5 tips for getting your foot in the door

For recent graduates and career changers, getting your foot in the door is no easy task. Without much relevant experience or useful contacts, landing your first job in your chosen career when you are up against experienced applicants is difficult, but not impossible. Here are five tips to help you get there.

1. Work your contacts
Your contacts can’t necessarily get you a job, but they can tell you where there are job openings – often before the jobs are actually advertised – and they can act as references when you apply. Make and maintain contacts with people you have worked with / for (i.e. bosses, colleagues, clients) and with people you studied with (tutors and fellow students).

Stay visible and accessible to your contacts by joining networks (professional organisations in your field as well as social networks such as LinkedIn), alumni groups or by sending brief “newsletter” type emails every month or so. Like with all friendships, contacts need nurturing, and they are unlikely to pull out all the stops for you if you only use them when you need them. Remember to stay in touch with your contacts and help them by passing on useful information and advice.

2. Get out and about
Be prepared to do a lot of the legwork yourself to find out which companies might be hiring. Phone them, and find out who the best person is to talk to about vacancies, then try to arrange a phone call or a meeting with this person to ask about opportunities, work experience, where the company usually recruits, if they have any particular requirements and so on. Follow up with a brief “thank you” email a couple of days later.

3. Make your own experience
Lack of related experience is one of the biggest obstacles that fresh grads and career changers face. Getting your first break is the dream that propels you forward, but in the meantime, improve your chances by doing your own projects.

This is especially the case for creative and media industries where designing and implementing a project can demonstrate your skills, as well as give you valuable experience. It doesn’t need to be paid work, and in fact, getting something off the ground from scratch will show you are resourceful and tenacious – two desirable character traits for employers.

Research and pitch articles if you are an aspiring journalist, manage a local charity’s fundraising event if you want to get into PR, design the CD sleeve of a friend’s band if you need a graphic design project, and so on. As well as building your experience, you’ll be making useful contacts who may be able to recommend you for other projects.

4. Don’t only apply for permanent positions
Be prepared to take on entry-level positions, short contracts, casual work – in short, anything that might lead on to greater things. Treat every position as a stepping stone that builds your expertise and makes you a stronger candidate for future opportunities.

If you go in to a company on a temporary contract and do well, you may well be considered for internal vacancies. This happened to me when I was promoted from a marketing assistant to a publicity position. The company preferred to offer the job to someone they already knew, than to go through a costly and time-consuming recruitment process. If I hadn’t taken what was initially a temporary position at entry-level, I’d never have been considered for the job.

5. Offer yourself up
By no means the last resort, volunteer work or unpaid work experience are great ways of building your skills. For graduates who’ve never worked in an office environment before, learning how to work with a range of people and navigating the inevitable office politics also help to build self-confidence.

Treat volunteer work or unpaid experience in exactly the same way as you would paid employment. Make sure it goes on your CV (give dates and your roles) and mention your achievements.

Remember: being enthusiastic and having a positive “can-do” attitude help you even if you don’t have all the skills and experience in place. Being proactive will demonstrate your determination to succeed and make you a more appealing candidate for a job.

Photo credit: MarkWallace