It’s almost summer time and for some of us that means it’s almost time to graduate and start “real life”. I know about this all too well because I have spent my last few months in this struggle. I am happy to say that I have landed my first full time job that starts promptly after college ends. With that being said here is what I think it took.

A tasteful resume.

A resume is a pretty intimidating thing and if you don’t feel that way then you should. Bottom line is you have one page to encompass the entirety of you. Doing this is a lot of work, and I hate to say it but you should really tailor each resume to each job you want. The best part is that it’s likely that you are going to applying to a bunch of places and only a few will call you back, therefore its likely your hard work will be briefly looked at and thrown out or shredded. This may be discouraging but have a positive attitude think of it this way: a fisherman doesn’t but the bait on the hook just some of the time when trying to catch a big fish, he does it every time. Finally have people review your resume and make sure its subtly stylish. Using times new roman on your resume? You might as well use comic sans. Reading about resume fonts made me think of this great scene in American Psycho:

Dress sharp.

It’s unanimous, it’s pretty much impossible to overdress. Think you can get by with a dress shirt and slacks? No

Be early.

Technology is getting better and better these days, google can now predict when you should leave on maps to get somewhere on a certain day at a certain time. Calculate it 30 mins early and if you really get there 30 mins early, sit in your car and practice speaking clearly. Focus on relaxing things and it’s even been said listening to music that pumps you up yields great results. Checking in with HR 10 mins before your appointment is the perfect statement of being squared away.

An added advantage.

If you get into the interview room you better have something that sets you apart from everyone else. I don’t remember who originally suggested this to me, but every interview I have done recently I have brought an iPad loaded up with a presentation with work that I have worked on. Don’t have a portfolio? Yes you do. The people interviewing you are humans and would be definitely be interested in seeing how you would fit with them. While job hunting I spoke with everyone I knew that had a big boy job and they all told me that when finding new employees a huge thing they look for is how well the new person is going to fit in. So even if you think you wouldn’t have anything to show for yourself, you could absolutely find a creative way to spin who you are and maybe some pictures of what you are about into the interview.

By: Eric Skirzynski