consider:

-Is your resume up to date?

-Do you have a LinkedIn page?

-Have you worked in the field that you hope to enter as an intern? – If not, try finding an internship or meeting with someone in the field you want to be in. Internships are a great way to find out if your interests really lie in what you are majoring in.

-Do you have people lined up for letters of recommendation?

If you have any advice for college seniors or would like to share your own experience looking for jobs, please leave your thoughts in the comments section!