A guide: how to find a job as a student?
Many students decide to combine full-time courses with part-time jobs. This solution may obviously prove to be extremely helpful in your future career, but the willingness to work is unfortunately not enough. It is necessary to know how to prepare for looking for a job, where to look for the best offers and how to stand out among other candidates. How to get to this difficult task?
How to prepare for looking for a job?
Looking for a job should certainly start with writing a good resume. The problem is that a good CV is filled with information about professional experience, which students usually do not have – seasonal and occasional work or internships taken during the summer months prevail. However, this aspect should not be overly concerning, in the end, students do not apply for managerial positions, in which many years of industry experience is an absolute minimum.
Where to look for a h ire?
If we briefly discussed the aspect of the CV, then we can go to the next step, that is, active job search. You did not count on the offers coming to you, didn’t you? The basic tool that facilitates finding a job in the 21st century is, certainly, the Internet, without which nobody can imagine normal life anymore. In the network, you will find a large number of job ad portals.
You can also use the extensive database of announcements published on the websites of individual universities – their number is not as good as industry websites, but you can definitely find there some interesting ads that will meet your requirements.
You can also use more traditional methods when looking for a job, that is, visiting some companies near your place in person, ask your friends, etc. Often these “old-fashioned techniques” turn out to be much more effective than sending your CV via the Internet. First of all: you can immediately talk to a potential employer or recruiter and convince him or her that you are well suited to the job. Secondly, you unwittingly develop your soft skills, such as creativity, dynamism and initiative, and employers appreciate it.
Little advice: combine the traditional search for work with the advantages that the Internet gives you. How to do it? Search for interesting ads on the web, and then take your CV with you and go in person to the headquarters of the company whose offer you were interested in. The manager probably will not let you in, but if you haven’t tried, you haven’t lived …
Which job offers to look for?
Unfortunately, this question cannot be answered unequivocally. A quick analysis of job offers for students in classifieds websites will allow us to convince you that most ads are typically casual and refer mainly to the entertainment, tourism and catering industry. Full-time students are also eager to be employed in warehouse and inventory works as well as in call-centre, in other words “on the headphones”. This is not, of course, the work of dreams, but it allows you to earn both a little money, develop soft skills, and get the first professional experience that you can confidently enter into your CV.
“I study political science, but during my studies, I had to make money on a call centre. Why should I write something like this to my CV? I am looking for a job in the media, where my previous experience is virtually worthless. ”
The above thinking pattern is very common among young people. Fortunately, it is completely untrue. Working in a call centre means not only conducting unproductive conversations with clients – it is also developing your communicativeness, creativity and coping skills. These are soft skills that are highly valued by employers in the modern labour market. Why, then, should you be ashamed of them and not show employers that you have one? Remember: casual work, even seemingly unrelated to the profile of your studies, is your main asset as soon as you graduate and receive your diploma.
Students from fields related to IT have some kind of advantage on the job market – they can receive interesting cooperation offers (also in a remote form) directly related to the profile of their academic education. Many potential employers from the IT industry appear at faculty job fairs, where they look for talented and outstanding students with whom they could establish longer cooperation. If you are studying computer science or a related faculty, then look around for a similar event at your university or browse the offer of local startups – they most often employ students with appropriate qualifications.
The biggest problem you will face while looking for a job will be availability. However, do not be disappointed by the first failures – students are attractive employees for employers because they do not have to coverhigh social security contributions for them. Sooner or later you will find an offer that will meet your expectations.
A few words at the end…
Finding a job while studying is not a simple matter, but that is something there’s no need to clarify, right? You will come across many problems: starting from the lack of interesting offers nearby, through low earnings, ending with high requirements of employers. Do not be discouraged, however, by the first failures, because patience is an inseparable element of looking for a job in the 21st century. Be persistent and strive for your chosen goal!