4 Misconceptions About Getting a Job After College

4 Misconceptions About Getting a Job After College4 Misconceptions About Getting a Job After CollegeDialogues with college seniors in the midst of trying to figure out what comes next often reveal a disconnect between student life and launching a successful career. Its easy to empathize with the cry, I can get an A in my senior seminar but I dont have a clue about how to get a job.Ideally, colleges and universities would fund career services departments with a full complement of savvy professionals. However, more often than not, budgets are cramped and the staff doesnt have time to do as much as one would hope and expect from them.To get the most out of this practical college offering, students shouldnt wait until senior year to build a relationship with a counselor. Even when theyre freshmen or sophomores, students can take aptitude and other diagnostic tests to identify important traits and preferences to keep in mind when figuring out what career path to pursue. Still, sometimes p rofs and career services arent up with the latest in the realm of workforce development and staffing best practices.A recent conversation with a college senior at a competitive university revealed these misconceptions.1. My college professor told me that you cant have whole sentences in a bullet point, and that bullets can only be one line. In a corporate PowerPoint presentation, that might be the case. However, on a resume, it has become common practice for a bullet to be a single complete idea rather than a sentence fragment.For example, you might have two or three bullet points under any given position that describe, in a few lines each, how you went about fulfilling a given responsibility along with the results or accomplishment you attained. 2. I havent worked long enough to have any accomplishments. It does take a while to build a true legacy of achievements in any given role. Still, all it takes is stepping back to get a larger perspective on what you have done.Sometimes that means figuring out what youve done that enabled your boss to do his job better. Maybe your contribution was taking responsibility for something that freed up someone else to complete a task at a higher level.When you think about it this way, your accomplishment resume bullet might begin with one or another of these verbs handled, enabled, dispatched, organized or contributed to.3. I posted my LinkedIn profile a year ago, so Im all set with that. Not really. This is a key time in your life to be building a professional network that will last for decades. Its time to graduate from Facebook and Snapchat to using social media to find people with whom to network.Make koranvers that your LinkedIn profile is complete, giving full descriptions of what youve done, skills youve acquired, volunteer activities in which youve engaged, languages in which you have fluency and more.Use LinkedIn to find people with whom to conduct informational interviews to learn about what jobs are like from the inside rather than relying on your best guesses and fantasies.Research many profiles to learn what jobs tend to lead to what other jobs, and where people have gone who have had the initial jobs you are considering. There is a host of ways to use LinkedIn, and it should become a part of your daily routine. 4. I really would love to work in X industry, but Ive never done it before, so I cant apply. It is true that many companies use college internships as a way of trying out students to see them in action. Theyll then offer jobs for after graduation to the most promising of those interns. But clearly, that is far from always the case.Remember Often entry-levels jobs are just what they purport to be a way for people to get in at the ground level of any business or industry. Use personal and family contacts, LinkedIn and many other ways to network your way into companies in which you have an interest. Dont just rely on job boards.This is the kickoff of key recruiting for upcoming sprin g graduates. Set your sights high, learn what you need to impress employers and go out and make your mark. What you might lack in experience, you can make up for with sheer energy, ambition and a clear, defined desire to contribute to your first employer.