For Recent College Grads, the Job Hunt Continues
Diplomas have been awarded. Campuses are quiet. And recent college graduates are settling into summer internships and first jobs.
Or at least, some of them are. Many are still hunting for the right opportunity to kick off their careers.
U.S. News & World Report checked back in with five seniors who shared their job-search stories in the final days before their commencement ceremonies. One has since started a job. The rest are tinkering with their strategies for making connections and strengthening applications.
Juggling Jobs
Kendrick Cunningham has several irons in the fire. He's working Wednesday through Friday as a copy-writing intern for a sales company and spending weekends running field operations for a local political campaign, while simultaneously creating his own organization designed to support people running for office on progressive platforms.
Oh, and he's also hunting for a full-time job.
"I'm still looking for a public relations agency where I can get real-world experience and understand more about how to attract clients," Cunningham says.
A friend told him about the copy-writing internship opportunity, which Cunningham snagged after interviewing in person with the firm's whole team. He secured his role in the campaign of Robert Kellogg, who is running for the North Carolina state House of Representatives, by sending notes to public affairs specialists he found on LinkedIn.
"The campaign manager reached out to me, and I gave him a call. It was a great conversation," Cunningham says. "He asked if I wanted advice or an opportunity, and I said both. He said he wouldn't mind bringing me on to the campaign as a field operations specialist."
Cunningham considered accepting an offer for a part-time job at a local science museum, which he'd applied to because he thought it would be a fun place to work. But he ultimately declined.
"I need to be focused on my ultimate goal," he says. "I'm considering running for office. Everything is geared toward that moment right there."
As his call with U.S. News ended, Cunningham was en route to a public-relations agency to deliver his resume in person.
[See: The 12 Best Jobs That Help People.]
Moving to a Hub
Placing herself in proximity to opportunity has been Megan Donahue's job-search strategy since she graduated.
Having decided she'd like to find work in the D.C. area, she's spent her summer with family members who live near the nation's capital, ready to take any in-person interviews that may come her way.
"Face-to-face would be ideal," she says.
Donahue's friends and family have circulated her resume to people they know who may be able to help her find a good position. This has led to a few informational interviews via email and phone, sometimes with people who have no personal connection to her.
"Going into the phone call, I'm not entirely sure if they have positions they're considering me for," Donahue says. "I try to be as professional and upfront as I can about my experience and what I'm looking for."
She's tried to instill some structure into her search process, creating daily goals such as spending two hours hunting for possible positions or finishing two specific applications.
"I love doing the search and getting excited about the position, but sometimes it's hard to do a well-crafted application and cover letter," Donahue says. "I have to make those deadlines for myself before the job's been posted for too long, because you want to be one of the first ones that they see."
[See: 10 Tech Jobs That Make the Most Money.]
Searching Abroad
For most newly minted alumni, graduating means leaving campus. For Solmaz Azimi, it also meant leaving the country.
The Afghanistan native had the option to stay in the U.S. thanks to the Optional Practical Training program, which allows international students to work in the country for one or more years after completing their degrees. But the timing of her interviews for a position in materials science with a biotechnology start-up didn't align with the requirements of her visa.
So Azimi left New York City for Geneva, Switzerland, where her family now resides.
Despite the outcome, Azimi's job interviews were instructive. During the first phone call, a scientist quizzed her with detailed questions.
"Sixty percent was a test of my science knowledge," Azimi says. "I wasn't expecting that. Some of the stuff I was interested in and done research in I was able to talk about easily and eloquently. Some of the stuff I don't have experience in, things more bio-related, and it was challenging."
Now, she's thinking about looking for work with one of the several large pharmaceutical companies headquartered in Switzerland. She'll also be researching options for getting her doctoral degree in chemistry.
"It's relevant to what I want to accomplish 40 years from now," Azimi says. "I would like to set up some kind of science foundation in my home country, in Afghanistan. There's not a lot of scientific research being done."
She won't be returning to the U.S. in the near future, but hopes to do so eventually.
"A lot of fast-paced innovation is happening in the States, and I very much want to be a part of that," she says.
[See: 10 Jobs That Offer Millennials Good Work-Life Balance.]
A Surprise Opportunity
Being open to adventure can lead you somewhere unexpected. Savannah Wormley's post-graduation plans to work in Greece as a teaching assistant for a college summer program were cut short in June when the Indiana University School of Public and Environmental Affairs asked her to head to Australia, instead.
"I'm always a big proponent of when an opportunity comes your way that's going to lead to a lot of personal growth, and you know it will, I think you should absolutely take it," Wormley says. "I couldn't pass it up."
Now, Wormley finds herself more than 9,000 miles from home. She's handling logistics for college students participating in a summer course, making sure they're comfortable in their living quarters and helping their professor get them around town.
She's even had the chance to network: "The first week we were here, I met with a dean at a public policy school in Australia," Wormley says. "That actually made me start seriously considering going to graduate school abroad."
However, homesickness has started to set in.
"I'm so far away from everything, and it's not as exciting as it originally was," Wormley says. "I'm stressed applying for jobs and not knowing what's going to happen when I get back."
After a possible job opportunity at a nonprofit fell through, Wormley has been "obsessively patrolling job boards," looking particularly at a website that advertises positions at charities in Indiana. Her spreadsheet of applications has 11 entries so far.
Getting Started
After finishing a senior year full of career false-starts, Jessica Pang recently began a full-time job as a campaign analyst at Panera Bread, assessing what works well for the brand's customer loyalty program.
The hiring process didn't take long. Over the course of three weeks, Pang had two phone interviews, then met four company employees in person for third round of interviews.
"I got asked a lot of marketing research questions in my interview, so I think taking that class fairly recently did help," Pang says.
One day, she got an email from a Panera manager asking to set up a brief phone call. Nervous, she set up an appointment. To her relief, the manager called to ask whether she wanted to join his team.
Pang's answer? Yes.
"I was looking forward to doing the responsibilities of the role," Pang says. "It was really exciting. It was nice to finally be able to update people what I was going to be doing after graduation."
The company was flexible about her start date and accommodated her previously planned family vacation. Having just been on the job a few days, she's already savoring how different a full-time position feels from being a temporary intern.
"It's more long-term, and there's a lot more to do," Pang says. "I'm really looking forward to working and doing my best."
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