7 ways to hunt jobs for a fresher

After having crashed badly at the placement season, the last thing that people would start searching on the internet is, how on planet earth if you are fresher can you get a job! (experienced myself)

You have spend half a million rupees already on your Degree/Diploma and you still don’t have a job…worse it is recession, you compete directly with your seniors and their senior who may have lost their jobs (oucch!)

The best you can do is make an effort to compete and the worst you can do is to wait for a miracle. 

Following are few (for the sake of measurements ’10’) ways you can start looking for a job.

First Things first

1. Know your likes/dislikes: I started preparing for CAT to do my MBA in Finance. Comes 2009 and i’m an MBA (Marketing) with strong interest in Digital Media and Social Media Marketing, lesson? you must know what excites you to keep you 9-12 hours in the office.

2. Personal branding: Approximately less than 5%(please excuse my stats) of junta end up in IITs and IIMs, what happens to the rest? well they compete among themselves sometimes even with the minority (IIT/IIMs). So, in order to compete, you must brand your skills and not learning which may or may not be same for others, saying that your are an MBA (marketing) may not leave an impact. However you can blog, tweet, write, talk and Q and A about finance on public forums.

3. Networking: Noting pays better than good networks, if you have them use them and if you don’t have networks make them. Simply adding people on your network will never help you…you must know why you are connecting with someone and the same should be conveyed to people wanting to connect with you.

Getting started

4. Start of with writing  your CV/Resume: If you think copying a CV helps, then you are right…it does, but you must think through your profile and write your CV accordingly. Ideally for a fresher writing a one page resume is advisable, however feel free to write whatever is necessary. Take professional help if need be. If you cant’ research-copy-paste and most importantly Edit.

5. Distribution: So your product (CV/Resume) is ready…make sure you distribute it properly. The job sites work like a search engine, you need to include generally used keywords by the HR to search resumes on these job sites. Make a list of top jobsites, including small niche sites of your domain like www.mbanaukri.com, www.iimjobs.com etc. Also, share your resume with your chachas, mamas, brothers, sisters, friends and family or anyone who is your potential customer (the one who can refer you).

6. Apply for jobs: Selecting jobs to apply is of utmost importance because, you don’t want to waste your time and effort getting interviewed for jobs you are least interested.

7. Follow up: One of the most important thing is to follow up with your candidature with the HR or the concerned person, Yes i have called up many HR and the success ratio is not good but it isn’t bad either. Its just about you making a right pitch.

I welcome your comments, criticisms, appreciation and questions now…thanks for reading. 

Vikas Goel market B2B and B2C products, enagage customers and strategize content and consumer experience design for Crederity Inc. You can connect me on facebook, LinkedIn or you can write an email at vikas.d.goel@gmail.com.