Recent college graduates face a uniquely challenging job market shaped by a blend of economic pressures, shifting workplace expectations, and heightened competition. As a result, smart, capable college grads and near-grads are having difficulty launching their internships and/or careers. This problem has escalated over the past 18-24 months despite grads’ (and their parents’) ever-increasing investments in college degrees. Many companies are reconsidering their hiring plans, laying off some of their newer hires, cutting back on investments in internships and recruiting, and considering the use of AI for some entry-level roles.
The rise of remote work and digital-first hiring practices also presents both opportunities and obstacles for job seekers. While virtual interviews and remote jobs expand access to opportunities, they can also make it more challenging for graduates to stand out in a crowded field of competition from across the country. Once hired in a new job, building meaningful professional connections and demonstrating interpersonal skills can be difficult in virtual settings, leaving many new professionals feeling isolated and making the transition to their next job difficult.
Despite these hurdles, there are strategies to help graduates overcome job search challenges. Seeking guidance from career coaches, learning to network, and engaging in internships or volunteer opportunities can help bridge experience gaps. Additionally, creatively using social networking tools and LinkedIn profiles can improve job prospects. With determination, creativity, and the right resources, graduates can navigate the current job market challenges and position themselves for long-term career success. Over the past year, we’ve worked with and interviewed dozens of recent college graduates about their experiences in securing their first job or internship. A few of their stories offer excellent examples of ways in which recent graduates can overcome job market challenges.
“Isabelle” (not her real name—but we’ll call her Izzy) studied journalism at University of Southern California (USC). Though she is an excellent writer and a very engaging person when you speak with her, she suffers from near-crippling social anxiety meeting new people and describes herself as “painfully shy”. However, she landed several prestigious internships while in school and, after graduation was hired in what she described as her “her dream job” at a cool product company (that you’ve probably heard of)in Los Angeles.
She didn’t get these jobs and internships by responding to on-line ads, she got them by relentless networking.
How does a painfully shy person win at networking? Here’s her strategy:
1. She attended a ton of professional presentations about topics she enjoyed when they were offered by her school. After the presentations, she wouldn’t approach the speaker (that was too intimidating for her!)—instead, she would reach out to them later that day electronically and tell them a few specific things about their presentation that she particularly enjoyed. Sometimes she would share an article or something else they might find of interest based on the topic.
2. If they got back to her, she would continue the electronic dialogue with a short note asking a relevant question or (big gulp here) if they were local, ask if they’d be willing to spend a few minutes with her, sharing a bit about their own professional journey and giving advice as she was beginning hers.
3. She would put a reminder in her calendar about reaching back out to them in about 3 months to let them know what she was up to—thereby continuing the dialogue and the relationship.
4. In time, through this and other efforts, she grew a network of professional contacts, several of whom made introductions to others that led to unadvertised jobs and multiple job offers at graduation.
No, it wasn’t easy; but in her case, she used her strongest skill (writing) to begin the conversation, so the later interactions felt more comfortable. It’s not the only way to network—but it is a creative one!
A very creative young woman we’ll call Lauren recently graduated from a college near Atlanta, Georgia. She was interested in fashion merchandising and had targeted one particular company that would be her dream employer. Unfortunately, upon graduation she couldn’t get anyone in HR at that company (which was prestigious) to respond to her resume and ultimately took another job.
However, she had a plan.
Lauren decided to follow the Principle of the 3 Ps. She was patient, polite and incredibly persistent.
While she was working in her first job—making new friends and learning new skills, she kept her eyes on “Dream Company” and began her campaign.
1. After about a year of working at the first job, she began applying to literally anything “Dream Company” advertised--regardless of whether it was her desired role or not.
2. When she didn’t get the many jobs to which she applied, she politely thanked HR and then used LinkedIn to learn about the person who did get the job.
3. She would reach out to the newly employed person and ask for a networking meeting over coffee. Most of them agreed.
4. During their conversation, she would ask about their career paths, share her desire to work for “Dream Company” and ask their advice about how she could gain the necessary skills to work in the organization. She got lots of good ideas and she kept in touch with her new professional colleagues.
5. Over time, she gained sufficient experience to be considered for a role at “Dream Company”. By then, she had insights into the organization’s strategies, interview process, and job roles. She had done her homework!
6. Beyond that, she had a lot of new friends working at Dream Company who were pulling for her and willing to recommend her to the hiring manager.
She was thrilled to get the job, give a polite and professional amount of notice to the first company, and move on. Bottom line, the 3 Ps helped her achieve her dream.
A recent college grad from a Boston school had a Masters Degree in Environmental Science, a strong interest in food justice, and college loans to pay off. “Anthony” was committed to his cause, but jobs in the field were hard to come by. So, when he returned to his parents’ home Seattle, he decided to explore the field through volunteering and internships while making money working in a series of gig jobs.
Anthony began volunteering for a local Food Bank, canvassed for a political candidate, and wrote articles for an environmental organization’s website. He enjoyed the work and met many like-minded colleagues. After several months, a Board member of one of these groups noticed his commitment and began a dialogue about an environmentally-focused foundation with which the Board member was highly involved.
Two months later, “Anthony” was employed full time as the foundation’s operations manager and was flying to the Amazon (not the company, the river!) to meet some of the foundation’s employees working there.
Anthony put himself in proximity to opportunities through his volunteer efforts and it ultimately paid off with an interesting and personally fulfilling job.
All of these recent real-world examples illustrate how doing the extra bit—and adding a dose of commitment and creativity can yield great results in the job search. What’s your story? The Career Coaches at The Launchpad Collective are here to help! We specialize in career counseling for new college graduates. If you’d like to get more creative ideas and pragmatic advice about how to land your first job, contact us at info@thelaunchpadcollective.com. Your career is our mission.
Contact Amanda personally at amanda@thelaunchpadcollective.com if any of the following are of interest to you: choosing a career, college graduate employment, career coaching for young professionals, interview practice, finding jobs after college, networking tips, college graduates looking for jobs, personal branding, internships for college students, salary negotiations, jobs for college graduates, optimizing your resume, finding jobs after college.
