Although university or college can equip you with a degree that can automatically open doors to you as soon as employers see your resume, this is not always enough to help you to find a graduate job or a position that you are happy with. This is especially the case in 2021 when there are a lack of jobs and employment drives due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic has also made it difficult for graduates to get the experience that they need to secure a job. Then, if you are struggling to find opportunities now you have left university, here are some of the top tips that recent graduates may need to succeed.

Return to Academia

Although you might have been relieved to finish your final exam, if you are struggling to find jobs in the middle of the current climate, you should think about making a triumphant return to the world of academia. The more qualifications you have, the more jobs will be available to you.

When you are thinking about returning to academia, you might consider specializing in a certain subject and narrowing in on your career dreams. Although you might believe that specializing in a certain industry is a bad idea, with many graduates planning to keep their options open at first, specializing can have the opposite effect and can allow you to get plenty more in-demand jobs. This is because the more you specialize, the less competition you will have for certain roles.

However, you might be reluctant to return to academia for a Master’s qualification amid COVID-19, especially if you are planning to study abroad for a while. Then, rather than allow the pandemic to set you back for a few years, you should consider taking an online degree. For instance, at Texas Woman’s University, obtaining a Texas Womans University’s Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner can help you to achieve the qualifications that you need to specialize in nursing while never having to attend campus. Online degrees and higher education programs will allow you to access ample resources, including lectures, on an online portal. You will also still be able to contact a professor whenever you need to. You can even discuss the topics that you are learning about with other classmates by using digital forums, which can help you to cultivate your ideas. Then, taking an online course can allow you to gain real-life insight into your industry that you can apply to practical situations in the future, all without returning to campus.

Apply for an Internship or Graduate Scheme

Suppose you are not ready to go straight into a basic job after university or college or believe that you need a bit more experience before you do so. In that case, you should consider applying for an internship or graduate scheme. You may even be able to complete internships halfway through the course of your study at the university or college of your choice.

Graduate courses and internships combine a lot of learning and training with real-world experience of the industry that you are planning to go into. These will allow you to see the inner operations of your industry and the types of roles that are available. You will also be able to hone skills that employers will specifically desire in the industry that you have decided to build a career in. Internships can go on for anywhere between a month and a year, while graduate schemes usually last for a year.

Not only will you learn a lot from these programs, but many employers also create graduate schemes and internships with the goal of hiring individuals from these at a later date. This means that if you apply for a graduate scheme with a company that you are interested in working for, you may be able to get a permanent role without having to return to the job market. However, employers will only decide to take you on long term if you show that you are capable and if you put your best into the work that you produce while you are with them.

Find Experience

There are many other informal ways to get experience, though. One of the top ways that you can do this is by volunteering. Volunteering can be a great option as it can allow you to get experience in roles that you would not be chosen for in your industry yet and give you leadership practice. Volunteering can also look great on your resume as it can show dedication and can allow you to exemplify that you have interests outside of the workplace. You should also consider looking around for one-off projects that you can take part in.

Speak to a Career Advisor

Although you might want to reach success without any external help, no one can achieve their career goals completely by themselves. Then, you should consider speaking to a career advisor. They will be able to help you to find a job position or career choice that you are interested in and will also be able to give you guidance when you are creating a career plan. Not only this, but many career advisors will also be happy to read over your resume to check whether it is attractive to employers. Career advisors are also an excellent option as they often have direct connections with many different companies and can help to tell you of any currently open positions.

Many universities and colleges also have career advisors who you can speak to for several years after you leave college. These advisors often have a lot of information about the companies that past graduates have worked for and will be able to recommend certain employers to you. Each college might also send graduates directly to certain employers.

Create a Personal Website or Blog

Although you might believe that creating a personal website will be insignificant to your ability to get on the first rung of your career ladder, this is not the case. This is just one of the many ways that technology can help you succeed in your career when you are starting out. Creating a personal website can help you to start to build up your online presence and can ensure that employers can find you online. Not only this, but you can include a link to your personal website on job applications or when you are directly approaching potential employers online.

Your personal website should contain information about you and your experience, as well as the university course that you have completed. This website should also showcase your expertise. You can either do this through a blog, where you can discuss different industry news and subjects, or you can do this by creating a digital portfolio that is full of examples of your work. This portfolio can then help employers envision what you could potentially do for their company and what skills can you bring to the table.

The only caveat is that you need to make this personal website or blog look professional. You can do this by using a website builder such as WordPress, which offers a selection of pre-created themes for you to use. This can then allow you to set up your website with a few clicks of a button.

Use Job Websites

Opportunities will not come to you, though, and if you want to see what opportunities are out there and take advantage of them, you should consider starting to use job websites as soon as possible. Job websites can make it easy to see available opportunities by allowing you to set your search by location and to filter openings by industry. This can then allow you to view only the opportunities that are relevant to you.

Some universities and colleges even have their own job websites. These can be the best option in terms of job websites as they are specifically tailored to graduates. This means that you can find a variety of job openings that may not appear on other websites or which might be obscured by many other jobs that you are not interested in.

Create a Great Resume

However, you will not be able to harness these job opportunities unless you can build a great resume which employers will love. Your resume should include details about your education, experience, and a summary of why you are interested in the job in question, and you should update this document regularly to reflect your most recent experience. To create a great resume, you should consider using a resume writing template, of which there are many online. This will help you to get the standard form of resumes and ensure that yours looks as professional as possible. You might also consider looking for examples of real resumes online.

Get on Social Media

As soon as you leave university, you should also use the internet to your advantage by turning your personal social media account into an industry-focused one or by creating a separate account to use for your career. Getting on social media will allow you to interact directly with the experts in your industry and can allow you to build a following that can help you to attract the notice of potential employers. You can also use this platform to share your blog posts and personal website and to give employers an idea of your experience and your knowledge of the industry through your posts.

Make Professional Connections

The best way to open opportunities as soon as you leave university without applying for endless job openings is to make as many professional connections as possible. Many universities and college have their own professional and alumni groups that you can tap into as needed as soon as you leave campus. If not, you can make professional connections by attending networking events and joining networking groups. However, if you would prefer to do this online, you should look for the many digital networking groups that are now available for professionals to join. These usually offer virtual events, such as talks and conferences, as well as forums, that can allow you to make important connections without leaving your home.

Professional connections are vital because they can help you to find out about what is going on in your industry and about any available job openings. Professional connections may also help you to find a mentor. Mentors can be important for helping you to find opportunities as they can give you insight as to the next steps that you need to take to reach your career goals, as well as helping you to overcome any challenges that you come across throughout your first years in your industry.

Keep in Touch with Classmates

Although you might be pleased to see the back of some of your classmates, you should make sure that you keep in touch with the majority of them when you leave university. The connections that you make while you are in education are just as important as the qualification itself. All of your classmates will now be working within the same industry as you, as this can allow you to monitor the steps that they take to succeed and hear about industry news and job opportunities. It can also be advantageous to keep track of them as they will often be spread around the country, with people coming to university from all different parts of the world. This means that you will have valued relationships with people in your industry on a nationwide, or even a global, scale. Not only this, but if they know about you and what you want to do as a career, they may even be able to recommend you for certain positions or help you to achieve your goals.

Keeping in touch with your classmates can be as simple as simply adding them to your social media accounts, especially your business pages, and this can help you to passively stay in the loop at all times.