Are you getting close to graduation? Do you have any idea what career after college you would like? There are some lucky college students who have it all figured out and know exactly what they want to do in their career. Then there are others who think they know what to do after college (but will change later). And there are those who have no idea what to do in their career after college.
For the lucky few that know exactly what career you are going to pursue, good for you and I wish you nothing but the best of luck after college. For any others in either the “I think I know” or the “I have no idea” category, then I hope you find this a bit helpful.
Social media and social networking have opened the doors for you to get greater insight to almost any career you choose after college. You are able to read blogs, review articles, connect with “friends” or follow others on any number of sites. But here are a few actionable items that may help you better understand your choices for a career after college.
5 ways to become to become more hirable for your career after college
- Use Twitter to follow people in industries you think you are interested in entering. Follow targeted people to expand and enhance your knowledge and contribute to the conversation. Interaction can open doors!
- Use LinkedIn to cold call and do a quick interview of people in companies or positions you find interesting. Find target companies and people within departments of interest to call and introduce yourself. Do not make it a pressure call, explain your strong interest in the company and you wanted to gain insight as to what makes a great hire for the team.
- Join Groups and Fan Pages on Facebook to expand your insight to a topic or career. Network, plain and simple. The more people you connect with and share ideas with, the higher the chance that someone will begin to take an interest in you.
- Read Wiki’s to see who subject matter experts are in a particular field and gain their knowledge. Add value to wiki’s which will help you to introduce yourself to other subject matter exerts. Add value to important topics and you will also be able to find out those that are “experts” within the industry.
- Read blogs on topics of interest. The more you read and find out who is also passionate about a particular topic will allow you to begin to leverage a wider network and reference new points of view in your conversations.
Then, after you have gained some insight to what it is you are either interested in or might be interested in after college, then you may begin to focus on the how of getting into that career.
I will elaborate on the “how” in my next post but hopefully this will provide you with some thoughts to stimulate your thinking on landing that career after college.
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Keith McIlvaine is a Social Media Strategist within HR and Recruiting for a Fortune 500 company. When he is not focused on leveraging social media and networking, Keith is also a personal branding coach and social media mentor. He is passionate about his family and is a major soccer fanatic. The statements I have posted on this site are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
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