Free advice
Job search tips for new college graduates
Six of the most useful ideas from the book, free and in full. If you read nothing else before your next application, read these.
Tip 01
Have a plan for day one after graduation
The dangerous stretch is the first two weeks after the ceremony, when there is no structure and no deadline. Give the day a shape before it gives itself one.
Five things belong on that first list: update your resume, start an actual search, tell your network you are looking, get honest about your finances, and decide what you genuinely want — including whether that means a new city.
None of these takes long on its own. The point is starting them on day one rather than day forty, when the momentum from graduating has gone.
Tip 02
Make your resume match the job you're applying for
Here is the question a hiring manager is really asking as they read: does this resume closely match the position advertised?
One general resume sprayed at forty postings performs worse than six tailored ones. Pull the posting up beside your resume. The skills it names should appear in yours, in the same language, near the top. If the posting says “data analysis” and your resume says “worked with numbers,” you have made the reader do translation work they will not do.
This is not about inventing experience. It is about making the experience you have legible to someone scanning for thirty seconds.
Tip 03
Look where other applicants don't
The big job boards are where everyone looks, which is exactly why the competition there is fiercest.
Go direct instead. Pick companies you would like to work for and open their websites. Scroll to the bottom of the homepage — that is where the “Careers,” “Jobs,” or “Work With Us” link almost always sits. Those listings are often posted there first, and sometimes only there.
Applying through a company own site also means your application lands with that company rather than in an aggregator queue behind a thousand others.
Tip 04
Research the company before you walk in
Every interview includes some version of “why do you want to work for this company?” It is not small talk. It is a test of whether you did any homework.
Before the interview, find three things: the company mission or what it actually does, something in its recent news, and its stated values. Twenty minutes gets you all three.
Then build your answer from what you found — the technology they work with, the kind of projects you would be on, the culture they describe, the way the role would grow. An answer grounded in specifics beats enthusiasm every time, because anyone can be enthusiastic.
Tip 05
Bring the right things — and ask a real question
Bring two copies of your resume, a pen, and paper. Two copies because there may be a second interviewer, or because yours got lost between the inbox and the room. Paper because taking a note signals you are listening, and because you will not remember the details afterwards.
Then ask something worth asking. “What does excellence in this job look like?” is one of the best questions a graduate can put to an interviewer. It shows you are thinking about performing well, not just being hired — and the answer tells you what you would actually be measured on.
Most candidates ask nothing. Asking one good question is a genuinely low-cost way to be remembered.
Tip 06
Consider earning while you learn
If the office track is not working, or was never what you wanted, skilled-trade apprenticeships are worth a serious look — and almost no career guide mentions them.
The path is well-marked. Explore trade options through a local union or trade school. Apply to a formal apprenticeship program. Take the required theory and safety classes. Work on real jobs alongside experienced tradespeople. Advance through levels with rising pay as you go. Pass the state exam and earn your journeyman license.
The difference from another degree is the direction the money flows: you draw a weekly paycheck the whole way through, and you come out licensed rather than owing more. For electricians, carpenters and the trades alongside them, that is a career with a clear ladder and no shortage of demand.
That’s six tips. The book has 174 pages of them, all illustrated.