If you have ever grumbled, “I am never going to find a job that uses my education,” you are not alone. Forbes recently reported that half of recent graduates are either underemployed or not using their college degree at all. Meanwhile, employers are skeptical of whether recent graduates are adequately prepared for workplace success. According to a recent survey conducted by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, less than two in five employers rate recent graduates as “well prepared” with the skills and knowledge most important to workplace success, and “fewer than three in 10 employers think that recent college graduates are well prepared.”
This means that many graduates seeking their first “real” jobs are finding it nearly impossible even to get an interview. And, let’s face it, the competition is stiff. On average, 250 resumes are received for every corporate job opening, and 427,000 resumes are posted on Monster every week.
Yet the pressure to find an ideal job is increasing. Monster found that recent graduates “have been told by their parents, teachers, and mentors that they should do what they love, so they expect to find their dream job right out of college.” When graduates fail to find those dream jobs – or even get to interview for them – they begin to blame themselves. And their thoughts turn even bleaker when they consider the costs to obtain their education.
We have spoken to and counseled hundreds of graduates who have had these exact same thoughts. In our roles on recruiting and compensation committees, and in mentoring women, we have reviewed thousands of candidates and their CVs and resumes. The good news is that there are some simple ways to significantly increase the chances of landing interviews and finding a great first job. Our primary focus in what follows is to provide you with the best advice we can to maximize your chances of getting an interview.
- Know What Your Prospective Employer Is Seeking
First and foremost, you must know what an employer is looking for and tailor your application appropriately. Clear your mind of the thought that you can send 50 identical resumes and 50 cloned cover pages to 50 different employers, expecting positive results. If the submission process is painful and tedious, you are probably doing it correctly. To increase your success, start with a small number of positions that seem particularly appropriate for your education and experience.
First, before doing anything else, determine whether the position requires a curriculum vitae (“CV”) or a resume. The job listing will rarely tell you. But here are the differences and each is appropriate in different situations:
- CVs are appropriate when the position requires academic research, teaching, or publishing experience, or when there are post-doctoral responsibilities. CVs are also appropriate for grant positions, fellowships, and many alternative positions in colleges and universities. Finally, international positions typically require a CV.
- CVs are typically several pages long, and contain a detailed overview of academic credentials and accomplishments. If you are published or have contributed to any research, this should be included.
- Resumes, in contrast, are appropriate for most positions outside of academia.
- Resumes are concise, and should not exceed two pages. In many cases, one page is preferred.
- Resumes ideally provide a summary of relevant skills, education, and experience tailored to the job you are applying for.
Second, carefully review the qualifications for the position you are applying and make sure they are addressed in your CV or resume. Many job applications now pass through an “application tracking system,” which robotically searches for key words that align with the position listed. If the job listing uses certain keywords, make sure they also appear in your submission. For example, if the position emphasizes the importance of “proficiency in Microsoft Word,” your resume should reflect those words.
Third, make yourself familiar with the organization and what it does. Read headlines; know its products and finances; learn about the division you would be joining. You will want to use this information in your cover letter, as we discuss below.
- Identify Your Skills
Aside from the qualifications you list that the prospective employer is seeking, identify your unique skills and qualifications that distinguish you from the 250 other likely applicants. Keep in mind that teaching, research, and unique experiences are all valuable unpaid responsibilities. Think broadly about what you have accomplished and what you have done – travel, challenging sport or adventure experiences, or intense charitable commitment – that sets you apart and makes you particularly valuable to this employer. Employers value applicants with a great variety of skills, and one of the most valuable things you can do to land that first job is to confidently articulate your many skills and relate them to the organization’s operations.
As a point of reference, consider the following skills that, according to Forbes, top the list of what employers seek from recent graduates:
- Ability to work in a team structure
- Ability to make decisions and solve problems
- Ability to communicate verbally with people inside and outside an organization
- Ability to plan, organize and prioritize work
- Ability to obtain and process information
- Ability to analyze quantitative data
- Technical knowledge related to the job
- Proficiency with computer software programs
- Ability to create and/or edit written reports
- Ability to sell and influence others
To identify your relevant skills, we recommend a three-step process. First, focus on an activity that you have previously performed – whether in a job, hobby, or volunteer position – and that was both challenging and instructive. Second, list the skills you had to employ to perform it and those you acquired as a result of it. And third, list the task at which you are now highly competent as a result.
Ask yourself questions like “what did I do?” and “how did I do it?” “What were the results,” and “why did I do it that way?” For example, an activity that you performed might be “led a hands-on science class.” When asking yourself what did you do, or how did you do it, you might identify such tasks as “teaching basic science concepts to 3rd and 4thgrade elementary school students,” and “guiding 10 students through the skills necessary for a scholastic aptitude test.” Skills developed might include, “preparing a lesson plan” and “teaching basic concepts of the refraction of light at an appropriate age level.” At this point, your priority is to think about – and make a list of – everything you have learned during your various activities, and what might be attractive to a potential employer. Importantly, present your activities with the most recent and most relevant at the top of your resume.
- Write a Description of Your Skills
Make sure your skills are effectively communicated to a potential employer with “winning” bullet points. We suggest writing each bullet point with a formula that succinctly – and specifically – describes the assets you bring to the job. The formula can vary as follows:
1.) VERB + WHAT YOU DID + WHY (context), or
2.) VERB + WHAT YOU DID + WHAT YOU ACHIEVED (outcome)
Using the examples from above, you might prepare bullet points like the following:
- Led hands-on science lessons in basic concepts for 3rd and 4th graders at a local Chicago elementary school.
- Established lesson plans that provided 9th and 10th graders with guidance and skills needed to excel on scholastic aptitude test.
Avoid vague verbs, such as “assisted” or “helped.” Things you should include are specific details and employer-appropriate jargon. Translate your knowledge into skills that an employer will value.
- Structure Your Resume for the Specific Opportunity
Dozens of categories can be included in both CVs and resumes, including:
- Contact information
- Summary / Profile / Objective
- Education
- Skills
- Research
- Teaching
- Publications / Presentations / Patents
- Leadership
- Community Outreach
- Honors / Awards
- Professional Memberships
A resume should never include everything. You should maintain a “master” resume that includes the majority, if not all, of these categories. But for each job application, your resume should be tailored and trimmed to fit the specific opportunity.
Your resume should always include the following:
- Action verbs
- Quantified and detailed achievements
- Appropriate technical language for the job description
- Information about the most relevant activities
- Additional information about you that may relate to the opportunity
Your resume should never include:
- Inappropriate personal information or a picture of yourself
- Exaggerations, boasts, or unsupported claims about abilities or accomplishments
- Acronyms
- References
- A copy of the job description itself
- You Need a Strong and Personalized Cover Letter
We consider a personalized cover letter a must, and it should be carefully personalized for each appilcation. Consider this: a cover letter is to a job application as a tour guide is to a visit to a new city – it orients, focuses, and limits your reviewers’ focus on the essential and salient. In each cover letter, you should highlight the parts of your experiences that are relevant to the organization to which you are applying. Take the time to learn everything you can about the position, department, and organization to which you are applying. There is no such thing as a job candidate that knew too much about a company.
A strong cover letter has three important components:
- A clear identification of the skills and experiences that make you a good fit
- Evidence of those skills in action
- An explicit connection between you – personality type, work ethic, and interpersonal styles – and the job.
Some of the most common cover letter mistakes include:
- Failing to tailor the letter to the specific job
- Claiming skills, but not providing evidence
- Listing items on the resume without adding depth to them
- Writing about what you can gain instead of what you can offer
- Making the employer connect the dots between your experience and the job requirements.
As you read the job description and write the cover letter, some questions you can ask yourself include:
- How does my experience prepare me for the duties described?
- What are two to four examples I can provide that demonstrate I have the skills for this position?
- How do my experiences prepare me to work at this particular organization?
- Proofread, Proofread, and Proofread Again
Never send anything that you haven’t reviewed several times and asked someone else to review. Send your resumes and cover letters to friends and family for comments. Visit the career center in your school. Don’t lose an incredible opportunity because of a typo. Your potential employer’s first impression of you, as well as your reputation for attention to detail, is riding on your ability to present a perfect resume and cover letter.
- Set Appropriate Expectations
Don’t set your expectations at levels beyond possibility. Carefully consider the job requirements for each opportunity, and treat every opportunity as a potential step to another opportunity. We would never suggest that you “settle” for a job, but we also believe an opportunity should not be rejected simply because it isn’t the ideal job or salary you hoped would be offered. Carly Fiorina, for example, rose from a secretary to the CEO of Hewlett-Packard. Remember that no matter what the job, if you approach it with the proper mindset, you will undoubtedly walk away with greater knowledge and assets that can translate to future positions.
Following these techniques will increase your chances of landing your first “real” job. You can read more about our career-counseling advice at www.andieandal.com.
Author Bios:
Andrea S. Kramer (“Andie”) and Alton B. Harris (“Al”) are married and former law partners. They are accomplished experts in their respective fields of law and are adjunct professors at Northwestern University School of Law. Andie and Al have both served in senior management positions and have in-depth experience with all aspects of personnel management including recruiting, hiring and firing, individual and team supervision, compensation, and promotion. For more than 30 years they have worked to promote gender equality in the workplace, mentoring literally thousands of women, and serving as sounding boards for each other’s ideas. They have jointly written more than 30 professional and gender related articles and book chapters, collaborated in presenting many workshops, and spoken together to a variety of business groups. Andie and Al live in Chicago. They have a daughter in medical school, three rescue dogs, and four rescue cats. Learn more at www.andieandal.com