As a student at Emerson College, your mind is zoned into pursuing goals that will lead to receiving your diploma. Whether it’s making flashcards to study, writing an essay or taking an exam, these tasks take up a lot of your time and energy on campus. When it’s time to walk across the stage at graduation, you’re turning the page to start a brand new beginning for yourself. After graduation, study habits and making it to class on time are no longer on your weekly to-do list. Instead, an entirely different list of responsibilities will occur. Preparing for the real world can be stressful and exhausting to say the least. But with the proper preparation, you’ll be ready to take it on. Here are some great tips to consider when starting your new journey into adulthood.
Update Your Resumé
Your resumé is an important representation of your work experience, internship credits, volunteer time and other imperative excurriculars. All job applications require a resumé, and it is crucial that yours stands out amongst the others. For a perfectly crafted resumé, make sure it’s free of grammatical errors, well written and organized. Make it personal yet professional and showcase yourself without being overly confident. For more advice about resumé writing and formatting, check out our resumé writing guide.
Create or Review Your LinkedIn Profile
LinkedIn is a tool that makes it easy to build and maintain professional connections. By creating an account, you’re giving yourself access to countless job opportunities and connections. These connections have the potential to not only be managers and employees from other companies, but alumni from your college or university as well. LinkedIn also gives others the chance to seek out your work experience. If they like your professional background, they have the ability contact you through a direct message. Your profile is a digitized resumé, so the information that is on your actual resumé can be included on your LinkedIn page as well. Make sure to include a professional headshot so that individuals who are looking at your profile can see what you look like.
Apply to Jobs and Prepare for Interviews
Finding your first job outside of college is not an easy task. It takes a lot time and patience! After updating your resumé and getting your LinkedIn account squared away, completing applications comes next. As a recent college graduate, some jobs you find online will seem a bit dull, and the salary might not be the greatest either. But any experience you can get within your field is a step in the right direction. All in all, you want your application to stand out enough that it leads to an interview. When it comes time to interview with a potential employer, it is vital to be well prepared. Make sure you know the history of the company and the details about the position you’re applying for.
Establish a Budgeting Plan
When you graduate college, there may be a time where you won’t have a stable source of income. Develop a financial plan to keep your current savings organized, set spending limits and be strict about what you spend your money on. If you have student loan payments, consider refinancing your student debt to save yourself money. If there is ever a time where you think you can budget a higher loan payment, you can always change your repayment strategy. To keep all of your payments organized, create an Excel sheet and separate each payment by the amount and its due date.
