It’s been a week since graduation and I am still unemployed. I expect that’s the case for most people. The dreaded Job Hunt can be a very disheartening time, especially when you don’t know which industry you want to work in.
I’ve found that sending out as many applications as possible helps as out of the 50+ applications I’ve sent out since moving home, I’ve managed to get a good handful of interviews, which have been great for experience, and really helps me get a feel for what kind of company and what sort of role I’m looking for.
But this, too, yields more problems than it perhaps solves. The stress of researching a new company day-in day-out can be exhausting, especially when you’re applying for vastly different roles. Spending one day trying to sell yourself as a sales executive and the next as a copywriting intern can be a real challenge. It can be very overwhelming, and job hunting straight out of university means that you’re not really giving yourself that well-deserved break you need. Here’s some advice for tackling the Job Hunt:
- Keep your weekends free. Treat the job search like a full time job; 9-5 during the week, and let loose at the weekend. This means that, not only are you allowing yourself to get into a routine, you’re also using your time effectively. Bulk applying for 50 different positions between 10pm and 3am is going to be a lot less useful than thoroughly researching and applying for 20 jobs from 9-5.
- Decide what’s important to you, early. Is it industry experience? Is it money? A work/life balance? Because sometimes you can’t have everything and you might have to make a tough decision, so it helps to know what you want from a position and what you’re willing to compromise (and trust me, there will always be compromise).
- Don’t schedule too many interviews in one week! You might apply for jobs and go to interviews that you really don’t have any interest in, researching the night before and then heading to the interview the next day… And then you go home and repeat the same structure every day. Sometimes, you might have two interviews in one day and that it just far too exhausting! Make sure you give yourself a little break in between.
- Do your research but always make sure you have scope for questions. That means less pressure on you to be an expert, and also exhibits a real curiosity into the role.
- Go to interviews! It’s so important to get used to being interviewed, and if you go to 10 interviews for various positions before you interview for your dream job, the experience you’ve gained will make you so much better prepared to handle the interview process for that one job you’ve been waiting for your whole graduate life.
- Remember your worth. Interviews are stressful and rejection can be crippling, but remember that you’ve worked hard to get where you are. You have worth. You have value. And just because one company hasn’t seen it, doesn’t mean you won’t shine somewhere else.
Just remember that unemployment is only temporary, and when we have a graduate employment rate of 87% (DoE statistics), you’ve got a good chance at getting a job sometime soon. Keep your chin up and believe in yourself. Easier said than done, I know, but sometimes you just need that little reminder. You can do it.
Nami's Adventures 