5+1 tips to land your first real job

1. WORK FOR THAT EXPERIENCE

Landing a dream job without any work experience can be tricky. Let’s be honest, you don’t have much to offer with your lack of professional experience. We can’t emphasize this enough: START WORKING on your experience during your university years. Start with smaller and easier positions (also, don’t be too quick to turn down a volunteer position) and follow your passion. If your ideal part-time job is working at a pet store, then do it! The best compensation is an experience. And the main point is to get used to having responsibilities, working on your own and earning some money. As time goes on, you can switch to more relevant job offers and gain some truly useful experience which will get you closer to real, well-paid jobs. 

Go for the lower paying or even non-paying jobs if they give you the experience you need. Being an active member of student organizations that enable you to develop yourself will pay off in the long term. And last but not least, companies love seeing that in your CV.

2. HAVE A BADASS CV AND COVER LETTER

Just imagine, the first thing they will see is your resume or your cover letter, and this is the tool that will help you get an interview. Remember, there is no place for selfies, low-quality profile pictures and family pictures with your grandma. Trust me, you don’t want HR professionals to see that. Be professional and use a plain photo of yourself. You have to keep it focused, it’s your first chance to highlight your skills, qualifications, your experience (if you have one, but keep in mind our previous point). Our advice is to „update” your CV for every position you apply for, this way you can make sure the CV suits each application. Also, be extra careful, there’s no excuse for misspelling or any mistakes in your resume, you’d better doublecheck with your friends before sending it out.

To spice up your CV a little bit, use Canva. Trust us, your CV will stand out from the crowd: www.canva.com

3. WORK ON YOUR "SOCIAL" PROFILE

There are a lot of people and jobs on LinkedIn, so the odds are really good that it will help you land a great job. You have to work on your profile because it’s a really powerful tool. Make sure to update your profile to be 100% complete and include all relevant keywords, skills and competencies. Be specific and professional – go and join professional groups, interact with people, build relationships and don’t sit back and wait until someone will contact you. It’s hard work, but it worth it!

So go now, update your LinkedIn profile and make sure you are a good match in the online world too!

4. START NETWORKING AND SPREAD THE WORD

Rule number 1 is to work on your networking game. It may sound so „professional” but totally worth it. Did you know that networking is one of the best ways to get a job? You can reach out to anyone for advice or information. Spread the word that you are looking for a job and a new job can find YOU. Be curious, and grab every opportunity to interact with people from different fields, they can help you to find your path by brainstorming about exact positions, firms, qualifications, or just about the working life in general. The more opportunity you have, the closer you are to get that dream job.

You never know who will help you land that job. Be conscious of how you present yourself, be open and make new connections anywhere you go.

 5. MAKE YOURSELF SHINE AT THE INTERVIEW

Make sure you are presentable (cliche we know, but not that obvious to everyone though…) and fully prepared for the battle. Be yourself, be confident, but polite, and don’t forget to showcase your skills. Do some research on the company to have enough background information. Give specific examples of your experience, actions you took in different situations, a major accomplishment, your goals– it will help them to get to know you, and your personal characteristics better. You have to demonstrate the thinking behind your actions. May sound weird, but it all makes sense.

Check out our TOP 70 interview questions and our suggestions for answers!

5+1. BE PREPARED - FOR LITERALLY EVERYTHING

Last, but not least: be prepared! For a yes, for a no. That’s right, you need to prepare yourself for rejection and for success. There is no such thing that getting accepted by every place you apply for. To say something ever scarier: sometimes even if you think you’re just the perfect candidate, you might not get the job. Been there, done that. Just don’t give up and be serious about getting a job.  You have to show that you really want that job, but that’s not the end of the world if you won’t.

You definitely have what it takes, now you just need to show it off.