OPINION: Turning the tassel: The post-grad job search

As the world rang in 2024, I was faced with the excitement of starting my last semester of college but also the daunting task of securing my first full-time job post-grad. As a public relations and communication major, I knew our industry was saturated and competitive, and I’d have to stand out to secure a job.

For months, I had watched the economy struggle, seeing the constant stream of headlines announcing rising inflation rates and companies laying off hundreds of thousands of workers. I was petrified by TikTok videos of 2022 and 2023 graduates who, despite sending out thousands of applications, had still not been offered jobs. 

So at the beginning of January, I rolled up my sleeves, spruced up my resume and began what I expected to be a long and tumultuous journey to secure a post-grad role. Three months and 450 applications later, I have received a job offer. 

While I feel like one of the lucky ones, it was still an exhaustive process and I want to share the things I’ve learned and tips I tried for anyone who is going through the process or will be soon.

Long before you’re about to graduate, you should gain experience outside of academics. The truth is candidates who have had internships or extracurricular experience will stand out, especially in saturated industries like marketing and communications. I joined The Suffolk Journal at the beginning of my freshmen year and wrote articles frequently, which allowed me to learn the journalistic style of writing and build up a portfolio of writing samples.

I’ve been asked for writing samples often throughout my internship searches and my post-grad job search. Each internship I’ve secured in the past as well as my current job offer have all asked me for writing samples, to which I sent them my staff profile from the Journal. This is not a shameless plug to join The Journal, but an emphasis on how participating in an extracurricular activity like The Journal can help you easily create a portfolio of quality writing samples that can help you jumpstart your professional career.

As for internships, I had two during the summer and two during the school year over the course of my four years in college. Not only did they help me discover what kind of roles I liked and didn’t like, but they also provided me with valuable experience I could reference in job interviews, which proved I could successfully apply my skills in professional settings.

Once you start the application process, create a spreadsheet to keep track of the roles you’ve applied to and stay consistent in your search. Although it’s unusual for a role in marketing or communications to hire someone months before they can start working, I began applying in January because you never know who might be willing to wait for your graduation date. It’s also good to see if you’re getting interviews – if you’re not, you might need to rework your resume. Additionally, interviewing as much as possible is good practice to get more comfortable with it.

I applied to dozens of jobs every single day. I set LinkedIn job alerts for roles and keywords I was interested in and combed through them every evening to see what I wanted to apply for. I applied for roles even if I was slightly underqualified, which I recommend doing. I received a few interviews for roles that were asking for 1-2 more years of experience than I had. 

Above all, I think it’s important to be realistic. Everyone wants a great job, but it’s unlikely you’ll land your dream job straight out of college. You often have to work a few different jobs before you can get there. Everyone wants to work for a Fortune 500 or a popular company, but those roles often receive hundreds of applications.

I still applied to jobs at those big-name companies, but I was aware that my chances of getting the role or even an interview were very slim. I had much better luck with smaller, more local companies in Boston and Massachusetts.

Job hunting was as tiring as everyone warned it would be. It’s not easy – there were days when I was exhausted from school and applying to the 20 jobs I had saved was the last thing I wanted to do. It felt monotonous most days, filling out applications with the same questions over and over again. And there are so many applications I sent out that I never heard back from one way or another, not even to reject me.

But with persistence and strategy – it can be done. I understand the frustration and I know it might feel hopeless when you’ve sent out hundreds of applications to no avail. Despite all the challenges job hunting brought me, I’m so excited about the role I secured and I can’t wait to begin the next chapter of my life after college.

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