Common Job Search Mistakes New College Grads Make

There’s a lot of pressure to get a job once you’ve graduated from college, and in many ways this feat is actually a lot harder than making the transition into college from high school. For one, there’s not a huge amount of guidance that you’re going to get from your parents and school counselors on the matter. And for two, a lot of students are burned out on their major before they’ve even graduated. You may not be able to do anything now if you feel that you chose the wrong major, but there are some common pitfalls you can avoid. Here is a list of some common job search mistakes new college grads make.

Not Expanding the Search

If you’ve only lived in your home town and in the city where you went to college, then you may only be looking for jobs in one or both of those cities. There’s nothing wrong with feeling like you might want to stay in either one, but if you don’t even look at what kinds of jobs are out there for you in the rest of the world, then you may be missing out on some amazing opportunities. Also, you don’t necessarily need to look for jobs that are directly related to your major. You might want to get creative and see if having a bachelor’s degree alone will be enough to get a high paying job in the field that you want to work.

Not Asking for References

When you have tons of other graduates you’re competing against for jobs, you want to make sure that you can stand out in every way possible. This means that you are going to want to talk to your professors and see if any of them know of any good jobs that you would be suited for. Whether or not they do know of any jobs, if you have maintained a good rapport with them, you should definitely ask for a strong reference or letter of recommendation. You should always be maintaining good relationships with a few key professors, because it will definitely come to your advantage in life.

Not Aiming High Enough

With all the stress to simply find employment, a lot of college grads end up taking the first job that is offered to them. Oftentimes, they’ll even take jobs that don’t even require a bachelor’s degree. You may be feeling a lot of pressure to get out there and start making money, but if you’re going to start paying back your student loans, you’re going to need to find a high earning job with opportunity for growth.

Expecting Too Much

As much as you do want to set your sights high, you also want to be realistic. Just because you earned your degree at University of Cincinnati, it doesn’t mean that you will find a senior position with a fortune 500 business. Whether or not you’re actually qualified is irrelevant. The point is that you will still have to pay plenty of dues once you graduate.