Looking for your first job is stressful but there are a few things that you can do to minimize the sting of rejection and help make the move to the right job as quickly as possible.

With over 400,000 graduates being passed out every year by the different universities and colleges, you must prove that you are unique from others. By doing this you will either create or get yourself a job even before you complete your degree course. 

Tips to follow when looking for your first job

Follow your passion: Hopefully this first job will be the start of a long and fruitful career for you. There are a million quotes out there about loving what you do, and following your dreams, and for good reason. If you can do some soul searching and figure out where your passion lies, the years of work ahead of you will be much more pleasant. Put a good amount of thought into what is important to you, what gets you going, and what you can see yourself being excited to wake up and go do on a daily basis. Having excitement every morning to get up and go to work is nothing to take for granted, it is a gift and a privilege, do everything within your power to find work that you can love, and go for it.

Use your connections: Making friends at school, meeting new people at conferences and networking at job fairs adds up into a large list of contacts that may be able to refer you to the job you need. Now is the time to use that contact list for positive professional outreach. If anyone on that list owes you a favor, now is a good time to call it in. Remember to reciprocate when others ask for help too. When you are calling on a friend, do so with class, style and respect, you don’t want to burn any bridges, as this will make things difficult down the road.

Follow up: When you have submitted yourself for a job, follow up with them if you don’t hear anything after a few days. It never hurts to make sure that your application has gotten where it needs to go and by calling and checking in, you show initiative and the fact that you really are interested in the position. It is always a good idea to follow up during the application process, unless for some reason they clearly state that they do not want to receive calls related to the job posting, in this case, follow the rules.

Be Flexible: Remember that this is a job hunt and you may look for a long time and not find EXACTLY what you are looking for, but you may stumble across jobs that are close or almost exactly what you hoped to find. Be flexible; realize that everyone has to start somewhere. Maybe the position isn’t what you were picturing but it gets your foot in the door and provides a solid place to start. Be open to all possibilities, and explore anything that comes your way even if it wasn’t what you had imagined.

Dress for success: There is more to this old adage than meets the eye. You want to show your care and enthusiasm for the position by presenting yourself in the best light and in a way that shows that you care about making a great first impression, but more importantly, you want to feel good. When you look good, you feel good and you have more confidence, this can positively affect your overall performance. Confidence can play a huge part in answering tough questions with conviction and leaving behind the impression of a strong smart and capable candidate.

Never give up: It may take some time to find the right job for you at first, but don’t give up. Keep at it, be diligent and never lose sight of what you want. If you are persistent and follow through on what you set out to do, you will eventually find what you want, but you have to be willing to sift through many job listings and put in the time and effort needed to go after every one. Be diligent, try not to be discouraged, and it will pay off.