Getting a Job With Your Degree - 5 Tips For New Grads

Getting into the workforce is tougher than ever, here are some tips to help.

There is no denying it, new college graduates are facing the toughest workforce since World War II, and many are struggling just to find any job, let alone one in their field. In fact, a recent study by American Express showed that 68 percent of new grads are either not working at all, or they are working outside of their chosen field. Almost half of them are relying on their parents to help them pay their bills.

Many new graduates have moved back home with their parents and have been looking desperately for work. Some of them have given up on the job market and have decided to go back to school to pursue a graduate degree, while others are still trying to find something in their industry.

If you are a recent college graduate, don't give up. Here are 5 tips that can help you break through:

• Have a good attitude - I know that many people will say this is unfair, but your personality counts more than your experience. When most employers are asked what traits they look for in new employees, they are much more likely to say that they want people who have a strong work ethics, great attitudes and strong communication skills. Work history, educational background and experience typically are much further down the list of must-haves.

• Polish your writing skills - Social media is great, but employers are really looking for strong communicators who have the ability to write more than 120 characters at a time. In fact, studies show that employers think that college grads today have inferior verbal and written communication skills and lack the ability to focus. Knowing this, you can stand out by demonstrating your strong communication skills.

• Network, network, network - Look for new ways to network, both inside your industry and among your peers. When you're looking for a job, many times it's more about who you know than what you know. Use social networking to your advantage and find discussion groups and blogs about your industry. Get involved and ask questions. Not only will you learn a lot, you will also get the chance to find out what is going on in your industry and even get leads on new jobs.

• Find out where the jobs are - Research the leading companies in your industry and see where they are hiring. You might have to move to a new city to land the job of your dreams.

• Don't be afraid of failing - Making mistakes can be great learning experiences and can even lead you toward new and different opportunities. Don't be afraid to take a chance and try something new. The most important thing is to keep a positive attitude and keep trying. When you fall down, admit your mistake and move on, but don't forget the lesson. All growth is good, and you have plenty of time to grow and learn.

What do you think about these tips? Do you think that new grads are struggling harder than previous generations? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog and Beyond.com, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

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• Job Juggling? The Changing Face Of America's Workforce (manhattanjobsblog.com)
• How to Survive Moving Back In With Your Parents (manhattanjobsblog.com)
• Grad School or Get a Job? The Pro's and Con's (educationjobsiteblog.com)
• The Many Ways That Recruiters Find New Talent (phillyjobsblog.com)

The Many Ways That Recruiters Find New Talent

One of the coolest things when you already have a job is getting a call, out of the blue, from a recruiter. It can be unsettling making you wonder where they got your contact information. The first time it happened to me, I got a little paranoid. See, I was actually looking for a new job, but I was keeping it under wraps until I had a job offer. I worried that maybe someone had given them my name, especially since they called me at work.

After it happened, I did a little research to find out how recruiters get leads. Of course, you could ask them where they got your name, but you would only get a generic answer about someone who wants to remain anonymous, but who thinks that you would be perfect for this job opportunity.

I don't think that most recruiters expect anyone to buy that line. Trust me, no matter what they say, this is most likely not what happened. Most people don't recommend their friends or co-workers to job recruiters; even on social networking sites like Linkedin. The reason is that referring peoples' names to recruiters tends to be risky and unless they are 100 percent certain that the person is actively seeking new employment, they don't want to step on any toes. Doing something that might offend a valuable contact serves no purpose, and there is no real pay off for them to refer you.

What I found out was that recruiters have great research skills. They are experts at finding the right group of candidates to present to an employer, which is why companies hire them. Here are a five ways that recruiters find you:

• You have applied to one of their job postings- Recruiters post on various job boards to advertise the positions they are looking to fill. What surprised me was that even after they have found the candidate for the position, they hold on to most of the remaining resumes to use when they have a different job opening to fill.
  
  
• Your name is in a recruitment database- Some agencies keep a database of resumes and even buy information from other recruiters. Buying and selling of leads is common business practice. Taken alongside number 1 on this list, the odds are good that you have sent a copy of your resume to a recruiter. Sometimes their information is out of date, but if they think you might be the right fit, they will try to find you using other methods.
  
  
• Social Networking- This is becoming one of the fastest ways to get found. Linkedin and other social networking sites make it easy for a recruiter to search for people in specific areas who have specific skill sets. Once they find you, it's just a click away to contact all of your coworkers and business associates. When you make your online profile, you are making your information fair game.
  
  
• Corporate websites- Recruiters often look at corporate websites to find employee lists. Often the websites contain a full list of all the employees in directory format. For those that don't, often specific employee names are listed in news articles about the company.
  
  
• Cold Calling- This is typically a last resort, but it is still done. Basically, this method involves cold calling a company and making up a story to get information about who is working in a certain position. Often a recruiter will try to chat up a receptionist or a low level employee asking a lot of questions. This takes a lot of time and often doesn't get anywhere, so it is less likely that a recruiter would go this route.

Recruiters have many ways to find talent to fill their job openings. Even if you don't want to change jobs, being recruited isn't always a bad thing. When you are working toward a promotion or a raise, letting it leak that you have been contacted by a recruiter might make your current employer a little nervous about losing you. That nervousness could even lead to being given a raise.

Of course, if you are unhappy with your current job, and want to be found by a recruiter, making yourself easy to find is a good start. A good recruiter works very hard to find the best talent, and also will work hard to get you the best employer as well.

Have you ever been contacted by a recruiter? Did you take the job? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog and Beyond.com, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Related articles

• 5 Ways to Make Your Resume a Winner (healthcarejobsiteblog.com)
• 5 Ways to Find The Job of Your Dreams (manufacturingworkersblog.com)
• Are They Even Reading My Resume? 5 Reasons Resumes End Up In The Trash (phillyjobsblog.com)

5 Marketing Tips You Can Learn From Lady Gaga

Image by ama_lia via Flickr

You can learn a lot from Lady Gaga's marketing machine



If you had the chance to watch Mtv's Video Music Awards, you probably saw Lady Gaga's marketing machine in action. During the pre-show, she was the number one trending topic on Twitter and everyone was trying to guess what she would be wearing or how she was going to make her entrance. After keeping everyone in suspense, she started the show dressed in drag. As Gaga's supposed boyfriend, she gave a monologue talking about how Lady Gaga only cares about image, how she just wants the spotlight. This built up energy that fed her rousing performance. Throughout the night, she never dropped character and even after the show, everyone was talking about her.



Whether you love her or hate her, there's no denying that she is a marketing machine. She has taken personal branding and social networking to the next level. If you are looking for a job or just trying to excel at the one you have, then you know how important it is to build a personal brand and a reputation that lets people know exactly who you are and what you're all about.



So, let's take a look and see what we can learn from her media machine:

• Be memorable - There isn't anyone who hasn't at least heard about Lady Gaga. They might just remember her crazy outfits or the time that she came to an award show in an egg, but either way, they remember her. Of course, I don't recommend doing something outlandish, but still, it's important to not be someone who is easy to forget. Look at what you do that is special and find a way to incorporate that into your personal brand.

• Be great at what you do - If you set aside all of the crazy outfits and theatrical performances, Lady Gaga still makes great music. Her fans love her for it and her dance tracks are so catchy that even people who don't like her can't help but hum along. She has sold millions of records and no matter who you are, you don't reach that level of success based on hype alone. At the end of the day, you have to be really good at what you do.

• Know your audience - Lady Gaga knows who her audience is and when she performs, she is singing to them. Not only does she target her audience but she is willing to stand up for her views even if it causes her to lose money. For example, as a major gay rights advocate she recently had a battle with Target about their support for organizations that lobby against gay rights. She told the department store that if they didn't commit to end the practice, she wouldn't allow them to sell her products in their stores.

• Build brand loyalty by giving back - Lady Gaga's fans love her. They watch her every move and are the first to tweet about what she is doing, blog about her and spread the word. While it's great that she has such a loyal fan base, in her case, the love goes both ways. Anytime you see her making a public appearnce, she always mentions her "little monsters". She even has Little Monsters tattooed on her arm to honor her fans.

• Leverage social media - Lady Gaga interacts with her fans daily through social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. She has over 10 million Twitter followers and 35 million Facebook fans. It isn't enough to just have a Twitter or a Facebook, you have to engage and connect with your target demographic.

It doesn't matter if you are a "Little Monster" or not, there are still many things you can learn from Lady Gaga. If you're lucky and follow these tips, maybe you can manage to capture just a tiny bit of the success she has.

What do you think about Lady Gaga? Do you think she is a marketing genius or just hype? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Related articles

• 5 Ways to Find The Job of Your Dreams (manufacturingworkersblog.com)
• Are Men Better At Social Networking? LinkedIn Says "Yes"! (phillyjobsblog.com)
• Should You Include Social Media Contact Info in Your Resume? (healthcarejobsiteblog.com)

How Did Your Day Go? A New Daily Journal Site Wants To Know

Microblogging has a new incarnation. Meet OhLife, the email based daily journal site.

Keeping track of your daily highs and lows is a great way to celebrate your successes and reminisce about good times in you life. Throughout history, people have kept diaries, and with all of the technology at our fingertips, keeping a daily journal is easier than ever. For some people, keeping track of their job search, their personal growth and even their relationship successes gives them a touchpoint for creating the story of their lives and can serve to be a reminder of what they have been through.

The problem is, it's so easy to forget to update a blog daily, and even a Twitter feed may not contain the things you really want to remember and you're limited to a specific number of characters. Not only that but any social networking site or blog isn't exactly private. To solve that problem, a new website OhLife has an innovative idea to keep people writing. The basic premise is that the site will email their subscribers daily, asking a simple question, “How did your day go?”. Users simply email their response to the question and it gets archived into the user's account. Eventually, people will have enough entries to order a book containing all of their journals.

Because the site was designed to be a place for private thoughts, there is no social component and you can't share your journals with Facebook, Twitter or any other social site. The idea, and the site for that matter, is pretty basic, but it seems to be an idea that could actually work. TechCrunch reported that 50% of people who answer the first email continue to post at least every other day. Speaking as someone who likes to start journals and forgets about them after a week, these numbers are surprising.

It seems like a great idea, but without the social component, it's hard to say if it will gain a very large fan base. But, keeping track of your thoughts while you cope with unemployment, an extended job search or any other stressful period in your life can keep your motivated and help you work through them. For example, when you can go back and see exactly what you were thinking when you decided to apply with a certain company, you can recall the excitement and carry that enthusiasm with you to the interview.

Whether you decide to microblog with a service like Twitter, keep a traditional blog or even a notebook or journal and a pen, keeping a diary can be a lot of fun. I think that just the simple process of spending a small amount of time each day to sort through your activities, hopes and how you feel about them can help you process them and keep your focus on your goals.

I would like to challenge everyone to keep a diary for a month, in whatever format you chose. I'm going try again, and maybe I'll stick to it this time.

Have you tried keeping a journal? Let me know in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for PhillyJobsBlog, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Dealing With Social Media Remorse - A New Syndrome For Our Era

I think every single one of us has, at one time or another, said something that we regretted. Maybe we said it to a friend of a friend of the person we were mad at, and it got back to them. Or maybe, it was that time you were angry and said some things in the heat of it that you wish you could take back. It can make you feel awful, and unfortunately, there are people who have this happen to them all of the time. Perhaps they have problems filtering what they are feeling before it comes out of their mouths. But, at the worst, only a few other people would be within earshot when they said it. But now, thanks to social networking sites and micro-blogging platforms like Facebook and Twitter, a lapse in judgment can quickly reach many, many people.

New technology is great, but it has its draw-backs. It is easier than ever to share information and stay connected with the people they care about. But, on the other side, it makes it easy to embarrass yourself on a very large scale.

TechRepublic recently reported on this new “Social Media Remorse” issue. Here are a few of the things they found out:

• 32% of people surveyed say they’ve posted something online they regretted.
• Of that 32%: 3% say it ruined their marriage or relationship with someone. 6% of them said it caused problems at work or home.
• Of that 32%: 13% were able to remove the offending post.
• 59% of iPhone users have posted something online they regretted.
• 54% of people under 25 years old have posted something online they regretted.
• Only 27% of people over age 25 have posted something online they regretted.

It doesn't surprise me in the least that so many people under 25 have reported having posted something online that they regret. When I was in my teens and early twenties, I can think of many times I lost my temper or just wasn't mature enough to keep my mouth shut. But luckily, it wasn't as easy for everyone else to find out. Even when I did have access to the internet, anything I was likely to write wouldn't be nearly as easily accessible as it is now, when status updates and Twitter feeds can be delivered straight to people's mobile phones.

Perhaps their needs to be a device on smartphones that checks a users sobriety level or heart rate and won't allow them to post until they are sober and calm. But, until that happens, it is still a good idea to invest in an actual paper journal, and write down all the questionable tweets and updates you want to post and give them a few hours before you actually post them online. Leaving yourself with a buffer can keep you from suffering the ill effects of “social media remorse”.

Are you looking for a job in Health Care? Be sure to visit HealthCareJobSite.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.

Dying On Facebook

Have you ever wondered what happens to a social media account when someone dies? Morbid, I know, but in this digital age, it is a good question. I know people who have gone so far as to ask one of their best friends to be their digital guardian and delete their accounts upon their demise. This is a position of trust almost high as being asked to be the godparent to their child. Think about all of the accounts you may have that you might not want your extended family to know about, the online friends you have who you would want to be notified and all of the other digital loose ends you would want taken care of. I am sure that once you start thinking about it, you can see why some people chose to include their digital life in their end-of-life planning.

The people over at All Facebook, the unofficial Facebook blog, have come up with a great infographic to break down exactly what happens to someone's Facebook profile when they die. According to the site, about 200,000 Facebook users die each year, with 550 Faccebook deaths happening daily. It sounds like a high number, but with 700,000 new Facebook activation each day, the ratio is fairly small.

So, what happens to your Facebook account when you die?

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer, along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.