As you go out to join the workforce, you are also joining the millions of others who have lost their jobs over the last 6 months and are trying to find one to support themselves and their families. So, you’re going to do a couple things different. First, you’re going to have to be open to any and all positions that you come across. Now is not the time to be picky. Second, you’re going to have to make yourself stand out from the crowd and be more desirable then the other resumes within the stack and interviewees in line.

Here are 5 things that you should do to prepare yourself for after graduation and to be a successful.

1. Network with your professors and faculty - if you want to be successful after you graduate, then you need to start building you professional network. Your professors and other faculty members are great places to start doing so. Many of them will have known you the last four years of your life, know the kind of quality work you produce (hopefully!!) And be more than happy to speak on you behalf. You can also then tap them for their network and connections in different industries that are hiring. Professors and other faculty are always getting emails about job openings, so take advantage of them!
2. Google Yourself - Seriously, go into http://www.google.com and search for your name. See what comes up. Is it good stuff? Maybe it’s a newspaper article that you were featured in from your school. Or maybe its your Facebook page that is not protected and open to search engines showing pictures of you doing keg stands. Maybe there are posts from a message board where you were talking bad about a professor. Or maybe its a link to your website where you’re advertising your business or your resume. Whatever comes up, you want to make sure it is good stuff. And to get rid of the bad stuff, you need to create more good stuff. So, a couple things to do are to protect your Facebook and MySpace pages so that they do not come up in search engines as well as are only viewable by your friends. Then, start a website, write about your hobbys, put your resume out there, and be active in a helpful way on message boards that are related to your degree. If you do this a couple months before interviewing for a job, with any luck, the fresh content will pop up in the top results and push down any bad stuff.
3. In the same manner of cleaning up your Google results, clean up your online social networking profiles at Faceook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and anywhere else. All of these can be seen publicly unless you protect yourself and change your privacy settings. Even then, sometimes people with your “network” say the same city or school can see them. So be sure to change your settings so ONLY your FRIENDS can see them. This will help prevent a potential employer or lender checking for you on Facebook to see what kind of person you are (a crazy partying college student maybe?) If you don’t want to change your privacy settings, then clean up your Facebook wall to remove any ASCII drawings of penis’ from your friends or posts from friends like “Dude, that party last night was wild. Did you bang that chick?” Also, go through pictures that you are tagged in. If there is anything too crazy and wild that you think could hurt you if someone saw it, someone like a potential employer, then remove the tag or ask your friend to remove the picture completely.
4. Professionalize Your Cell Phone – That voice mail greeting that you have that says something like “Hey, its your boy Chris, don’t bother leaving a message because I’ll probably ignore it” is not a good idea and will not encourage a recruiter to leave a message. Also, get rid of the ring backs so when someone calls you they are not hearing “Low” by Flo Rida waiting for you to pick up. Make your voice mail simple and professional – give your name, your number, and ask them to leave a detailed messsage. That’s all you need.
5. Stay Up On Current Events – Many times when at an interview, career fair, or other networking event folks will make small talk about current events, sports, or anything going on in the news. Be aware of what’s happening in the world so that you can at least touch on a point. It’s okay to say that you didn’t follow something (say who won a tennis tournament) but you should know that Michael Phelps was caught smoking weed, AIG execs got outrageous bonuses, any other top stories. Be aware of your surroundings and be ready to make small talk with people, even the receptionists. Many times, more and more frequently, employers will “plant” someone to make small talk with you before an interview to see how you reacted, if you were able to keep conversation, or if you just kept to yourself. Another tactic I have seen is putting a newspaper or magazine next to a chair where you will be waiting and have someone watch to see if you pick it up and flip through it. Then when you get into your interview, the interviewer will ask you something about one of the headlines on the top of that newspaper or magazine. Watch out and be aware of little things like this.

PLUS…here are an additional 5 Money Makers and Time Savers for Graduating Seniors.

1. Savor the last few moments you have before entering the real world! Graduating college is a BIG deal. It’s an occasion you want to share with your friends, family, loved ones…but all those invites and thank you notes can eat up the precious little time you have left! (Not to mention the cost!) Thanks to SendOutCards.com, you can send a few hundred announcements and never have to hand address or sign a single one. The online website lets you upload your entire address book, personalize the cards, and click send. They’ll print, stuff, stamp and send your cards for you, and for CHEAP.
2. De-clutter your bookshelves. Because textbooks are reissued in new editions frequently, the last few weeks of a semester or quarter is the best time to sell your old books and get the most value back. Bookbyte.com is easy to use and gives college students the best bang for their buck. Best part: the site pays for your shipping and ensures you receive your payment within five business days.
3. Free Airfare Miles for making the family proud. Other than a grad check, what else can your academic transcripts get you? According to StudentScrooge.com, help with that trip to Greece (or anywhere else, for that matter). United Airlines offers graduating students a 10,000 Mileage Plus bonus, which is roughly 40% of the way to a free domestic flight. Just send in your transcript, email address, and United Mileage Plus account number, and they’ll immediately deposit the bonus miles.
4. Retire that lava lamp. Or any other dorm furniture that screams “undergrad.” Facebook and other social networking sites is a great way to sell your dorm furniture to underclassmen – simply utilize Facebook’s marketplace application to post your offer. Don’t forget to take advantage of status updates and designated groups to get the word out. You may just get enough cash to fund your next rite of passage into adulthood: You’re very own, personal health insurance policy, aren’t you so proud?!
5. Counteract Senioritis. Let’s be honest, no one wants to spend their LAST month of school sorting through a daunting pile of loose notes and indecipherable scribbling for upcoming exams.  With sites like MyNoteIt.com, users can organize and share notes and study tips with fellow classmates saving tons of time.  Disclaimer: MyNoteIt is merely tool created to save time and is not responsible for how ‘said’ extra time is applied, be it either constructive or destructive in nature.

The second half of this list (5 Money Makers and Time Savers) was graciously submitted by Jason Ellman of Barnett Ellman, which is a PR firm. He sent me a guest post and it just happened to be a day after I started writing this article and they fit together so well that we combined them!

If you’ve enjoyed this post, please share it with your friends or ReTweet It. I greatly appreciate it!!

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(Warning: this is going to be a rant, so it may get long, but I hope you will read it all and comment!)

My first off response is that they are truly hating on any recent college graduates trying to find a job and start their careers. There are some points within the article that I agree with and then there are some that are just way out there and you can tell the comments come from someone who is A) old enough to be my parents, B) had their job for a while, and C) is set in the mindset of never changing.

If there is one overriding perception of the millennial generation, it’s that these young people have great — and sometimes outlandish — expectations. Employers realize the millennials are their future work force, but they are concerned about this generation’s desire to shape their jobs to fit their lives rather than adapt their lives to the workplace.

Can we say work/life balance?? I mean come on. The days of young professionals going to work for a company and planning on staying there for the rest of their lives is over. The average person now probably changes jobs every 5 years, just like buying a new car. Young professionals do not want to work 60-80 work weeks constantly and have nothing to show for it. Working my ass off to make money for someone else and only getting my normal salary is not going to cut it. If you want me to work hard for you, you have to work hard for me – provide excellent benefits, incentives to work hard/meet deadlines, offer flexible working hours, compensate for overtime, offer competitive vacation time, have a relaxed workplace – the list could go on and on and on!

More than 85% of hiring managers and human-resource executives said they feel that millennials have a stronger sense of entitlement than older workers, according to a survey by CareerBuilder.com.

I don’t think it is neccessarily that millennials feel entitled to everything and anything, but it is that they know what they want, have goals, and want to achieve them. That’s part of the American Dream isn’t it? If you as an employeer are not going to support that, then why should a millennial want to work for you?

The generation’s greatest expectations: higher pay (74% of respondents); flexible work schedules (61%); a promotion within a year (56%); and more vacation or personal time (50%).

I agree with these stats except for I find it hard to believe that 56% of the survey population expected a promotion within a year. Millennials know that hard work is involved with getting ahead. I would hope that the majority of us know that this just isn’t going to happen overnight. Let’s be real though – the cost of living is skyrocketing in all the major cities where the majority of jobs are. In order for us to live and be able to afford A) a vehicle, B) food, and C) housing (renting or buying) then the pay needs to reflect that and be competitive with other companies. In my local area in Maryland, there is no way that a fresh college graduate is going to purchase a house right away, it just isn’t going to happen. The average single family home price is probably at least $400K with more and more $800K plus “estates” being built day after day. Developers are struggling to sell these houses but still keep building them instead of building condos, townhouses, apartment complexes, and smaller more affordable houses. The average townhouse in my area is probably $350k (a little more reasonable but still not great). If the costs of living continue to rise, salaries need to keep rising too.

The article says that you should be blaming parents, teachers, and coaches for millennial’s wanting to be able to be casual at work, enjoy their time in the office, and have a flexible work schedule. What a crock of shit. It says that we are the pride and joy of our parents and this is a problem…so you mean to tell me you wouldn’t want the best for your children and for them to be successful in whatever they did? School? Sports? Music? Plays? Competitions? Work?

Now I don’t think you can take ALL the blame off of someones parents because they do play a part in the mindset, but not 100% as the article suggests. In reference to teachers not usinig red ink on grading papers, the ink color doesnt matter – red, blue, purple, black – a failing grade is a failing grade no matter what color ink it is in. But back to parents, with my generation, they have been giving too much to their kids. The perfect example of this is when a teenager turns 16 and can drive. Parents are giving their kids a BMW, a Lexus, a Hummer, etc rather than a Honda or Toyota. How can a kid expect anything less than the best when the parents push the best onto them in the form of gifts, this leads to that expectation later in life. This is one part of the article that I agree with. Some of the problems stem from the parents not teaching their children what it means to work hard, be motivated, have respect, and work for what you get.

Millennials also expect a flexible work routine that allows them time for their family and personal interests. “For this generation, work is not a place you go; work is a thing you do,” says Kaye Foster-Cheek, vice president for human resources at Johnson & Johnson.

I don’t think it is so much a flexible work routine that millennials are looking for but more the ability to be flexible if needed. Giving someone full freedom to come and go as works best for them and giving someone the chance to coming early so they can leave early or take an hour off here or there are different things. Doesn’t everyone want to be able to spend time with their family and on their own interests? To you Ms. Foster-Cheek, I can imagine you like spending time with your family just as much as I do and take advantage of every chance you get, so do not try to say that it is just something the younger generation does while people your age work away in the office late into the night.

These outspoken young people tend to be highly opinionated and fearlessly challenge recruiters and bosses. Status and hierarchy don’t impress them much. They want to be treated like colleagues rather than subordinates

Is there all of the sudden an issue with speaking your mind, sharing your concerns, and trying to help advance the business? If we just sit by and ignore anything that is wrong or could be done better, then failure for the department, business segment, or company can not be far away. baby boomers sure are not going to ‘go up against the man’ because they are ready to retire and can not take that risk. But if a millennial speaks up and happens to save your business thousands, hundreds of thousands, or millions of dollars, I am sure you will appreciate the hell out of them for doing so!

One of the final lines that I like the best out of this article is:

In the final analysis, the generational tension is a bit ironic. After all, the grumbling baby-boomer managers are the same indulgent parents who produced the millennial generation.

If you don’t like what you are seeing within your company, then take a look at your home life and parenting. You are probably doing the exact same thing in your personal life that you hate at your work life.

What do you guys think? Am I way off base here? I’d love to see some comments on the topic and get some great discussion going!

I’m also interesting in reading any other articles similar to this on or on this topic, so if you have seen anything, leave a link to it!

If you can find a decent sales job that you can excel at and get experience, then you can continue to look for another job that better fits your criteria. But, at least you are 1) working, 2) making money, 3) not wasting time, and 4) hopefully using your education. I tried to stress these points to some of my friends who were having harder times than others. However, they would not give in to a sales job (even when pretty good offers came their way) and they are STILL looking for a job — 5 MONTHS LATER! Now with the economy being in an even worse condition than before, I will guarentee that they are still unemployed even without talking to them.

One of my fraternity brothers moved to the Chicago area and has been struggling to find a job that fits his needs. He is lucky that he had some money saved up from working throughout college and his parents are able to help support him while he continues to search, send resumes, submit applications, and go on interviews. I recently came across a website called Chicago Sales Jobs. I instantly thought of him and sent him the link.

The site is great – although it is similar to the other job listing websites. Being focused on a specific geographic area allows for a better variety and more opportunity to target the right audience with the website. This website reminds me of the fact that you can not only focus on the larger career/job sites like Monster or Career Builder, but you need to look for more geographically focused or niche/industry focused sites that relate to exactly what you are looking for. Specific job sites usually allow for the companies to post a longer description of the position and may even offer a wider variety.

So, if you are in the Chicago area, check out Chicago Sales jobs, or if you are also still looking for a job and graduated in May, or graduated after summer classes, or are going to be graduating in December keep up the search, expand your horizons for the search methods that you use, and keep your head up! You’ll find something!

Are you guys having any issues like this? More and more students are graduating each semester with college degrees and it is making it more difficult for others to find jobs. Perhaps this is the perfect reason to start a dorm room business while you are in school so you do not have to worry about getting a job when you graduate?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on the topic of the job market and the challenges with finding a job after graduating.