A lot of students like myself leave college and did not have a plan in motion upon graduating. This can leave you feeling uncertain, underdeveloped, or flat-out unready for the real world. I want to help negate a lot of those feelings by giving some guidance on how you can begin your life after college.
There is nothing worse than realizing that your studies in college did not give you the proper skills to work in the real world. What we learn in class is not the same as what we apply outside of academia. This makes us quickly underestimate our ability to apply the skills we have and discourage us to learn new skills outside the classroom setting. For, I quickly had this realization when applying for my job. I discovered very quickly that the excel abilities I used to graph three points in my physics course were not enough to work with data. I fumbled every big interview and wanted to learn how to build all the proper skills you need to excel outside of academics. Ultimately this is the ultimate article to find all the resources you need to get a job after college, and all the sites you need to learn outside of the classroom.
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Udemy - Cheap courses that help develop your skills in a classroom-like feeling without the classroom setting. Just be careful to not go down a rabbit hole of buying and never finishing these courses.
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Youtube - I utilized Youtube a lot during my undergrad, truthfully it's what got me through Physics and Organic Chemistry. We often rely on great videos like CrashCourse in school to teach us content but forget that in adult life it is just as useful. Great adult channels to view if you want to learn and develop extra skills
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Khan Academy Finance - develop financial skills you did not learn in your undergrad
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FreeCodeCamp - yes, i understand not everyone is meant to be a coder but I do believe there is value in any capability in being able to understand the basics of programming. It helped me to build sites, presentations, emails, etc.
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Medium - Reading about others' experiences helped me develop and begin writing these blogs. We are human and are naturally inclined to learn and experience new things. We often forget that we can learn simply by asking, and Medium is a great resource to do so! Also, you did not hear this from me but incognito is the way to get more articles!
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TikTok and other social media - Do not underestimate the value of the unfiltered mesh that is social media. I personally have deep-dived TikTok for interview help and prep. There is a huge amount of information in this world and often the best way to consume some of this is by watching a 30-second video on the specific question you have. Simply even search how to start a business you can find millions of videos on any social media app all giving you a great start in understanding some of the resources you may need.
So you developed some of your skills and now are wondering what you need to do to be able to get a job in your specific niche. I understand there are controversial views on what sites to use and where you can find a job. From personal experience, I will list a few places to begin and then list a couple I have not personally used but have heard are useful.
Personally used
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LinkedIn - Top favorite place to search, you can build relationships, get insights to others and create exposure to the world and let them know who you are!
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Dice.com - Interesting way to put a resume out and have many recruiters reach out to you. Its a very technical place but can be greatly advantageous if you take the time to develop this profile.
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Indeed - Its where I got my first job. There is nothing wrong with a place that lets you send out on average 10 applications a day to jobs. Old reliable nitty-gritty work.
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RippleMatch - It has its pros and cons. For anyone that has some experience or can market themselves as a great student, this is the place for internships! I heard back within the first week from about 10 recruiters. Not all were great positions but again if you want to pad your resume this is the place to do so!
Heard About from Others
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Google Jobs - Simple to use and a way to go to the main business website to apply
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Glassdoor - Good insights for different interview questions, and salary rates
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Monster.com - Graduate Hub for those that are now graduating college
You have a first job and are now ready to settle right? Well for some this might be the right move and will begin your journey at a specific company for a long time, for others this might be a stepping stone until you find your next best thing. According to this article from the [BBC] on average those who job hop do make more money versus those that do not job hop. Truthfully for those that have more to gain from job hopping, it is ultimately the best way to advance your career. That being said if you do plan to job hop you need to understand how to do so properly.
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Develop your skills
Job hopping means nothing if you do not learn from these experiences. A lot of individuals will hop from one job to another without gaining any skills, in reality, they spend time just job hopping laterally finding positions that only pay slight advances without any real advancement. To properly job hop you need to learn those essential skills for your next position. Often this can be over a few months to a few years. Learning the core skills is the only way you can truly advance while job hopping. Remember you may be getting something out of the hunt but companies also do want to know that you are willing to help them in your time there.
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Build connections
Job hopping creates the reality that you will meet many people for you to gain anything from this you need to be able to communicate effectively and build relationships quickly. This is why LinkedIn is so valuable in my eyes. You can “harvest” the relationships from job to job and can later on use them to your advantage when you look for other positions, skills to learn and more.
Remember that there is no true roadmap for anyone and it will take a lot of challenges and downfalls to truly understand where you need to go and do.