Published: 12:10 AM, 18 November 2018
Win the first fight towards your first job
Everyone has a story behind getting his or her first job. Most of those stories of our country are not usually so pleasant. After completing graduation most of the students of our country find themselves in the middle of nowhere. The difference between the number of new job opportunity being created every year and the number of students graduating every year is huge. Way more students are graduating than jobs are being created, not only in our country but also in the developed ones. Besides lack of transparency in recruiting, lack of professionalism and sometimes communication makes it even harder for the fresh graduates to start their professional career.
Before discussing about this matter in depth, let's divide fresh graduates in some categories first.In the first category there are Toppers who will get it all. That means they will probably get whatever option they choose like - teaching in universities, government or private job, going abroad for higher studies and so on.In real life scenario, someone from a rich family background or with high level connections are also included in this category.
Average CGPA holders are in the second category and they may be divided in some sub categories. Those who will target government jobs or higher study abroad and prepare for a year or so without engaging in any other profession are in the first sub category. Success rate of these students is to be talked about somewhere else. Secondly there are those who look for entry level jobs in private organizations and at the same time has a simultaneous intention to continue preparation for government jobs or higher study abroad.
The core objective of this article is to focus on the third category of fresh graduates which includes students having average and below average CGPA, and solely intends to build a career in the private sectors of our country.Based on my personal experience and observation I will try to explainthe situation that a fresh graduate will face on his or her way of beginning their career.
Coming out of the university, a fresh graduate may have the feeling that connections are way more important than results, qualifications or expertise. This is because he will find most of his batch mates are getting jobs with attractive salaries in their dream companies either with their talent, luck or with their high level connections. This will be the very first wave of frustration the graduate will face and get highly demotivated. He will find very few companies that are willing to take in freshers and most of that few positions are being taken by people with connections.
After a long way of struggle and frustration, he may fight his way to his first ever job. Most of the cases the job will not even be related to his subject of graduation and with a salary ranging for only eight to twelve thousand per month. This is the end of the first phase of struggle of a fresh graduate and the next phase is a different story which is a talk for some other day.
The reason behind bringing the above circumstances in picture is to share some thoughts that might help an undergrad student to be prepared for the struggle ahead which he or she has no idea about. I'm not going to suggest to study more and more to increase your CGPA, I'm about to talk about something outside of your academic sphere, something that may not help you to get a better result but will definitely help to bring yourself ahead of others in the fight of getting your very first job as well as building your career afterwards.
First of all you need to do some part time jobs while you are studying. This will help to increase your CV weight because recruiters are more often show interest towards candidates who have the knowledge of organizational structure than those who has none. These jobs may include but not limited to marketing and sales, event management, brand promotion, humanitarian workshops or projects and many others. You can work in shopping malls, annual fairs like book fair or trade fairs and so on as these platforms more often recruits students every year. No job is too little, you have to keep this in mind and put it in practice.
A part time job experience of six months to one year will give you a huge advantage when you graduate over other fresh graduates. It is not necessary that these experiences have to be related to your topics of study. If it is related than it is very good but if not, no need to worry, you just get introduced with an organizational structure and this much will take you a long way, trust me. Most of the students of our country are commonly interested in giving private tuitions because of flexibility in time and good money.
There is no problem with this, but be informed that, no matter how much experience you may have of being a private tutor, this will not add any value to your CV. You must have some experience where you will be exposed to a strong organizational structure and get to know the value, ethics, chain of command and professional behavior.
Secondly, you need to do internship whether it is required to complete your educational credit hours or not. Start looking for internship as early as possible. The payment may be very little or zero, just think about getting the experience that the internship will offer you. You will be introduced to the corporate environment and with a good performance it is not very uncommon to be hired by the company itself that's offering you the internship.
The third thing that need to be brought in attention is having good computer and software skill. It is quite unthinkable nowadays to get a job without good computer skill. The more you know, the more advantage you will have not only to get your first job, but also in you whole career journey. Be very goo at Office utility software especially in Excel, Word, PowerPoints, Access, Outlook etc. Having Photoshop and other picture and video editing software knowledge is considered to add much value to your portfolio.
Communication skill is the next thing that is one of the important things that will help you get through your job interviews successfully. Besides your reading and writing skills don't forget to sharpen your listening & speaking skills simultaneously, both in Bengali & English. You might enroll for some certified communication skill development program, IELTS, TOFEL etc.
Get involved in co-curricular activities that brings out the leader inside you. Remember that a recruiter will always prefer a leader than just a worker because a worker just performs but a leader not only just performs but also improves the performances of others around him. Try to be the leader of your academic group projects, thesis work, debate clubs etc. Also get involved with research works with your teachers or seniors of your department because having the capability of following and obeying a leader is equally important as being a leader.
Nobody told that it would be easy after graduation but very few told how hard it would be. That's why one has to work hard to create excellence in him and think out of the box to bring the best out of him or her. Do not keep yourself engaged with books only, learn from all around you, try to find out what qualities an organization wants in it's employees in common and then develop those in yourself. Success is never easy.
The write is an engineer by profession and writes for The Asian Age.
