Finding Your First Job After Graduating Business School

In my career as a college professor, many students and recent graduates have come to me for advice on finding their first technology job. The good news is that business professionals in a variety of disciplines are always in demand and will continue to be highly sought after in the future.?

Despite this promise and an extremely tight job market, the reason business some students don’t get their dream job after graduation is that students underestimate the amount of activity it takes to get a quality, first job. Your dream job

This career guide is focused on new business school graduates, but these could apply to experienced job seekers as well. Many students tell me they have been trying hard to find a job. I then ask them the following questions:?

1. Where would you like to work??
2. What would be your ideal dream job?
3. Do you want to stay in the area, or are you willing to relocate?
4. What type of organization fits your risk tolerance, personality, and values??
5. What work experience do you have?
6. What specific job searching activities are you completing each week?
7. How many hours did you spend last week on these activities?

Prepare to Search:

Before you begin, a few activities need to be completed by anyone seeking a job. The earlier you start this process, the better. Completing the activities in this guide will take you many hours. This is not something you want to start the week before you graduate.

1. Create a résumé and cover letter. This one is a classic piece of advice given to anyone looking for a professional job. There are many places where one can receive advice on this including your university’s career services, various web sites, and career counselors. If you are just starting your career, list everything including part-time work experience, volunteer activities, certifications earned, courses completed, and special projects you worked on while completing your degree.
2. Create a LinkedIn profile. Many companies and recruiters use LinkedIn as their main recruitment platform. The information you put into your résumé can be added directly to your LinkedIn profile. Add a professional looking picture with your smiling face. There are many online guides on how to do this.?
3. Participate in the career development activities offered by your university. Most universities have entire departments devoted to helping students find both part-time and full-time jobs. These career services host job fairs and have classes on interviewing, dining etiquette, networking, writing résumés, dressing professionally, and many other courses. Most students don’t participate in these free trainings, and you can get help from these experienced professionals to help you on your search.
4. Create a list of target organizations. In many conversations with students, I’ve noticed that limiting your possibilities helps you focus on a few organizations. If you want to work where you currently live, it is pretty easy to find information about local companies, government agencies, and non-profits by using Google. Find a list of companies who hire students from your university. If your city has a Chamber of Commerce, their website will feature organizations where you might work. Look for companies that sponsor local networking and other professional events.?
5. Optional step - If you are willing to relocate, choose three cities or three companies. You can always add cities later, but for now three cities is a good start. Rank your list of cities and create a target list of organizations for those cities. If you don’t really have a preference for a particular city, look for lists of best companies to work for in national and regional news outlets.

Begin Your Search:

Once your job search starts in earnest, here are the things you focus on completing each week:

Attack getting a job with the same tenacity and work ethic that your new job requires.?

Schedule time every week and focus on the actions that matter.?

1. Attending job fairs. Prepare as if you were going to have an interview (you might). Research the companies you want to work with and politely ignore the rest.
2. Networking physically. You are looking for people at companies with jobs you want or people who can introduce you to those people. Get to know the owners, managers, employees, and recruiters and ask them what events they attend. Go to Chamber of Commerce meetings, professional organization meetings, and other events where technology professionals could be. Meet as many people as you can. Ask for business cards and permission to link on LinkedIn.?
3. Networking digitally. On LinkedIn, send a thank you message to everyone who connects to you, research organizations, and attempt to link to people you have met. If you have not met someone in person, you can send a short message when attempting to link to people. Make the message short and friendly noting similar interests, career paths, certifications, high schools, universities, etc. with a personal note to link.
4. Applying to jobs. Look for jobs and apply for jobs you are qualified to get. If you are mostly qualified, it is okay to apply to those jobs as long as you address your qualifications and deficiencies in your cover letter. Look for other jobs online at the many other job databases. You can even have those sites email you alerts when new jobs are posted with your keywords.
5. Customize your materials. Tailor your application materials, including your resume and cover letter, to each job you apply for shows a level of interest that few exhibit. You can create templates to make this customization easier
6. Track your progress in a document or spreadsheet. How many jobs did you apply to? How many events did you attend? How many new people have you met physically or virtually? How much time did you spend researching organizations and documenting the information in your notes? How much total time did you spend doing these activities this week?

Prepare for Your Interview:

You have invested a huge amount of time and money getting an education. During that education, you likely had many homework assignments, projects, and presentations. Now is the time to show off those skills in preparing for their first interview.

1. Research the organization where you are interviewing. Many interviewees show up with little knowledge about where they have applied. Reading the home page is not enough. Look at the company as if you were a consultant looking for strengths and weaknesses of your organization.?
2. Find interview questions and practice. You can find specific interview questions companies like to ask on Glassdoor and other job sites. You can also find other generic interview questions through a Google search. Get career services, a parent, friend or someone else to help you practice answering the questions. Your goal is to increase your confidence level at the interview not to memorize questions.
3. Develop several questions about your job to ask them. Ask about the type of projects you would be working on at the organization. Ask about the work itself, culture, training opportunities, and other aspects of working there. Do not ask about pay, benefits, vacations, or holidays at this point. You can find much of this information online including salaries for the position.?
4. Show up as the professional you are. If the interview is online, show up at least five minutes early, but not more than that. If you are having a traditional interview, plan to be at the interview thirty minutes before your designated time. Drive to the location the night before to determine where to park. Bring your notes on the company, the questions you want to ask, and your résumé. Dress professionally and bring a leather portfolio with your documents. It is better to be extremely early and read your notes in the parking lot than it is to be one second late. Use the restroom at home or immediately upon arrival at the location. Politely refuse food and beverages because if you accidentally spill those, that will throw you off your plan. Shake hands, make eye contact, and remember the name of everyone you meet. Listen to all questions completely without interrupting your interviewer. Answer their questions thoroughly and politely. Ask your questions at the end. Be polite and respectful with your questions. One or two questions really make an impression. Ten makes you come across as annoying. At the end of the interview, collect business cards, thank everyone, and ask what the next step is.
5. Send thank you cards to everyone you meet. Yes, this is overdoing it. Employers tell me this level of professionalism is so rare, it will make you stand out against the other interviewees.?It is also important to follow up after an interview. Expressing your continued interest in the position shows that you are proactive and enthusiastic about the opportunity.
6. Document what you learned. Write what you learned in your notes. This includes positive and negative impressions about the organization and the people who interviewed you. If you get this job, this will be valuable information. If you do not get the job, you can reflect on improving your performance on future interviews.?
7. Repeat interviews until you get the job you want. Some organizations have multiple interviews, and some may have only one interview. Be willing to turn down a position if you believe you are poor fit. In my experience, money is only one part of job satisfaction. Don’t trade a few thousand dollars of salary for working in an organization where you won’t fit. You can find many articles on working culture and salary negotiation online.

Start Your Job

Once you start to work, there are several other things to complete. There are entire books and training programs available on being a productive member of an organization. So, this list is short.

1. Once you get a job, keep working. Many people get hired and try to get away with as little work as possible. During the interview process, you probably told your company how hard you are willing to work if they just give you a chance. Now is your chance.
2. Keep learning and growing. Your new job will require you to learn and grow into your new role and responsibilities. The first few months on a new job can be the most learning intensive time in your career. The business world changes so fast, you need to keep growing your skills and expertise throughout your entire career from self-training, certifications, getting mentored, and gaining experience on the job.
3. Keep growing your network and reputation. During the job seeking process, you met new people online and at various networking events. Continue to expand your network both inside and outside your new organization. Meet and link to other professionals in your field of expertise. Help your network with introductions and endorsements as you can.
4. Thank everyone who helped you. Endorse and recommend classmates, professors, career service professionals, and other people that helped you along the way. This gratitude can be shown in person, on LinkedIn, and through old-fashioned thank you letters. Everyone loves to be appreciated and will be so proud of your new job. Doing this will make those people happy to help you in the future.

Please, post any edits, improvements, additions you’d like to see to this document. Every suggestion will improve this document for future students and other job seekers.

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