Gone are the days when a stellar transcript, resume, and a well-tailored suit were all you needed to land your first job after graduating from college. Most employers expect Gen Y to be professionally seasoned by the time they walk across the stage for their diploma.
What does it take? A little bit of sweat and hard work—and a lot of personal branding. It’s about discovering and selling a distinctive role that you play for employers. It’s about making your brand the one they want to buy.
Building a brand takes time. In the world of higher education, we call it the “four-year approach,” but anyone can use it to help focus personal and professional goals and get results. For college students, I break it down by year:
Freshman Year: Explore. Who are you and what do you want to do?
You need to discover your brand before you can sell it, and this takes some exploring. Something as simple as choosing a major or taking a career assessment gives you a base as you decide which type of job you want.
Sophomore Year: Experiment. Internships, projects, activities and networking provide insight.
Remember to stay flexible. Consider your “dreams” but also make way for new ones as you broaden your experience during the next couple of years.
Cassaundra Kapinos is a case in point. The management major originally had her heart set on a job in Human Resources, but changed her mind as she learned more about the field. “I realized that a desk job wasn’t the best match for me,” she says. She chose a more hands-on position as district manager at international grocery retailer ALDI. She calls it “the perfect fit,” with ample time to interact with customers, managers and employees. Her career advice is simple: “Cultivate as many options as you can. Be sure to have an attractive back-up plan.”
Junior Year: Experience. Gain professional experience and focus related to your major.
If your school’s Career Services department has fostered its own relationships with potential employers, you have the home-team advantage of gaining experience during your sophomore and junior years. If not, you need to build your own playing field by networking as much as possible. And then network some more.
Senior Year: Execute. Put your arsenal of information and resources into action.
During the senior year homestretch, you go from “backpack to briefcase” to marshal your experience into a job. You have your brand. Now it’s time to sell, sell, sell.
A key tool for selling your brand: social media. Students are leveraging social media to develop an advantage with potential employers. Persa Konomi, a senior at Bentley University, found two job leads through Twitter and believes that social media is critical to a job search in today’s market. “There aren’t as many opportunities out there so you have to be creative,” Ms. Konomi says.
“People are now posting jobs to Twitter. If you’re interested in a company you need to follow them on Twitter, observe what they talk about, and say something relevant that might catch their eye. The hope is that they start following you and you start a discussion and that can lead anywhere.”
So, is the four-year plan worth it? It may be a long process, but employers approve. “At TJX Companies, we prefer building relationships with students through campus events and internships, for instance, rather than making that initial handshake a few months before graduation,” says Genevieve Barrett, executive talent acquisition manager at the off-price retailer.
“It takes the cookie-cutter approach out of job recruitment, and careers become much more personal and meaningful.”
Take the time to build your brand. It’s a strategy that can help you through one of the most stressful milestones in life—finding your first real job.
Susan Brennan is director of undergraduate career services at Bentley University, Waltham, Mass.
Wall Street Journal
