Navigating the Job Market: Career Advice for Graduating College Students

When looking for a new job and trying to make sense of a crazy job market, suddenly everyone seems to have advice for you. Although friends and loved ones offer advice with your best interests in mind, it can easily become overwhelming to hear everyone’s words of wisdom and secret tips for exactly what to do. This can be especially overwhelming for those finishing up college and trying to enter the workforce for the first time. Ideally, it would be great to narrow in on the job tips that are the most useful for soon-to-be-graduating college students.

Since 2015, Stephen Mitroff—a coauthor of this piece—has regularly taught an undergraduate seminar at The George Washington University titled “Science in the District: Applied Cognitive Psychology.” With a hands-on approach, the course explores how cognitive psychology contributes to real-world performance. This includes virtual visits from professionals who share their own experiences and provide advice to the students, who are mostly juniors and seniors trying to figure out what to do after graduation. Cumulatively, this course has produced a decade of interactions that have provided unique insights into navigating the job market and employment space.

The class visitors, including this article’s coauthor Vijeth Iyengar, have come from a wide range of fields and organizations including the government, military, public & private, non-profit, and research sectors (Table). At the end of each semester, the students reported their key takeaways from the expert visits, and below we provided the top five tips and lessons that represent the most consistent responses.

Five Tips for First-Time Job Seekers

1. Non-linear Career Paths Are Ok—Or Even Great

• “My biggest takeaway from this course is that there is no one way to get where you want to go and that sometimes opportunities present themselves that you could have never anticipated.”
• “A consistent theme I saw among the visitors is that a lot of them made career changes at some point. It adds both less and more worry to my plate simultaneously… It puts less pressure on me knowing they all found increasingly interesting paths that worked for them. It also worries me a bit since I think I've already found my niche; is it possible I'll be disappointed and also ultimately want to change?”

While a few of the professionals who visited the class over the years found their dream job right away, most did not. Many people move between jobs for various reasons (location, pay, job title, etc.). Importantly, no one path is better than another—it matters what works for you. Moreover, smaller companies can often offer greater exposure to opportunities and faster routes to promotion. The students were comforted to learn that they are entering a non-predetermined adventure, and that is both okay and exciting.

2. Explore Every Opportunity—You May be Shocked by What is Actually Right for You

• “One takeaway I had was to apply to many different types of jobs. In doing so, you can learn which type of jobs/field you like and which you don’t. You may even like a job you weren’t expecting to and then end up pursuing a career in that field instead.”
• “A great suggestion coming from most of the visitors about future careers is that we need to find opportunities and not be afraid to try different types of jobs and work in different fields.”

Graduating students looking for a job can find themselves overwhelmed. On one hand, students are pressured to find a job that aligns with their skills and passion while prioritizing salary and lifestyle. On the other hand, they are confronted with a competitive job market with few opportunities. The students noted how incredibly stressful this can be, but one consistent outcome from the class visits was that the students felt relieved by learning that most people change jobs and try different options. Once you get a job, you might actually love it. If not, then your first job can serve as a stepping stone and can provide insights into intangible information such as whether you perform well in a 9-to-5 job or work better virtually. Practically, it is also easier to search for a job when you already have one.

3. Relationship Building is Critical

• “Networking is everything because you never know who could be your boss one day or could be helpful in the future.”
• “With all the qualifications necessary to establish yourself professionally, it’s easy to forget that just talking to people and forming connections goes a long way.”

The role of relationship building has been the most consistent advice provided, regardless of field, employment sector, or seniority. The professional visitors repeatedly stressed the value of being active on networking sites such as LinkedIn to leverage connections. Students responded that they are often reluctant to “put themselves out there,” but hearing from the experts gave them the encouragement to do so. Personally, the authors can attest that the majority of people we know (including the vast majority of the class visitors) have gotten their positions through a networking connection.

4. Opportunities Can Come from Being Flexible

• “Failure, rejection, and uncertainty is completely natural and okay (still having to tell myself this).”
• “I learned that you do not have to have everything mapped out in order to be successful. As long as you are passionate about something and you have a supportive group around you, the possibilities are endless, and so you shouldn't limit yourself because you feel like you can't do something or you could've done it better.”

A powerful takeaway from the visits was that not everything works out as planned—and this is okay as long as you are willing to adapt. Relatedly, students were intrigued to learn about strategic efforts that can “get your foot in the door.” For example, many companies and government agencies use internships, contractor positions, and other mechanisms as an entry point for a full-time offer. The students appreciated the advice to embrace such opportunities and work with employers to navigate unfamiliar systems.

5. It’s Okay Not to Know— Relax

• “I learned that I don't have to have everything figured out before I graduate, which was eye-opening in a really nice way.”
• “I found it immensely reassuring to hear that many of our guest speakers stated that they themselves were unsure of what they wanted to do for a career when they were undergraduates. Many of them were unsure even after graduation and bounced between jobs. This may seem silly, but I just found it immensely comforting.”

It was extremely helpful for the students to hear that people who have succeeded did not have everything figured out at the start. For a graduating student, the world seems to expect you to find your perfect job and to do so easily and with a smile. It is a relief to know that things do work out, and it is ok to not have it all settled immediately. It is also comforting to understand that your first job may be just that—a first job.

Table. Example industries & job titles of the professional experts that served as class visitors.

The views reflected in the article are the authors’ views and do not necessarily reflect the views of their employer.