An estimated 1.4 million college and graduate-school students in this country will pick up their diplomas this spring and begin the tough task of finding full-time jobs. These graduates must persuade employers to hire them, with little or no work experience, in the midst of a tight economy.
”There are 10 percent fewer jobs open to the class of 1992 than were open to the class of 1991,” says Bruce Bloom, a Scarsdale, N.Y., marketing consultant and author, ”and at the end of the year some 25 percent of the students who are graduating this spring still will be looking.”
Bloom, author of ”Fast Track to the Best Job: How to Launch a Successful Career Right Out of College” (Blazer Books, $9.95), says that despite gloomy employment prospects, new grads have one advantage: ”This is the one time in your life where you`ve never fouled anything up.”
Graduates can use this advantage during job interviews, Bloom says. ”The recent graduate can tell (employers) what they will do once they have the job. After you`ve been a professional for 5, 10 or 15 years, you`ll spend a great deal of time trying to explain away your mistakes.”
Bloom is a Cornell University alumnus who for five years has volunteered his time to counsel job-hunting graduating seniors. He says recent graduates or anyone seeking an entry-level position often make a mistake common to people who haven`t had a lot of job interviewing experience: ”They walk in and the interviewer says, `Tell me about yourself.` Then they spill all of their hopes and dreams and triumphs and tragedies on the table.”
A tendency to talk too much often works against the interviewee, Bloom says.
”Let`s say you went to France between your junior and senior year of college. You think this makes a good case that you are a cosmopolitan person, a good candidate. But the person you`re talking to may think you`re just a rich kid who can afford to go to France and if you were really hungry you would have stayed here and worked.”
The trick, says Bloom, is to avoid revealing too much about yourself and to ask lots of questions, such as, ”Tell me about this job. What kinds of strengths will the person who lands this job need? The whole burden of conducting the interview shouldn`t be placed on the interviewer.”
How can a recent college graduate or entry-level job hunter plan a search that will land an interview? Bloom advocates a networking technique he refers to as ”advice calling.”
”If you write or call an employer and say you`re graduating and looking for a job but the employer doesn`t have any jobs, the case is closed,” Bloom says. ”So instead of asking for a job, you ask for advice.”
Bloom says you also should approach anyone you know who might have even remote connections to your field of interest. ”Talk to people who know other people-bankers, doctors, dentists, insurance salesmen, clergymen from your hometown,” he suggests.
Because the job market is so tight, Bloom says it may be easier to find jobs in companies that supply essential goods and services, such as food or health care, or in regions that have been hit less hard by the recession.
Among Bloom`s other tips for entering the job market for the first time:
– Do your homework. Research the target company at the library and through personal contact with insiders who can help you better understand the company`s goals and projects.
– Be a problem solver.
”The employer isn`t so much seeking another mouth for the company to feed as he or she is searching for a solution to the company`s problem,”
Bloom says. Be prepared to discuss how you`ve solved problems in the past, from working on a college project to tackling a summer job.
– Be prompt with follow-up letters.
A follow-up letter should be mailed the day following an interview. It should always contain an outline that recaps how your strengths are consistent with job requirements.
– Don`t oversell.
”You want to be perceived as an enthusiastic, confident professional, not an arrogant neophyte with an overblown sense of your own importance,”
Bloom says.
LIFELINES
Business contacts
Better Business Contacts is a national networking group for small-business owners and suppliers based in the Chicago area. Dues: $40 for six months; $12 application fee. Membership limited to one business category per chapter. 708-983-5308.
Mentorship program
Women United for a Better Chicago, a non-profit advocacy group for low-income women, offers mentorship and skills-building programs. Sliding scale annual dues: $5 to $30. For more information, call 312-939-3636.
Women in careers
The National Association of Women in Careers is a skills-building network of more than 500 members in the Chicago area. The group helps members identify, pursue and enhance their careers. 312-938-7662.
Part-time resource
New Ways to Work is a non-profit advocacy group for people interested in flexible work arrangements. Annual dues: $35. New Ways to Work, 149 9th St., San Francisco, Calif. 94103. 415-552-1000.
Worker`s bookshelf
”The Career Decision Planner,” by Joan Lloyd (John Wiley & Sons Inc., $14.95); ”How to Get a Job in Sports,” by John Taylor (Collier Books, $10).
