3 Seldom Shared Tips for Finding a Job After Graduation

You are not going to get the job you want right after graduation.

Okay, in all honesty, there is a slim chance that you're going to finish your education and immediately land a six figure position, but for all intents and purposes, you need to operate under the assumption that that's just not going to happen. As they say, hope for the best, but plan for the worst.

That being said, there are a number of things that you can do to improve your chances of finding the job you want, or at least a job that you can use a stepping stone to the job you want. Let's skip past all the advice you always hear like "Dress for the job you want" and "Be persistent" and cut right to a few tips that you're not going to hear just anywhere.

1. When Possible, Make Employers Compete for You

A lot of young people in the workforce are under the impression that you must first prove yourself and then make employers compete. In truth, getting a job is not about the value you can offer to the company, it's about perceived value. If you tell one employer exactly what you're being offered by another, it not only makes them want to top it, it gives you an image as somebody who is confident and highly sought after. Maybe the first company's offer is actually pretty boilerplate, but it never hurts to get a bidding war going.

2. Rewrite Your Resume from Scratch Over and Over Again

This involves a lot more time and effort, but here's something you need to learn right away: Looking for a job is more work than having one. When you hand everyone the same resume, you're missing out on an opportunity to sell yourself as the perfect candidate for the job. You sell yourself as a good candidate, a qualified candidate, but does it matter to a magazine editor hiring you as a copy editor that you're an expert at Photoshop? Rewrite your resume from the ground up for every new job and paint yourself as somebody who was trained almost exclusively for this job.

3. Be Unsentimental

Not everybody reading is going to be comfortable with this one, but here's a tip that actually will help you get ahead in the workplace if you can be realistic: Never be afraid to throw somebody under the bus. Say another candidate confides in you that he had a drink before coming to the job interview in order to loosen up. If that detail casually slips during the interview, you're not only doing yourself a service, you're also helping the company to hire somebody who can be trusted to be responsible on the job. Short of breaking the law, if you see a move that will help your career, that will help you get the job, make that move. It sounds brutal, but something that you'll learn quickly in the workplace is that there are very few people out there who won't do the same to you. There's really no room for sentimentality in the dog eat dog world of office politics.

The truth is that you can ignore all three of these tips and still get a decent job, but if you want to get the job that you really want, then that needs to be your priority. Prioritize that over being polite to other candidates and employers who don't have what you're looking for, prioritize it over your disdain for having to write your resume over and over again and really devote yourself in mind and body to pursuing the career you want. The bottom line is that if you don't want it badly enough to adjust your whole attitude and lifestyle around getting that job, then you're not going to get that job.