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First Steps to That First Job

If you (or a member of your family) are graduating this spring, you’re probably looking forward to the next big event in life: an entry-level job that will lead to a successful, satisfying career.

Chances are, that dream job can take a while to find. You’ll probably need to call on advice from friends or relatives, and get some outside help, before your search is over. Two good sources of such help are job fairs and employment services firms.

Job Fairs: A job fair is an event, open to the public, where employers with jobs to fill can meet prospective employees. Each participating organization sends recruiters to staff a booth, answer questions, distribute brochures, and accept resumes.

Job fairs are organized by career centers, associations, state and local governments and private companies. To find one in your neighborhood, check the bulletin boards in your school or college guidance office, look in the classified newspaper columns, and run a search on the Internet. Many companies publish on their Web sites a calendar of job fairs and conferences they are planning to recruit from.

One of the benefits of attending a job fair is the opportunity it provides to develop your interpersonal skills. Although brief, the chats you have with the recruiters add up to a string of mini-interviews. Speaking to so many recruiters helps you hone your presentation of your accomplishments and skills.

Dressed in conservative business attire, with your resumé neatly typed and photocopied, you can make a favorable impression. If you decide you want to submit an application, ask for two copies of the form, one for a rough draft and the other for a finished copy. If you wish to take them home to complete, attach a note reminding the recruiter that you were at the job fair.

Employment service firms: There are several different kinds of firms. To use them intelligently, you should understand how they operate.

• Government-administered employment services, sometimes known as the Job Service, are fee-free to both employers and employees.
• Employment agencies match job seekers with jobs: the fee is usually billed to you after you have secured a job, although the employer may pay or share the fee with you.
• Executive search firms (“headhunters”) fill specific positions for a company, and charge a fee to the company after the job is filled.
• Temporary help services supply workers on an as-need basis. The business agrees on a certain wage, the “temp” agency pays the workers.
• Executive counselors help job seekers organize the search, and usually charge a set fee up front.
• Job listing services sell information such as lists of available positions, general tips on conducting a successful search and resume-writing guidance. They usually charge an up-front fee and can use pay-per-call 900 phone numbers.
• There are also several job search Web sites that publish resumes contributed by job seekers, and job opportunities. To link to a list of them, run a search on the words “job search sites.”

May 16, 2002

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