Everyone is looking for jobs for college students. Many have been looking all year and others may be just starting hoping to find something for this summer. Either way, it is quite apparent that getting a job right now is a big challenge.
You will most likely have to interview to get any type of a job, whether it be an hourly part time job or something higher paying and more permanent. There are more people in all age groups of society than there are jobs right now so the competition is high and the ball is really in the employer’s court. They have the luxury of choosing the best and you the job seeker has to do the best you can to stand out from all the other applicants.
When you interview for any job there is one thing you must make sure you DON”T do. That is, to come across as bitter, frustrated, angry, or any other adjective that might show that you are upset with how hard it is to find work.
Many of you have been looking for a long time and been through many interviews. It is getting old to never be called back or to not get any hint that you are getting closer to a job. The more interviews you do and the more failures you have, it becomes easy to let your frustrations show. This is NOT something any interviewer wants to see and it shows your character in a negative way. Even though it is perfectly understandable to be upset and frustrated, you just don’t want to let that be known in an interview.
Keeping upbeat and hopeful is a trick in an of itself in this job market. Good jobs for college graduates are damn hard to find and after 4 or more years of studying and working hard for that degree, it is a big letdown to seemingly not get any reward. It is tough for all students looking for jobs but if you let it get to you, it will show in an interview and that will be an automatic strike against you.
Put yourself in a recruiter’s position: would you hire a college student who is negative and appears upset or would you hire someone who acts as though this is the first interview and they are ready to get going on the job if hired. Interviewers and recruiters can tell if you are upbeat and positive and they will probably only choose those that are. So, if it seems like forever since you started looking for a job, take a look at the things you say in an interview and your body language. Perhaps you need to change some of those right away to give yourself a better chance.